Starstruck

Chapter 22a: Collision course (part 1)

CHAPTER 22

Collision course (part 1)

"There, you see? This is why I didn't want to tell you any of this when you were younger," Aunt Theresa said, startling me out of what was almost a trance. "It looks like you still weren't ready to learn how unsavory your parents may have been. Just remember that your future isn't determined by your past, and that with hard work and clean living, you can still make something decent of yourself."

I blinked at her, coming back to the present. "What? Oh. Um, right." I gathered up two more big handfuls of rose clippings, heedless of the thorns now, and stuffed them in the bag before giving it to my aunt. "Thanks, Aunt Theresa. Really. I'd . . . I'd better get started on my homework."

Leaving her staring after me in concern, or maybe just in confusion, I went back into the house and up to my room to think about what I'd just learned--or what I thought I might have learned.

Plopping down onto my bed, I stared into space, thinking hard. If my parents had been deliberately killed way back when I was a baby, then Martian bad guys on Earth wasn't a recent thing. Maybe the dictator--Faxon--had sent an assassin because he didn't want any survivors of the Royal family? But if he was popular back then, why would it matter, with my parents already off-planet? Had there been some other nefarious plot even then? Something they were only now planning to move ahead with?

I wished I had a safe way to contact Rigel to ask if he'd found out any more from his end. Especially since I was starting to think that there was a lot more going on than either of us--and maybe even Shim and his colleagues--were aware of. And that it was really, really bad.

By dinner time I was getting jittery, worrying about whether I'd manage to sneak out again tonight, like I had last week. And wishing Rigel and I had made some kind of backup plan when we were together yesterday, in the cornfield. Why hadn't we?

Oh, right. There was a lot of distracting kissing going on.

"What are you smirking about?" my aunt asked.

"Um, just remembering something Bri said at the game last night," I improvised. I definitely needed to keep better control of my face when thinking about Rigel.

My aunt and uncle went up to bed at ten-thirty and I paced my bedroom floor until eleven, my impatience growing. I decided not to wait till midnight. Maybe Rigel would be able to get away early--and even if he couldn't, I was too keyed up to stay in my room. I dressed in black jeans and dark top again, snuck out as quietly as I had last time, and reached the arboretum well before midnight without seeing another soul.

Voices were coming from Green's Pub, a couple of blocks down Diamond--Saturday was karaoke night--but it was nothing to do with me. Still, I peered carefully down the street in both directions before sidling through the archway into the arboretum. Once there, I made my way to "our" bench and settled down to wait, since it was still only eleven-thirty.

But it wasn't five minutes before I saw a shadow slip through the entrance, silhouetted briefly against the street lights down the block before it disappeared, moving softly toward me. Restraining my impulse to call out, I first extended my senses to see if I could "feel" Rigel--and I instantly did. No question.

"Rigel," I whispered as he drew near, and heard his quick intake of breath. I guess he hadn't been focusing his senses the way I had.

"M? I didn't think you'd be here yet, but I couldn't wait--"