War of the Three Planets Collection (Book 01) by Justin Bell

Author:Justin Bell [Bell, Justin]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub, mobi
Publisher: Justin Bell
Published: 2017-09-21T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

I break through the fog of unconsciousness, not so much with a sudden burst, but with a gradual, hand-over-hand crawl towards the surface of dark water, a sense of pressing my face up into the sharp, bright light, and moment of drawing in a sweet tasting breath with a hint of flowers.

Vague shapes move around me as I swim up from the darkness, groping for a ledge to pull myself up with. All the while, the low murmur of voices creates an anchor to focus on, a sound that draws me up towards the clear break in the water.

"Brie?" the sound is a rippling grumble, an opaque collection of noises that resembles my name.

A hand presses to my shoulder as the world around me clarifies, twisting into sharpness like an out of focus monitor screen being adjusted.

"Brie?" the voice says again, but this time clearer. I blink, slapping my eyelids together as if that might splash away this dark water covering my vision. Over to my left, I see Weeda.

Good old Weeda. Her dark hair is trimmed short, just above her ears, and her faded lips are curled into a grin. Two of her four hands clutching my left shoulder. Over her head I see the familiar walls and ceiling of my bedroom, and that gentle perfume of flowers settles in around me. I'm back home.

I press myself upwards, but Weeda reaches over with her other two hands and eases my shoulder back down.

"Don't push it," she whispers. "You need to rest."

"Why?" I ask. "I feel okay."

"You collapsed," she answers. "There was an incident during your interrogation, and you collapsed."

"I remember," I reply. And I do. I collapsed because Adroxis Security were coming after me with their weapons raised and hate in their eyes. I was running from them. Can I tell Weeda that?

"You're awake," whispers another gentle voice, and I'm glad that I didn't share any of those details with my best friend.

I turn my head towards my mother as she strides across the floor, white dress billowing . . . white dress against white walls and white ceiling and white furniture . . . so much white . . . too much white. Everything is brightness, and the stark light of everything around me hurts my eyes.

Suddenly I'm relishing the thought of dimness and darkness, the peace of the murky water I crawled my way out of. I want to go back there.

Nothing weird about that, right? Nothing strange about a cheery teenage Athelonian girl hating bright colors and sweet smells? Totally normal.

"Hi, mom," I say.

"How are you feeling?" she asks, her dress shifting as he extends her arms and caresses my other shoulder.

"I'm okay, mom," I reply. "Really, I'm fine. It was nothing."

"It was hardly nothing, dear," she says, reaching back and pulling over a chair, settling herself down into it. "Those Bragdon beasts tried to steal you away again. They killed a member of Adroxis Security!"

"Yeah," I reply. "I know. I was there."

That sounds a lot more bitter than I intended.

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