Zoe Thanatos(47)
“The Elder woman and her accomplices from Last City are in the Military Complex with Alcander and Hector.”
“Good. Would you like to join me for a meal?” Her hand waved at the two place settings.
Evan hesitated. “I would, but I should probably find my sister.”
“I sent Evadine on an errand for me. It could be a while before she returns.”
Evan’s eyebrows crumpled. “Where did she go?”
The Queen looked surprised by his question. “To find something for me,” she answered indignantly. “And anyway if the King doesn’t want to come home and share a meal with me then I will happily take you in his place.”
He shifted uncomfortably where he stood. “What if he comes back?”
She took a seat at one end of the glass table and pointed to the other. “Honestly I couldn’t care less. Join me, please.”
Evan did so, seating himself opposite the Queen. She smiled at him coolly, seemingly amused at his expense.
“You’ve never cared if the King found out about us,” she observed.
Evan shook his head. “I don’t know,” he mumbled, mostly to himself. “With everything that’s going on with this Elder woman and the book something just feels unsettled.” The woman’s words were still fresh in his mind, as was the knowledge that someone from the original family was still alive.
“Did she say anything to you?” The Queen picked up a glass filled with a golden colored liquid and took a slow sip.
“She said many things. Some of which were quite unbelievable.”
“Such as?” she asked sweetly.
“Well, she still claims to be Thea from the original family, and that she’s not the only surviving member.”
Her eyes narrowed at him. She put the drink back down on the glass and looked at him shrewdly. “That’s impossible.”
Was it? Was Zoe Thanatos the other surviving heir of the original family? The Queen could never know. He had no doubt she’d go looking for Zoe, that she would possibly send him to do it, or worse yet, a Crown Soldier. He shuddered at the thought of Zoe coming face-to-face with Alcander or Hector.
No. If the Queen thought Zoe was the surviving heir to the original family she wouldn’t lock her up or hide her. She’d make sure Zoe was gone for good. He needed to know for himself if it was true and then decide the best way to handle the situation. He could hide Zoe from the Queen. Keep her safe from her reach. But how?
It was as though an invisible hand had reached inside Zoe, took a firm grip of her center, and pulled her chest first through a long, thin tunnel. Her extremities dissolved around her, shattering into long stretches of atoms that undulated like a wave of ripples. She was nothing but a consciousness, her active mind a ribbon through the waves like a double helix.
A glass room materialized as she was rebuilt atom by atom. A bright light temporarily subdued her, nearly burning the corneas and sensitive nerves that connected her eyes to her brain. She squinted, slowly adjusting her eyes to the artificial light. It emanated from the glass, the structure itself twice the size of a pay phone booth. The air was clean with a strange sterility that felt surprisingly cool. From somewhere nearby she could hear the faintest electronic trilling, a crescendo of sounds that reached an apex before declining back down into silence. Each tone sounded as though it were a measurement, but of what she wasn’t sure.
An unlit rectangular shape the size of a door unveiled before Zoe’s eyes. It opened with a pneumatic hush into a narrow glass corridor that lead to yet another door and a room beyond where she could clearly see Eva standing, looking at her expectantly. Eva encouraged her with a nod, her hand sweeping back and forth towards her in instruction.
Zoe stepped into the corridor, a second and longer pneumatic hush blowing a burst of cool sterile air over the length and width of her body. The second door opened with another, leading into the large concrete and steel room where Eva was waiting.
“For what it’s worth you look intact,” Eva joked with a smile.
A laugh blew through Zoe’s cheeks, pushing out the breath she had been holding. A tingling vibration sent electrical charges along the nerves beneath her skin, shimmering like invisible lights up and down her body.
“How long does the tingling last?”
Eva pursed her lips. “I don’t know. I’m so used to it I barely feel it anymore. Do you need a moment?”
Zoe shook her head. “No. I think I’ll be fine.”
“Okay. Our residence isn’t far. Just try to look like you belong.”
The thought occurred to Zoe that technically she did belong. Around her several more people were entering the room from other glass corridors, what she assumed were the gates. Each one joined in a group that bottlenecked through another long glass corridor. Zoe attempted to casually look around at the others, noticing immediately they were dressed in all manner clothing. Most looked as though they had come from Earth, dressed comfortably in slacks or jeans, blouses or shirts with ties. A few were dressed like Eva in form-fitting fabrics that Zoe could only describe as leotards.