Finding the Jewel Read online

  Chloe wandered uncertainly into the bustling med station which reminded her a little of an ER back home. There was a central nurses’ station with a circular, rounded counter and patient rooms radiating out like spokes on a wheel all around it.

  “Excuse me,” she said to the nice looking Earth girl who was sitting at the station doing some kind of work on an electronic chart. “But can you tell me where Tark the Beast Kindred is?”

  “Oh, the one they brought in yesterday for blood loss?” The girl looked up. “You must be his mate, right?”

  “Um…something like that,” Chloe muttered. She cleared her throat. “I came in with him, anyway. Can you tell me where he is?”

  “Oh, I’m afraid he’s gone already,” the girl said.

  “What?” Chloe was aghast. “Where did he go?”

  “I’m afraid I don’t know.” The girl shook her head. “He left just now—not five minutes ago. I think Doctor Sylvan wanted him to stay for one final check-up but since he healed up so beautifully and was so determined to go we really couldn’t hold him.”

  “But…but…” Chloe shook her head, unable to understand what was going on.

  “Hey, what’s happening? Why aren’t you talking to your man?” Kat and Olivia came up behind her.

  “Because…” Chloe turned to them, fighting back tears. “He…he’s gone. He left and I’ll probably never see him again.”

  “Now, don’t say that, hon!” Kat exclaimed. “If he just left, he can’t get far.”

  “He certainly can’t.” Olivia was frowning. “He was literally right here just five minutes ago. Tell you what,” she told Chloe. “I’ll Bespeak my hubby Baird and make sure he doesn’t leave the ship. He’s in charge of the Fleet so nobody goes in and out without his say-so.”

  “What good will it do to trap him here?” Chloe could feel the tears running down her face. “If he doesn’t want to see me, you might as well let him go!”

  “Now, hon…” Kat began but just then she got a strange, listening look on her face, as though she was talking to someone far away. After a moment she nodded and looked at Chloe again. “Listen, I just got a call from the Communications center. I’m friends with one of the girls down there and she Bespoke me on the Think-me. It seems you’ve got a call, Chloe.”

  “Oh?” Liv frowned. “Is it her family again?”

  “No.” Kat shook her head. “It’s weird but…my friend says it’s some guy with blue skin and orange eyes. Do you know anybody like that, Chloe?”

  “Blue skin and orange eyes?” Chloe frowned. “As a matter of fact…I do,” she said. “The Monks at the Resort of Resonant Oneness, where Tark took me to look for the jewel that would cure him, match that description.”

  “What—all of them?” Kat asked, sounding skeptical.

  “Well, yes.” Chloe nodded. “Because they’re all clones. But I don’t know why one of them would be calling me. Or how they even know Tark and I are here!”

  “Maybe whoever it is can shed some light on the problem between you and your man,” Olivia suggested.

  “She’s right.” Kat nodded eagerly. “Come on, Chloe—Liv will ask Baird to be certain Tark doesn’t leave so you have time to find out what’s going on.”

  “Well…all right.” Chloe shrugged listlessly. Now that Tark didn’t want her anymore, nothing really seemed to matter. But she was willing to take the call to oblige her new friends.

  “Come on,” Kat said. “Back to the Viewing Room!”

  * * * * *

  “Warrior, why do you seek guidance?” The tall priestess with green streaks in her hair and green-within-green eyes glided towards Tark, her feet whisper-silent on the green and purple grass that carpeted the Sacred Grove.

  He had come here straight from the med center, hoping for some kind of absolution, but now Tark found he had no words to say.

  “I n-nuh-nuh…” He shook his head and tried again. “I n-n-n—” This time the words wouldn’t come out at all—it was as though he was completely blocked. He gave up and shook his head in frustration.

  “Come.” The priestess beckoned to him. “I will See Into you, Warrior. Then perhaps I can cure your ills.”

  Though he hated to endure this yet again, Tark realized there was no other way. He nodded and followed her deeper into the Grove until they came to a little clearing among the trees where a marble bench stood.

  “Here.” The priestess nodded at the bench. “You may sit. It will be easier for me to reach you.”

  Tark sat obediently and lifted his face to her as she positioned herself before him.

  “Now then…” The priestess placed cool fingertips on his temples and closed her eyes. “Let us begin.”

  * * * * *

  “My child, I am glad to see you are well.” The head Monk, Aaroni nodded gravely at Chloe as she stood, once again, before the viewscreen.

  “Thank you,” she said hesitantly. “But, well…how did you know I was here?”

  “I asked the resonite for your location,” the monk said. “And it brought me the echo of your whereabouts. I called to be certain of your safety. I cannot say how sorry I am that ex-monk Zaroni sent you into danger. I assure you, he has been and continues to be severely punished.”

  “Good,” Chloe said shortly. She knew it might be rather unforgiving of her, but she couldn’t think of the heartless way the junior monk had sold her to Globber without a shiver. The rotten little clone deserved what he got in her opinion.

  “And how is Tark?” Aaroni asked. “He was most upset when he went after you. I expected him to return with you through the Dimensional Shift. I was concerned when he did not.”

  Chloe felt like someone had stabbed her in the heart at the mention of the man she loved…who apparently no longer loved her. But she lifted her chin and answered bravely.

  “We couldn’t come back that way because Tark lost the jewel you gave him fighting Globber.”

  “Globber?” Aaroni frowned.

  “The Slimerian that little jerk Zaroni sold me to,” Chloe explained. “So we took the Slimerian ship instead and went to the Kindred Mother Ship.”

  “Ah, I see.” Aaroni nodded. “Yes, I was most impressed when he used the crystal—or as you call it ‘the jewel’—to come after you instead of using it to heal himself.”

  “What?” Chloe felt sick. “What did you say? You mean you gave him a choice? That jewel really would have healed him?” She’d had her doubts as to the efficacy of the large, diamond-looking jewel they had found in their sex cubby. But Tark had seemed so certain it was the thing he was seeking, she hadn’t wanted to say anything. After all could any jewel—no matter how mystical—actually cure stuttering?

  But Monk Aaroni was nodding gravely.

  “Oh yes, my dear. The Rainbow Resonite Crystal has healing power as well as the ability to transport someone through dimensions. The crystal Tark had taken—which I ultimately gifted to him—had only enough power to either find you or heal him of his halting speech. I told him as much and he used it to find you without hesitation.”

  “Maybe that’s why he’s upset with me and won’t see me,” Chloe whispered, half to herself. “Maybe he’s mad because he gave up his one chance to be healed in order to rescue me and he thinks it’s all my fault.”

  “I beg your pardon, my child, but that was not my impression at all,” Monk Aaroni said. “To the contrary, when I looked into his mind, I saw that he had great shame and self-loathing over what had happened between the two of you during my Advanced Oneness class. He thought you hated him because of it…and yet he still chose to come after you over healing himself.” He shook his head. “Truly a remarkable example of self-sacrifice.”

  “But what happened between us during the class wasn’t really Tark’s fault!” Chloe exclaimed. “It was that stupid gella mattress you had us on. It sort of…forced us together!”

  The monk’s ancient face grew stern.

  “Yes, Tark said as much also. But I reminded him that