“What is this place?” I ask to anyone who’ll answer.
“Patrician Nine,” Leader Fallon says coming into focus.
Lights turn on, filling the dark space. We’re in a corridor lined in thick, dark metal with jagged edges. The portion I bumped into has a window above. A face looms in the room behind it, observing us. The woman in the window disappears, but I can still sense she’s there.
“Is that supposed to mean something to me?” I ask, holding my head so the blood stops dripping.
“There are ten Patrician ships, and you are on number nine,” Leader Fallon says, looming closer.
“Ships? As in what? Spaceships?”
“In a manner of speaking, yes,” Leader Fallon answers.
“Max, they’re trying to protect us,” Garrett says, kneeling next to me.
“You’re one of them, aren’t you?” I say to Garrett. “A Patrician leader, not some miller from the Outer Limits.”
“Not exactly.” He removes my hand, takes off his shirt, and begins cleaning my wound with it. “My parents were, but I’ve been in the Outer Limits my whole life. Sent there to keep an eye out for you.”
“What?” I ask, my stomach turning into knots. I roll over onto my side, bring my knees into my chest, and begin to rock.
I’m going crazy. This is all nuts. None of this is really happening. What have I gotten myself into? What have I done?
“Max,” Garrett says.
I hear him, but it seems like he’s miles away.
“I want to go back,” I tell them. “I want to go back to Pentras Tower.”
“Shortly, Max,” Leader Fallon says. “Once the transference is over, you and Garrett will be returned to complete your task.”
I close my eyes trying to keep the tears at bay. I can only imagine what’s going on back at the tower. What are they doing to Frey, Van, Brink, and the others? Will they survive whatever is happening to them? Why did I allow this to occur?
I’m moved into a sitting position and my injury attended to by someone in a medical uniform, or at least I think that’s what it is, while Garrett puts his blood-stained shirt back on. A healing ointment is applied, then Garrett helps me to my feet and we move under the light in the middle of the corridor. I feel numb inside as we’re sent into the void and placed in front of Pentras Tower. I go through the motions of taking Garrett’s hand and looping us into the lobby. I can immediately tell that everything has changed. That it’s just the two us now. The others are gone.
“Where are they?” I ask as Garrett directs me to one of the lifts.
“Someplace you’ll never have to go to again.”
He pushes the button for the forty-ninth floor. All I do is stare as the doors close and we ascend. My mind has shattered as well as my soul. Nothing matters anymore. The Patrician have won. They’ve beaten me, so I might as well as comply with their wishes so I can live. At least, I hope I’ll still be alive when this is all over.
The door opens, Garrett takes my hand, and leads me to his room. I’m his now, the Patrician have made that perfectly clear. He carries me through the door and sets me down on the bed. He’s immediately on top of me, removing my sheath and clothes, and I let him finish what he started in the plaza. I should fight, but how? They’ve won. I’ve lost. Time to move on. Garrett falls asleep an hour later. I grab a long shirt from the dresser, put it on, and go up to the fiftieth floor.
The sunset is actually quite beautiful tonight. Purple and pink hues fill up the sky and get darker the further the sun goes down. I step up close to the glass, pressing my palms against the smooth surface, and hoping I fall through it.
“I was wondering where you disappeared to,” Garrett says, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me tightly against him.
“I wanted to watch the sunset. It’s so beautiful up here.” I know I’m rambling, but words and thoughts aren’t under my control anymore.
He pulls me back to sit us on one of the couches. “Why did you need me to go with you?” he asks, nibbling on my neck.
“I wanted to get to Icarian.”
“Why would you want to go there?”
“To see the army. I needed to know if it was true.”
“If what was true?” He pushes me down on the couch and lies on top of me. His hands wandering their way up the shirt.
“If the previous winners of The Litarian Battles were actually the soldiers. That the laurel symbol is their sign of loyalty like the dragon tattoo is for the Dracken.”
He stops and places a finger against my lips. “None of that matters now. This will all be over soon, and it’ll just be the two of us.”
“What will be over soon?”
“The end of the Dracken and the Keepers. Now that you’re one of us, there’s no stopping the inevitable.”
You are one of us now, Max.
One of us.
I gently push Garrett back, sliding myself onto the floor.
“Are you all right?” he asks, concern clearly visible on this face.
“I need something to drink.”
I get to my feet and walk over to the fridge. It’s still stocked full of food, even though there are only two of us now. I remove a bottle of water and drink it where I stand. Garrett approaches me, but slowly. A big smile on his face and longing in his eyes.
Loop, Max. Loop now!
I hear it more than say it in my mind. I vanish down to Garrett’s room. I quickly put the suit back on, grab my weapon, and loop again since I know he’ll be here soon. I’m on the sixth floor. The panels are still down, but the images are gone.
