Fathom by Elsa Jade

Author:Elsa Jade [Jade, Elsa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science fiction romance
Publisher: Red Circle Ink
Published: 2020-09-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Lana sat on the plush pile carpet, eyes closed, her back against her mother’s knees while strong fingers worked through her hair, shaping her thick curls. Old-school tunes from Roxette crooned through the very nice jukebox—almost as high-tech as the Diatom—which had been her mother’s compromise between the classical music selections and the same lady death metal that had been on the SUV sound system.

“You put this album on when you did my hair before prom,” Lana murmured over the mournful pop reminiscence of how “it must’ve been love”.

For an instant, her mother’s deft hands faltered, tugging at her scalp. “I’d forgotten. I played it because ‘Listen To Your Heart’ was the theme at my prom. I didn’t mean—”

Reaching up, Lana squeezed her mother’s hand. “It’s over now,” she said in the worst Swedish accent ever.

Her mom snorted. “Are you making fun of my music?’

“Yes?”

With another little tug at her hair, her mom laughed. “Well, it was the nineties, so fair enough.”

Everything they’d shared had been so long ago. Lana’s throat tightened. “It was good. And even when it wasn’t… It was us.”

After all her hard work on the contrary curls, her mother petted her like it didn’t matter. “I never stopped looking for you. You know that, don’t you?”

Lana tilted her head into her mother’s knee in a nod. “I know. I knew.” She swallowed hard against the lump in her throat. “I think I stayed lost, because… What if you weren’t looking?”

“Honey—”

“No.” Lana pivoted to peer up at her mother. “I knew I had problems. I knew I’d made things worse, that I’d hurt people, and broken things, maybe forever. I guess part of me thought that if I changed everything, I’d change myself too.” She shook her head, making her curls dance, and she gave her mother a wry grin. “I even changed galaxies. But that didn’t do the trick either.”

Her mother tipped her head up with a firm hand under her jaw. “There’s nothing about you that needs to change, Lana,” she said fiercely. “Nothing.”

A mother’s lie, as sweet and fleeting as a meltaway candy. “If only you were on the Tritonesse council,” Lana mused. “Marisol is basically royalty on her world but she’s only one voice against their anger and suspicion.”

Her mother scowled. “They sound awful. Why would you even fight for them?”

“They call Earth a closed world, but in some ways they are too. They fought for so long, so focused, that they see everything as a threat.” She grimaced. “I mean, I am a threat, so they’re not wrong about that.”

“Not on purpose, you weren’t,” her mother objected. “You never meant to do any of it.”

That was the problem, wasn’t it? As Sting had said, with no control over her zaps, she was just a bomb waiting to go off. And for a world struggling to find its way in a new time of peace, a reminder of danger could never be wanted or welcome.

“Please don’t think the worst of them,” she told her mother.

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