The Final Showdown - The Moon Trilogy - Book 3

Chapter Twenty-seven:

As they were walking into the hut, more questions started to swirl around in Clarity's head. Why had the captain of the ship been calling Johnny Alnur? And if Alnur was his real name, then why had he lied in the first place? Why had the captain been talking about betrayal? She wanted to know about the whole ordeal, but she knew that Johnny wouldn't tell her about it unless she instigated the conversation.

   And she already felt bad enough for dredging up what were clearly painful aspects of his mysterious past.

   When they had been left alone by Vax, Clarity braced herself to ask the questions that plagued her. She didn't know how Johnny would react to her interrogation, but she wanted an explanation. She wanted to know a bit more about him before she decided her standing on the whole dating thing—or whatever it was. He'd never brought it up, and she didn't know what to think. She thought back to her train of thought from before the spaceship showed up. She certainly loved him, but she didn't really understand the relationship. It would feel nice to know where she stood; where they both stood.

   She sat down on the cot and invited Johnny to sit next to her. "So, what was that whole ordeal about?" she asked, and at his questioning look, she added, "With that spaceship full of snobs."

   "I used to work for them," he said, looking at a particularly boring chunk of the wall and grimacing. His mind seemed to be elsewhere.

   "Why was the leader calling you 'Alnur'?" she asked.

    "Because that's my last name." Clarity shot him a look: I thought Moon was your last name. "Okay, my real last name," he added after a second.

    She nodded.

   "So do you have a real first name too?" she questioned.

   He smiled. "I don't think you'll be calling me 'Najma Alnur' any time soon." He said with a chuckle, and he was right. The name sounded strange, and she much preferred the very familiar 'Johnny.'

   She knew that she had more questions, but her mind was drawing a blank, so she thought back to the conversation that they'd had before, when he'd explained about being the last of his kind. She did have a few unanswered questions from then.

   "Remember when we talked before, and you said that you'd explain how you healed me another time?" she asked, glancing sideways at him. He didn't seem cold at all, whereas Clarity could hardly keep herself from shivering violently.

   He seemed to realize again how cold she was, and he leaned over for an embrace, which she accepted gratefully. She snuggled into his hug as he prepared to answer.

   "Yeah, and I guess you want now to be the time." He finally said.

   "That's right." Clarity persisted. She desperately wanted to know. She felt like she couldn't get any closer to him unless she knew everything. Absolutely everything, no matter how reluctant the words came off his tongue.

   At least I know his real name, she thought with an inward shrug. It was definitely more than she'd had a few minutes ago

   "Well..." he started, then he trailed off. Then he started several different sentences, each only lasting for one or two words, then he fell silent altogether. He couldn't seem to properly articulate what he wanted to say.

   "Cat got your tongue?" she teased, elbowing him lightly. She could feel him nodding. "You can tell me, even if it doesn't make much sense." She added, this time quieter.

   He took a deep breath. "I suppose, to put it in more familiar terms for you... the word would be soulmates." He began, but once again he fell silent with the slightest wince.

   Her heart spiked when she heard the very word that she'd been thinking of, back in the apartment on Earth. That strange tug from deep inside that drew her to him, like opposite sides of a magnet.

   "What does that have to do with healing me?" she asked, burrowing a bit deeper into his arms as a breeze fluttered in through the window.

   "I'll get there eventually." He said. "Well... With the Yu-LIang—me—soulmates are actually a thing. A real... you know what I mean. My mother said that I would know right away when I saw her..." he suddenly sounded slightly out of breath.

   Her own breath caught in her throat. To think, all this time, that there had actually been something to the whole soulmate argument.

   "That still doesn't explain how you healed me." She said, pretending to be impatient, but there was a chuckle hidden in her words.

   He obviously picked up the hint that she was joking, because he laughed.

   "I know, I know." He said, then he took another deep breath. There was a short pause, and Clarity could practically hear him trying to find the right words. There was no more stuttering, though. "Generally, when you meet your soulmate, you form a mental bond with them," he said. "You know when August was explaining how you two got in sync?" he asked. She nodded. "It's like that, but stronger. You might not be able to notice it much, but I sometimes feel what you're feeling." He said. She didn't know how to respond. He could feel what she felt? What else did the mental bond show him? why didn't it work two ways? "I've never been the best on the topic, but I know enough to realize that that's how I healed you. And once, when we were in Atlantis, I slightly influenced your thoughts, so that you would know how to hack through the door lock." There was a tinge of guilt in his voice, as if what he'd done was wrong.

   Clarity thought back, and she could remember the instance that he was talking about. She'd never have gotten as far as she had without him. If anything, she should thank him, and she by no means blamed him.

   "Ok, so I'm your soulmate?" she asked shakily, almost disbelieving her own words. It still felt so strange to use the word in a serious way, because to her it had always been a fantasy. Soulmates, until just a second ago, had only been a myth.

   "Yes," Johnny replied simply. He seemed to be done with the talking.

   Clarity glanced through the silky fabric that covered the windows, and she was surprised to see that the light was gradually getting dimmer, and probably had been for a while. She hadn't even realized, but as she looked around, she could tell that it was quite a lot darker than when they'd started the talk.

   They sat there for a while in silence. The light grew dimmer until there was hardly enough light to see by at all. Clarity stifled a yawn, even though it felt like just a moment ago that she'd awoken from her week-long nap.

   Johnny got up, and he walked a short distance. She counted the steps. Clarity couldn't see where he'd gone and she didn't bother to look, but a moment later, he came back.

   He draped another of the thick blankets over Clarity's shoulders, then he moved away. Clarity guessed that he'd gone to settle down in the corner.

   She leaned back onto the cot, and she had to shift the blankets slightly for adequate coverage.

   Her heavy eyes closed, and almost instantly after, she was sleeping.

   Over the course of the night, she found herself waking up because a section of the blanket had shifted away from her body and allowed the cold to seep in, but she was actually relatively comfortable, and she was able to get plenty of deep sleep.