Qeya (Heaven's Edge Novellas Book 1) by Jennifer Silverwood

Author:Jennifer Silverwood [Silverwood, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: A Heaven’s Edge Novella
Publisher: JayHenge Publishing
Published: 2012-08-15T05:00:00+00:00

VI: MISSING

On the tenth day since we had arrived on this hostile world, after yet another dangerous attempt to hunt down the missing shuttle crew, we made it back to our camp just before the moon covered the land with a pitch-black veil. I stood outside the cave on the ledge that overlooked the valley because I could not stand another minute inside with the others.

Arvex had agreed to remain at the cave with Hanea and Jymee while the rest of us went out searching. It was clear his mate couldn’t handle another run-in with our alien friends, and as for Jymee, he had found more rocks to color the walls with and took to exploring the tunnels we came from. Every day I watched my brother transform from the spoiled burdened heir to a legacy he didn’t want, to a capable adult. He seemed content to let me lead the search while watching over the morale of our group. But the closer he tied himself to this place, the further I felt from him. We had always worked together, even when I did most of the work. Now I couldn’t help the loneliness I felt among them.

My eyes scanned the treetops and I believed if I looked hard enough, my heart could call out to Tamn’s. He had to be alive, I reasoned, because I couldn’t accept a life without him in it.

When Arvex had gotten on my last gill and my parents overbearing, it had been Tamn who made me laugh through my troubles. Like his younger sister Hanea, he had the silvery complexion of his House, except his hair was purely silver and not the more common platinum blend. Growing up, we joked that we were both the outcasts of our noble families. Tamn made life bearable.

Giving up on them would be like saying he was dead. The others were beginning to lose hope, beginning to get too comfortable in the new life we were forced into. For the first time our lives weren’t regimented by the adults. And I reasoned it was acceptable until we found a way back among the heavens. I hadn’t given up hope we would find the shuttle and with it, build our way off of this rock.

The hostile world was hot and sticky here within the mountain range. The high peaks spanned the whole land as far as our eyes could see, circling around the dark forest until the mist clouded their never-ending trail. With the endless ocean on its other side of a sheer drop and only a series of underwater caves linking the two climates, I couldn’t help but feel trapped. Perhaps we should have taken our chances with the sea, I had so often thought. We had all come from the sea, were born in water as a matter of fact. It was our first mother in so many ways, even if the water tasted differently here. Oddly enough I would have felt safer in that world below than this one.

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