I close my eyes and anticipate the warmth of the sun hugging my skin. With the rains still a month away, this April morning should be one of the hottest of the year. I envision the sun peeking over the tree tops, and I can’t believe it’s been eight months since I’ve seen the sky.
Packed side by side in a receiving bay with the rest of the leadership from Serpent 6, I image I can feel the sun’s rays. Someone jostles me, and I open my eyes. It’s Yetic. I smile. “You ready for this?”
He does his best to suppress a childish grin. “About time we get the go. I was starting to think the administration was going to withhold the prize from the tournament just because they were upset by the way we won.”
“Nah. They wanted to save the best for last. And with only six cadets every week,” I shrug, “it took two months to get to us.”
Cera ads, “At least we get to go before the rainy season.”
We all nod to that—all of us except Olin. He’s standing motionless at the very front of the group and looking straight ahead at the security doors built into the mouth of the cave. He has become increasingly depressed and moody as Zorrah’s absence has grown from days to weeks and now months.
I’m desperately hoping the time above ground and outside the dome of New Teo will refresh his spirits. At the same time, I’m worried he’s too upset with me to allow any joy to come from the experience. Or maybe he’ll refuse to enjoy anything he can’t share with Zorrah. I can’t blame him for his attitude. Even so, I can’t tell him the truth.
If he knew, he would have already tried to find her. He would have gotten caught. With the increasing presence of the mystery man inside my head, I shouldn’t even be thinking about the matter now.
The reminder that my thoughts are no longer my own is unwelcome. How can I defeat an enemy who only reveals himself inside my own mind? In the last few weeks the voice has begun referring to himself as Toltec, an ancient god of my people. That does nothing to help me identify him.
Lately, I’ve had an even more disturbing thought: what if Toltec doesn’t really exist at all? What if the experiences over the past year have begun to erode my brain? I’ve never heard of hallucinations or voices being a side-effect of the twitch, but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen.
“What are we waiting on?” Olin says his first words of the morning.
Yetic responds too quickly, “For the two Ometeotl Guardsmen who’ll be instructing us for the next thirty-six hours.”
“You mean our babysitters?” Olin scoffs. “We’re not old enough to wait outside? They’ve gotta bring us here a half hour early just so we can wait in the mouth of the cave with the sun so close we can taste it?”
I push past the others and put a hand on my brother’s shoulder. He sloughs it off. I use my gentle voice, “It’s not like they did it on purpose. There must have been a delay of some sort.”
“Of course they did it on purpose. First they lock us up underground. Then they take Zorrah. When they promise us a trip to the surface, they make us wait just out of reach to prove they own us.”
“Olin, I understand you’re upset—”
“You don’t understand anything, Ms. Bluehair,” he mimics Instructor Turon in an effort to push my buttons. “You’re already one of them. You can’t see that everything they do is intentional. They’re sending a message in bold letters: we’ve given you everything you have, and we can take it away. But it’s teocauli garbage. They can take my life, but they’ll never own me.”
The shield doors behind us open before I can respond.
“This must be the Serpent 6 group I’ve heard so much about.”
I spin around as two fully-armored Ometeotl Guardsmen, one on each side of a loaded hover sled, join us in the receiving bay. There’s no formal manner of greeting between masazin and ometeotl. I suppose it’s such a rare occurrence that none has ever been developed. Shifting uneasily, I wish I knew what to do with myself.
The taller of the two continues his greeting. “The rest of the 49 were proud of their individual accomplishments, but they couldn’t conceal their respect for your lot.”
My skin tingles and I’m suddenly afraid I might be blushing.
“Which one of you is Cap’n Bluehair?”
I jerk stiff and blink in an effort to clear my head. “Uh, here, sir.” I step forward.
“Of course. I suppose I was expecting…” he hesitates. Through the shielding of his helmet it’s hard to interpret his expression, but it sounds like he’s smiling. “Due to the name and all—”
“Oh, sorry,” I cut him off nervously. “It’s been over eight months since I’ve dyed it.”
The shorter ometeotl elbows the taller one.
The taller one reaches to the back of his helmet, unlocks it from the rest of his suit and removes it. “Obviously.” Flashing a toothy smile, he looks about the same age as Turon, give or take a hundred years. He’s leaner and has an arrogant air, like a two hundred year old version of Neca. “I apologize. After a while, we tend to forget what it was like in the academy.”
Leaving his helmet in place, the shorter one takes over. “As you’re about to discover, life after graduation is a bit different. Hopefully these next thirty-six hours will give you the inspiration you need to push through to the end.”
“Who knows? Maybe in a few years we’ll be partners,” the taller one says before scratching his chin. “What am I forgetting?”
The shorter one clears his throat.
“Oh yes, where are my manners. This is Chechen,” the tall one indicates his shorter partner. “And you can call me Gronk. We’ll go by given names to keep it simple.” He snaps his fingers. “Now let me see if I can remember. There’s Calli of course.”
I feel my skin growing hot again.
“Which one is Yetic?” One by one, Gronk recalls our names from memory and we identify ourselves.
I’m shocked by the casualness of it all.
“Alright now that we’ve finished the introductions, we’ll skip the formalities.” Gronk reattaches his helmet. “I’m assuming you’ve been briefed as to the nature of our assignment. I apologize for the inequity in our armament. But I suppose being immortal has its perks.” With his helmet on, the attempt at humor misses the mark.
Most of us attempt a courtesy laugh. Olin of course remains surely.
“Let’s do this.” Gronk strides through the middle of us and places a hand on the charged exterior door. It begins to swim with color. “Chechen will take the lead, then you guys, and I’ll bring up the rear with the hover sled. It’s an hour hike to our first stop, so enjoy the sites.”
Chechen pauses at the door to speak into his mission recorder. “S&P detail, patrol 21 departing at 8:34 sharp.” He breathes deeply and walks straight through the solid iron door.
“Now on with the rest of you, one at a time just to keep it simple.” Gronk waves us through with one hand while keeping the other in contact with the shimmering surface.
Yetic goes first, then Olin and Tenoch and T’zan.
Cera pauses before following the boys. “When do we learn how to do this?” She indicates the swirling iron door.
Gronk laughs, “Oh I’m sure you’ll pick it up. Barrier phasing is a must for the scout and probe detail.”
Cera nods and disappears through the door. The colors of the rainbow ripple across its surface as if each of us were a rock tossed into a vertical pond. Neca catches my eye before he passes through.
We’re both thinking about the time we phased through the shield dome around Immortal City. The obvious difference is that Gronk isn’t embracing each of us as we phase through. It occurs to me that Neca might have improvised that part just for kicks. I want to be mad at him, but the memory is one of my favorites during the short time we had together.
“You’re up,” Gronk nods while using telekinesis to position the hover sled directly behind me.
I stride toward the swirling patterns of color and close my eyes. Sunshine here I come.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read this scene of Boundaries, Season 2 of The Green Ones. I’ll be publishing FREE daily scenes from The Green Ones until…I die…or something terrible happens. Seriously, I’ve got over 100 scenes written so far, and I’ll be writing more until the story reaches its natural ending. You are totally welcome to read the entire story for FREE! If at any point you decide you would rather finish the story in ebook or print format, just click the buttons below and you can do that as well. If you enjoy reading the serial releases, BUT you would also like to support me as a writer (my kids need wine!) please subscribe to my premium content for bonus scenes, exclusives, and insider access to my process. And of course, I’d be grateful if you would share this post with any of your reader friends who you think would enjoy The Green Ones. Happy reading!