dissipated, along with the pieces of the barrier. The repairs had begun, but life in the lagoon wouldn’t become normal for a long time, Aaron thought. He just wished he knew where he got that notion from.
Turning to Moni, Aaron figured he better not ask the obvious, yet painful, question about Mariella. When he saw her emerge from the lagoon by herself that told him enough about her fate. But, the way she loved the little one, he never thought she’d do it.
“I know you did some bad things, and hell, I really screwed up too,” Aaron said. Moni finally locked eyes with him. Her exotic beauty, with her scalded yet resilient hair and bare shoulders, knocked him so far for a loop that he could hardly continue. “I don’t know how I’m so lucky that I made it through this with you. A lot of amazing people didn’t… They had us confused and we did horrible things that we would have never done. If we had been in control of our minds, we wouldn’t have let the people we care about get hurt.”
A single teardrop streamed down her cheek. He caught it with his palm. Moni drew closer and wrapped her hands around his shoulders. Every fiber of Aaron’s being wanted to lock lips with Moni and pour his heart into a most improbable kiss. He couldn’t do it without first asking one more question of her.
“You know who did this to us, Moni. But what I don’t understand is how you overcame their brainwashing. How did you destroy them?”
Moni parted her lips and started mouthing out words, but not a sound came out.
