The Keepers of Azera ( Book 1 of the Keepers Trilogy)

Chapter 31

I step inside the dorm, my mind a complete mess of thoughts. I'm pretty sure that's the first time I've ever seen Amacus get affectionate to anyone. Or heard James ever raise his voice at...well, at anyone. And I'm almost positive he accuse her of betrayal, which is a level James would never stoop to without a good reason. And that's scary, because I don't see Matilda as a traitor. Pompous, yes, arrogant-but not traitorous. It would ruin her self image of this perfect never-do-wrong. But maybe James knows something I don't. Just add that to the million item list of Things that I don't know but others do and won't tell me.

I pick my way through the living room in the dark and go into my bedroom. James's door is shut and no light filters from underneath it, so I assume he's gone to sleep. Of course, he's most likely just lying there stewing, but either way, I don't want to bother him. So I get into bed as quietly as possible and hope he's in a better mood tomorrow.

He wakes me up the next morning by shaking me really hard and then walking out of my room without a word once I'm awake. He's dead silent as we walk together down to the dining hall, answering my attempts at conversation with half-hearted grunt. It doesn't take long for me to give up. If he doesn't want to talk, I won't make him talk. He's clearly still mad about the night before, but if he doesn't want to go on about as usual, I'm fine with it.

We don't really talk much over breakfast. Amacus informs Alexa of what happened last night, and she nods sadly. "I was worried this might happened."

"It shouldn't have," James says unexpectedly. "Alex gave permission, he's the only one who can revoke it. This shouldn't be allowed to happened."

"I thought that Amacus and Alexa were here to help us train," Astrid says. "It sounds like she's just taken away their purpose of being here."

I hadn't thought of it like that. But Amacus says gruffly, "The only way to take our entire purpose here is to send us home. And at this time, that's not an option."

"What's your entire purpose, then?" Astrid asks. Beside me, James shoves his oatmeal away after playing with it the entire conversation.

"That I cannot tell you," Amacus says almost apologetically. Astrid sighs and continues eating. I think her view on Amacus changed since Alexa told her Amacus might have fallen in love with someone else.

My eyes widen slightly as that occurs to me. Alexa said that she didn't know who Amacus fell in love with, but I have a suspicion who now. 

"You okay?" Astrid asks.

I nod. "Yeah, I just realized something. I'll tell you later."

"Oh, okay. I'm finished eating, you wanna go back to my dorm?"

"Sure," I say, standing up. "Hey, Alexa, come with us."

"I'm concerned, but okay," Alexa says, standing up too.

"You might already know," I say.

"I might, but I want to hear it anyways."

I wait until we're in Astrid's room with the door shut before it completely tumbles out of my mouth. "I think Amacus is in love with me."

"Took you long enough," Alexa says, leaning back in the desk chair. "He told me already."

My face grows a little hot. "I already guessed he liked me, Alexa. No, I just remembered that Turamese only fall in love once."

"Awww!" Astrid squeals. "You've got yourself a loyal boyfriend!"

"Astrid, we're from two different d-planets. It couldn't work out. Amacus is going to go through his whole life alone-"

"And a complete disappointment to Tura," Alexa finishes. "What will my people say when they hear that the eldest son of the king is not able to marry, to pass on the royal lineage, because he fell for an outsider? Amacus is already considered...unorthodox. Despite what you may think, he does not care much for the culture of Tura. He does not like how filthy the planet is, or agree with how our father runs things. He wants to be out of the spotlight, not known as the heir to the throne, the future ruler of a planet covered in smog and factories. He... our father is not like yours, Callie. Nobody likes him, and there have been whispers of overthrowing. He is not accepting of outsiders, what would he think of his elder son falling for one? Amacus has already talked about Tura for good. I personally thought it was because of our father's terrible leadership, but he might have another reason for staying."

"So he'll spend his life pining for Calypso?" Astrid asks. "Unable to move past her? That sounds kind of sweet in a terrible way."

"Well, that makes me feel terrible," I say, "since there's no way for it to work out. I mean, us Azerans, we don't love forever. Well, we can, but we usually don't until we're much, much older. I'm only fourteen, I don't know what love is."

"If an Azeran finds a person they'll love forever, do they know it?" Alexa asks. "And what happens when their lover dies? Will they move on, or will they long for the lover forever?"

I think of James, how he still misses Baya every single day for the past eight years. "Most enter a relationship thinking they'll love each other forever, but only a few truly do," I say. "Some can move on after losing a loved one, some can't. I know someone who...can't."

Alexa sighs. "I just wonder how this will all go down. I don't want Amacus to feel hurt his entire life, but-and this is nothing against you-but what if, he stays here and you fall in love with someone else forever? What happens then?"

"He's gonna get hurt, either way," Astrid mutters, looking between Alexa and me. "Here or there, there is a big chance he will be crushed. Well, definitely if he goes back home."

"That does suck," I agree, standing up and stretching. "But I do need to go to Amacus about something else."

"He'll probably say yes," Astrid says.

"Oh, shut up. You don't know what I'm gonna ask him," I say. "Bye."

"Bye, Calypso!" Astrid calls.

Alexa follows me out and once we're out in the hallway, she looks around to make sure we're alone. Then she grabs my arm. "This has been bothering me since the beginning of the conversation."

Her icy cold fingers dig into the bare skin of my forearm, so I pull her hand away. "What is it?"

Her voice drops so low I have to lean in to hear it. "When you were talking about how Amacus's liking you would not work out, because the two of you are from different planets, you started saying something that started with a 'd'. Did you just stutter, and I misheard, or were you saying something else?" 

Under normal circumstances, I would've found this a weird question. But normal circumstances don't involve aliens from other dimensions, so I tell her. "I know that Tura isn't in this universe."

Alexa pulls back a little. "How do you know that?"

"I...it's complicated," I say. I was going to say I had a flashback, but just then, Astrid comes out of the dorm. "Come on guys, we're late!"

"Crap. Can we have this conversation later?" I ask Alexa.

She shrugs. "Sure. And don't hurt my brother, okay?"

"I don't see why not; it's fun beating the crap out of him during training."

"A, that's not what I meant. B, he lets you 'beat the crap out of him'-" here she makes air quotes-"and C, you don't have training anymore, remember?"

"No, James'll get his way, he always does," Astrid says.