Divided Read online

  “But—”

  “He—”

  “No!” Becca held up her hands to stop them. “I’m going to remind you of what my mom told me—if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. Starting now.”

  Her words were met by silence so Becca assumed that neither had a single nice thing to say to the other.

  “All right,” she said, taking a deep breath. “That’s more like it. Now let’s get going so we can find Vashtar, get the cure, and get out of here. This place gives me the creeps—the sooner we get back to the ship the better.”

  They walked along the long, straight road in silence, their feet crunching on the hard surface. Or at least Becca could feel her feet crunching—she couldn’t hear a thing except her own breathing and, faintly, the breathing of Far and Truth which came over her suit’s receiver mic. The quiet was eerie, making Becca feel like she had cotton balls stuffed in her ears. Also, her legs felt heavy—no, not just her legs—her entire body felt like it was being weighed down with invisible weights.

  Must be the gravity—maybe Orthanx is slightly bigger than Earth. At least I’m not too cold, she thought. As promised, the thin silver suit seemed to be keeping her from freezing. Becca was a little chilly but it was nothing she couldn’t handle. The temperature she could feel reminded her of a winter day in Tampa which was to say, somewhere in the low to mid 60s. Not exactly comfortable, but not horrible either.

  Overhead, the sky was perfectly black and filled with jewel like stars but the planet itself had absolutely no life on it as far as she could see. No grass or trees of any kind, which she supposed was to be expected, but there was something else missing which surprised her as well.

  “Why is there no ice?” she asked, looking at Truth. “If it’s really as cold as the instruments said the whole planet should be covered in it—shouldn’t it?”

  The dark twin shook his head. “The water would have boiled away as soon as Void lost its atmosphere. There is literally none left to freeze and make ice.”

  “This is a dead world,” Far murmured from her other side. “Life as we know it isn’t possible without some form of liquid. Wherever they are, the Orthanxians must have a remarkably long lasting energy source. Do you agree, Brother?

  Becca was afraid that Truth would say something snarky back, but he only gave a noncommittal grunt and shrugged. Well good—he must be taking her mother’s words to heart. For a moment she tried to imagine introducing him to her mom—whose first question would be if he was Catholic, no doubt. Her second question would probably have to do with why Far was there as well because try as she might, Becca couldn’t imagine showing up at her parents’ house with just one of them.

  Might as well sew a scarlet A to my chest as bring them both home for supper, she thought ruefully. But then, her parents wouldn’t be happy with anyone she brought home—they had been bitterly disappointed by her decision not to become a nun. Becca was pretty sure that her mom was still hoping she might take her vows. Which wasn’t going to happen but her mom had a hard time letting go of things.

  Just like you, whispered the little voice in her head. Otherwise you would have given up on Far and Truth long ago and gone back to Earth where you really belong. Instead you’re eighty million light years from home on a dead planet with no atmosphere and two angry Kindred warriors who hate each other’s guts. Now if you were smart—

  Her thoughts were interrupted as the road they were on passed between the first of the tall, thin hills. They were steeply vertical and strangely angular—like giant triangular monoliths rising toward the silent, starry sky. In fact, they reminded Becca of…

  “Buildings,” she breathed. “Look—a few even still have windows. These are the Orthanx version of skyscrapers!”

  Far frowned and looked upwards. “You’re right. They’re crumbled and decayed but still standing even after so many millennia—amazing.”

  “But what about those?” Becca pointed to the massive mounds of rubble dotted here and there throughout the ancient, deserted city. “They look like they exploded. Did someone drop a bomb on them, do you think?”

  “Most likely it was meteorites,” Truth said. “With no atmosphere to protect it, Void is vulnerable to extraterrestrial projectiles.”

  “Meteorites, really?” Becca looked in awe. “They did this much damage?”

  “This isn’t much, actually. I would guess that the ones that hit these buildings were relatively small,” the dark twin replied. “You only have to look at the surface of your own moon with its many craters to realize how much damage such projectiles can do when there is no atmosphere to burn them up or break them apart before impact.”

  Becca had never visited the surface of the moon. But she’d seen it often enough through the viewing windows on the Mother Ship to know what he was talking about.

  “I don’t see any skeletons,” she murmured as they continued through the deserted city. “Do you think they all escaped?”

  “I guess we’ll see,” Far answered. “Look—I think that’s the entrance to the underground area.” He pointed to a vast, shadowy staircase on one side of the long, straight road. The stairs led straight down underground.

  “This is it, all right.” Truth was consulting a small handheld device. “The coordinates we want are almost directly underneath us.”

  Becca’s stomach dropped when she looked at the seemingly endless stairs going down into impenetrable shadow. They look haunted, she couldn’t help thinking. Like the cellar steps in a horror movie. The kind the stupid girl always winds up going down because she hears what she thinks is her boyfriend calling. But it’s actually some evil demon or monster waiting to tear her apart.

  Becca hated that kind of movie—she always wanted to yell at the idiotic character that she was going to get herself killed. Which was pretty much what her own internal voice was saying now. Don’t be a damn fool! Get away from those haunted-ass stairs and get the hell out of here right now! it demanded.

  But as much as she wanted to, Becca couldn’t obey. They had promised to get a cure for the possessed warriors aboard the Mother Ship and they had to go down those creepy stairs to get it.

  “I guess we’re just supposed to go down, huh?” she said in a small voice.

  “I suppose so.” Far must have seen the fear on her face because he took her hand consolingly. “Don’t worry, mi’now, I’m here. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  Truth cleared his throat. “I am also here.”

  Becca gave him a look. “I thought you were angry with me. That you didn’t care anymore.”

  “That doesn’t matter,” Truth growled. “I will still protect you with my life. As any honorable male charged with the safety of a female would,” he went on, a bit too quickly, Becca thought.

  “All right.” She nodded and extended her gloved hand to him. “Then take my other hand.”

  Truth scowled. “I fail to see how that will help protect you.”

  “It won’t. But it will make me feel better.” Becca waved her silver gloved hand invitingly. “Look, we won’t even be touching skin-to-skin. Please, Truth? I…” She bit her lip as she glanced at the yawning mouth of the vast staircase again. “I really need to be between the two of you right now. I need to feel protected.”

  Truth looked at her skeptically and Becca could almost feel him wondering if she was serious or if she was just trying to get him to break down his self-imposed walls.

  To be honest, holding hands with both brothers at once seemed like a good first step to bringing them closer but Becca wasn’t pretending just to get Truth and Far together. For the first time, she truly felt the desire to be between them, to feel herself encircled by their large, male bodies. To be protected by her men.

  Void, or Orthanx or whatever you wanted to call it was a dark, dead, scary place eighty million light years from home. Becca didn’t care if it sounded girly or weak—if she was going to go down those scary-ass steps, she wanted all the protection a