AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Really? Kinda basic.”
Lenore shrugged. “Cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice? What’s not to like? And there’s this food truck outside work that does the best pierogies.”
“Sometimes I dream about the donuts from the Amish market. They are so good.”
She and Sarah listed foods, mostly junk, that they missed. Not once did Lenore confess that she really wanted her mother’s chicken salad, which she missed more than pumpkin spice lattes and pierogies. Her mother ran the chicken through a meat grinder, turning it smooth, mixed with sweet relish, mustard, and mayonnaise. The sandwiches were delicate, sweet, and tangy, and reminded Lenore of weekend afternoons, the only time her mother cooked from scratch.
Homesickness was tricky. She’d go for weeks or even months without thinking twice that she was on another planet, surrounded by another culture, and then something small rattled her. Recently, it had been sunglasses. Arcosian design wrapped around the head for all four eyes, but even the smallest pair were too large on her head. Prince Vekele took Sarah to a picturesque beach for a few days, which meant Lenore had a vacation as well.
Fun in the sun is not fun at all when you’re constantly squinting against the tropical sunlight, and not one pair of sunglasses fits your damn head. Nothing off the rack fit. That’s one thing Lenore would not miss.
“What are you going to do now that Project Save the Humans is over?” Lenore asked.
“Is it, though?” Sarah tilted her head as she asked the question. “There are plenty of planets we haven’t visited yet. People could still be out there.”
“It’s been months since the last successful rescue.” Two years was a long time to survive on your own, especially if you needed medication. The portals weren’t fussy about who they took, and no one had time to grab their inhalers. Either those people were long gone or found help with the locals. “Have you considered settling down in one place?”
Sarah shrugged. “There’s so much I haven’t seen yet, and I want to keep searching. Baris is sending me and Vekele off on a royal tour. I think we can do both and keep everyone happy.”
Lenore couldn’t argue with Sarah’s logic.
Ghost, the hip-high almost-wolf but totally a walking nightmare, padded up to Sarah. Pitch, a massive four-eyed bird like a raven, rode on his back. Ghost nudged Sarah’s hand. For a moment, the princess’ face went slack, and then she smiled. “They’re waiting for us.”
That was another weird thing about this place. People had magical, mystical bonds with some creatures, like the not-raven and the nightmare not-wolf. A mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship, Prince Vekele once explained. Yeah, well, the bond gave people superpowers, so Lenore didn’t see how symbiotic was so different from magical, mystical. Anyway, the birds—karu—were super important in Arcosian culture. Lots of people were bonded with them. Buildings were designed with a karu’s comfort in mind, including high ceilings and plentiful perches.
As far as Lenore knew, only one person had bonded to the not-wolf—a void beast—and that was the princess. Plus the superpowers. Lenore had only seen Sarah manifest shadowy tentacles from the ground and fling them around once, but once was enough. It was another thing Lenore didn’t question for her own peace of mind. Ghost was a good boy despite looking like he was there to drag her soul back to hell, and the princess had tentacles made of shadows. And they talked to each other in their minds. Sure. Why not?
The karu pushed off of Ghost with a cry, startling Lenore. Pitch flew to Prince Vekele, who appeared at the far side of the observation deck.
“They are waiting for our entrance,” he said, extending an arm to escort Sarah.
Lenore followed in their wake, descending the stairs to the lower level of the atrium. Their names were announced to the crowd as if no one recognized the prince and his human princess. A murmur went through the crowd.
The space was the central hub of the station, a social gathering point with a large open space filled with greenery. While usually busy, it was never packed. Unlike now. The king brought some diplomatic hullabaloo to the K-7, dragging most of the royal court to the station in an effort to impress the ambassador. The portal project was being used for political drama.
Fine. Whatever.
Lenore could wear scratchy clothes and smile politely in a crowd. The fact that the king had been extraordinarily rude the last time they met didn’t matter. Apparently, she was the kind of person who rubbed shoulders with princes and rude-ass kings. She didn’t care, as long as she got to go home on the other side of the event.
The king’s entourage—Lenore didn’t know how else to describe it—had been arriving steadily at K-7 for days. The busy military station was filled to bursting with nobility, servants, guards, clerks, merchants looking to make trade deals, and all the other people it took to run a kingdom. All of this was on top of the three dozen humans waiting for their ride home and the existing staff necessary to operate the station. It reminded her of the constant noise of the hospital. For the better part of the last two years, she’d been on the prince’s ship with a small crew, with the odd field trip to a planet. It was nice, but it was too quiet for her liking. An energy pulsed through the station, and she liked it.
“Madam?” An attendant urged Lenore forward.
“Dr. Lenore Kelley,” she said, having no expectation that anyone would recognize her.
She was mistaken. The attendant bowed. “I know who you are, madam,” and announced her name loudly.
With a deep breath, she gathered her nerves and descended the stairs. This was just a party. A farewell party. She’d stay long enough to be polite and to put on a good show for the king. It didn’t matter.
She was going home tomorrow.
CHAPTER SEVEN
LENORE
Lenore leaned against the railing on the observation deck, her back to the central atrium below, and faced a wall of stars.
She’d never get tired of the view. It was familiar and so much more intense than the night sky on Earth. Back home, layers of pollution and light kept the stars distant. Here, they were so vivid that Lenore felt as if she could reach out and pluck them from a black velvet curtain. She’d miss this.
