“Zoe you shouldn’t be here.”
She moved her head back, his rising again to look down at her. His expression was pained, caught between two conflicting emotions.
“According to your sister, I’m supposed to be here.”
Evan’s eyebrows creased above his eyes. “You know?”
“I told her.” Zoe and Evan turned their heads and found Eva standing at the entryway, the door closing shut behind her. “And she’s not the only one who knows.”
“Who else?” Evan asked, alarm in his voice.
Eva walked to one of the partitioned sitting areas in the room and took a seat on a slick black chair. When Zoe felt Evan’s arms drop from her shoulders she followed Eva, taking an adjacent seat. Evan sat opposite her.
“I just had a very interesting conversation with the King.” Eva looked to Evan, her facial expression a warning to him not to blow up. “He knows even more than we do.”
“How does he know anything about Zoe?” Evan asked.
“Because,” she started. Her head turned to look at Zoe, a pained expression on her face. “Zoe, Thea is your mother. He told me everything about her, and you.” Her attention turned back to Evan, who looked as thoroughly shaken as ever. She recounted her conversation with the King, volleying her attention between Zoe and Evan.
It was as though they were talking about someone else’s life, another Zoe who had been sent to Earth as a child to avoid being captured and killed. This other Zoe had had a brother and a sister, a mother, aunts and countless other family members. Not to mention she was royalty, heir to a queendom in a universe she only just found out existed. The idea no longer seemed funny.
They had grown up together, Zoe, Evan and Eva. Their parents had been close friends whose the children played together, and lived their lives together. If no one ever besieged the Crown she quite possibly would have inherited it. It was the kind of story she had only seen in movies: A week ago she was an ordinary girl from Santa Barbara, and then she was the sole living heir to a monarchy in a distant universe.
‘You shouldn’t be here,’ Evan had said. Zoe looked up and found his eyes on her. Eva was still talking, her attention going between them as she relayed the King and Thea’s plans. She could only imagine what Evan was thinking. He may have said she shouldn’t be there, but it was obvious from the way he looked at her that he wanted her there.
She zoned out completely, silence in her ears and her mind lost away in her thoughts. Eva mentioned something about the Queen, and whatever it was set Evan off. She watched as the two siblings argued, each looking more intense than the other. Whatever their argument was about they both seemed intent on having the final word. For all she knew they were disagreeing on what to do with her, or what actions to take next. Where did she fit in besides as the topic of conversation? What about what she thought?
Zoe looked to the entryway and retraced her steps since walking through it. The common room led towards the Throne Room. The Throne Room was connected to the Government Center through a long glass tunnel. The Transport Station was yet another tunnel away, the smaller corridors leading to the glass box of the gate she had traveled through. There were many doors between where she sat and the gates, but none of them could take her home even if she wanted them to.
Her mind wandered back to the Throne Room. There was another entryway that went to the residences of the Queen and King. Was that where she grew up? Did she play in the Throne Room as a small child with Evan and Eva at her side, their tiny voices echoing jubilantly off the massive walls? Any memories were lost in time, her connection to Terra severed long ago. Her memories, what little there were of them, were of Earth.
There were so many unanswered questions. Evan explained that a generation of life on Terra could be as much as hundreds of years on Earth. Did that mean that she came to Earth in a different decade? Another century? Would she really not remember living on Earth for hundreds of years? It seemed improbable.
“I’m taking her back home. This isn’t her life here.” Zoe looked up at Evan and frowned at the commanding tone in his voice. He looked angry, at odds with himself even. Would he want her to stay if the circumstances were different? No, if they were different she wouldn’t be there to begin with.
“Even if you wanted to take her home, you can’t. The gates have all been deprogrammed for Gaia. Don’t you think I explained that to Zoe before she decided to come here?” Eva retorted.
“There’s a way. The Straton’s private gate is the only option. I can take her home and this whole thing will be over and done with.”