Page 40 of The Void

“Jain,” he said softly. “She is nature. Her smell is overwhelmingly natural. I could fly out, find her, and ask her to come watch out for you. She must still be close by.”

Mia’s eyebrows shot up. “Do you think she would do that?”

He shrugged. “She and her brother brought me here on your orders. She didn’t harm me in any way. Actually, she seemed concerned about my health and about appeasing you.”

Mia frowned. “I didn’t put out any order to bring you here. By the time I found out you were here, you were less than a day away.”

Lucas frowned and shook his head. “Then who gave the order?”

“It must have been Pandora and Elpis,” Mia suggested. “Do you think Jain will helps us?”

“I can at least ask. If not, then we’ll go with my plan.” Before she could argue, he stood up. “I’ll meet you on the roof.” He leaned down and brushed his lips against hers before leaving.

When Beth came back to the table and told her that Jessup would be waiting for her, she finished her drink and headed up the stairs to the roof.

She didn’t know what she had expected Jessup to look like—maybe skinny and frail, like every science nerd she knew back home—but the man that stood in the center of the roof garden looking at the night sky through a rather odd telescope reminded her of Chris Hemsworth.

She was thankful it was a little dark and even more thankful Lucas wasn’t there to see her drool a little.

“You’re Jessup?” she asked when he turned towards her.

He frowned at her. “I don’t speak the new tongue,” he said in the old language.

“It’s okay, we can talk like this,” she replied in same language.

The man relaxed. “Beth said you had a question for me?” He turned back to the machine.

“Do you know when the moons and suns will be in alignment next?” she asked him.

He chuckled, then glanced at her. “Oh, you’re serious?” He frowned. Then he motioned towards the sky. “Tonight. I’d wager in about three hours.”

“What?” She frowned and glanced up at the sky. Sure enough, already the three moons were growing closer to one another. “What about the suns?” she asked, glancing around the dark skies.

“They align on the other side.” He motioned in the opposite direction. “They will rise and fall briefly, just for the alignment. For roughly half an hour. Then we will have perfect alignment.” He smiled at her.

“Why don’t the others know of this?” she asked, thinking of why Beth didn’t simply tell her that it was tonight.

He shrugged. “It is not what matters to them. We have long shed our beliefs that these patterns are important. I study them as a hobby.” He smiled.

Mia felt her stomach roll. “Three hours?” She glanced off to the line of fires in the hills. That’s when she was supposed to meet her brother. Was that significant? Did Lei know something she didn’t?

Lucas was out there somewhere, right now, and didn’t know that tonight meant so much more than they’d thought.

“Is that all?” Jessup asked her, sounding a little annoyed that she was eating up his time.

She nodded and turned to go, but then turned back to him.

“How old are you?” she asked him. She hadn’t wanted to ask Beth or the general. But she doubted she would see Jessup again after tonight.

He frowned at her. “Old?”

“How many years have you been here?” she tried.

He shook his head. “Years?”

She waved her hand. “Cycles? How many sunrises and sunsets have you witnessed?”

“All of them,” he answered, as if that would explain it.