Heart of Gold

Chapter Sixteen - Space Between

Something was moving. Sunny could see it out of the corner of her eyes. She turned her head, trying to bring whatever it was into her line of vision.

There was nothing there - her cell was still empty and as blank as ever.

An echo of laughter drifted through the room, and again, Sunny turned her head, trying to capture where the sound was coming from.

Sunny lay on her back. The floor was hard beneath her back, but she no longer cared. She was mostly numb. Next to her, she could feel the letters engraved into the ground, and she traced them over and over with her finger.

Above her, the ceiling was as white as the rest of the room. The only thing that felt real were the letters. They were proof that she was not alone.

There was a flash of strawberry blonde. Sunny did not attempt to track it. Instead, she closed her eyes, hoping to fall asleep again.

***

He came to her in her sleep, warm, strong arms wrapping themselves around her and pulling her in close against his chest. His heartbeat thumped reassuringly beneath her ear.

"You must hold on."

She could feel his hot breath against the back of her neck. She nodded slightly. Of course she would hold on. She was so warm and comfortable. Her thoughts drifted.

"Rianhar," his voice was louder, bringing her back to herself. "You must stay with me."

A large hand curled itself along the side of her face, and Sunny turned her face into it, revelling in the warmth and allowing it to lull her to sleep.

***

The tracking scale.

Zandin's eyes went wide with possibilities, but his twin brother Zalon shook his head dismissively.

"We already tried that," he said. "When Kilnor was first taken. It didn't work. It was a blank, nothing came up."

Cade looked considering. He said, "Yes, but that was before their plans obviously changed. Maybe it was just a blocking signal, and Sunny may not be in the vicinity, if what Kilnor says is true."

Slight hope dawned in all of their eyes, and Zalon said, "Okay then. Let us check it out."

He stepped to the computer terminal and brought up the screen with a few gestures of his fingers. He input a few commands and suddenly a map of the stars appeared on the screen.

"Here are the three of us," he said, indicating on the map to some glowing lights that dotting a planet that they all recognised as Miotal.

The small hope that had flickered in all of their chests at the mention of the tracking scale burns into flame as they counted the lights.

One. Two. Three. Four.

The tracking scale that Kilnor had given to Sunny was on planet.

"It only shows the planet," Cade said, trying to contain his growing excitement. "Does it get more specific than that?"

Zalon nodded his head, though he did not look away from the screen

"Yes," he confirmed. "I can zoom in."

He did just so, and the map of the stars turned into a satellite view of their home planet, focused on the six main continents that made up the majority of Miotal's land mass.

Before they could see where the fourth blinking light was located, Zalon turned to them.

"Do not get too excited," he warned. "It merely shows the location of the tracking scale. It does not confirm whether or not the host is alive."