Day 98
{Day 98}
On the way to the Stein’s, all packed together in the old car, Nico watched the moon. She had always felt a camaraderie with the night, especially after Amy died. The darkness was the only place she could go to find peace—maybe because it reflected the absence inside of her or maybe just because she didn’t have to hide when no one could see her anyway. But when Karolina kissed her for the first time, earnest and golden, Nico realized the sun’s embrace could be just as alluring. She had felt whole. More than that, she had remembered why feeling whole mattered. Standing there in that moment, with Karolina’s hands on her face, Karolina’s fingers in her hair, Nico remembered how the day always complemented the night without diminishing it. She was stunned she ever could have forgotten.
Nico rolled down her window to feel the warm twilight breeze hit her face. The sun had set. She was at home again now, with the moon. And she was ready to battle in its silver light.
{Day 2}
Nico sat outside the hostel, staring up at the stars from the top of the hill. She was cold, the evening wind blowing across her bare arms, but she ignored it. In fact, in some ways she welcomed the discomfort. She should be cold. She had let Karolina distract the drone. She had let her sacrifice herself, and now Jonah had her.
Alex had tried to keep everyone calm, come up with a plan, but with Molly beside herself over losing track of Gert, Xavin unable to understand the full spectrum of human emotion, and Nico unreachable and inconsolable, it was clear that they would be able to piece themselves back together only after they allowed themselves to fall apart. Molly had disappeared into her bedroom, and Alex busied himself at his computer. No one noticed or cared where Xavin and Leslie went.
But Nico couldn’t go back into the treehouse. She couldn’t look at the bed she and Karolina had slept in together, memories of rainbows glinting across the walls. She couldn’t pick up Karolina’s yellow jacket or her rings or the stupid tiara that was still sitting on the dresser. She had cried through sunset, letting sobs silently rack her body as she replayed her last moments with Karolina over and over in her mind.
The way Karolina had smiled when Nico had said “I lamp you” had been enough for Nico to know she could never love anyone the way she loved the girl standing in front of her right then. Her miracle was so much more than her ability to glow or fly—it was Karolina herself. Always finding the hope in desperation, the compassion in turmoil.
Nico cried as hard as she ever had, so desperate for air that unconsciousness threatened to overwhelm her, but she pushed it back. She wanted to feel the pain. She needed it. Pain had kept her alive before, it had motivated her before. She knew she could channel it again.
But not yet. Because, at least for the first full day of it, the pain was winning.
Her tears had stopped eventually, after the last rays of sun faded across the horizon, leaving only traces of purple against a quickly blackening sky. She was alone again, in the night. It had just never felt so dark before.
Nico shivered involuntarily and then jumped as a blanket spread across her shoulders. She spun around, expecting to see Alex.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. You looked like you might be getting cold out here.”
Leslie’s eyes, Nico noticed for the first time, were almost the exact shade of blue as Karolina’s. She swallowed back the fresh heat in her throat and managed a nod.
“Thanks.”
Leslie took a step closer, her eyes searching Nico’s tear-stained face. “Do you mind if I sit with you for a minute? I needed to get some fresh air.”
Nico nodded again, jaw clenched, and turned back toward the sky. She knew that Leslie was a murderer, an untrustworthy criminal who had done the right thing only when doing the wrong thing finally stopped benefitting her. But Nico also knew that Leslie loved Karolina. And for that moment, in the dark, their shared grief was enough.
“You know, growing up Karolina was such a happy kid. She was the cutest little girl, all blonde hair and toothy smiles and big blue eyes. She used to come home from school and talk to me for hours about how she had learned to play hopscotch or spell a new word or paint a picture. It’s funny, but I was just never worried about her because she always managed to see the best in life, from the very beginning.”
Nico looked over at Leslie, who was staring down into the city lights, caught in her memory.
“The first time she told me about you was when she was 9 years old. You two already knew each other, of course, from the Pride meetings, but I think that must have been the year she really noticed you for the first time. She came home from school, and she said that Nico has the prettiest hair she’s ever seen because it shines in the sunlight like gold.”
Leslie chuckled, and Nico felt her looking at her, but she didn’t turn.
“I told her that gold was yellow, and your hair was black, but she just laughed and said it was ‘like black gold then, Mom.’ Frank heard her and he played along, told her that black gold was the most valuable kind because it’s the rarest, and she got all serious— you know, that same expression she has now with her eyes just round and sincere.”
Nico nodded despite herself, unable to stop new tears from tracing down her cheeks.
“She looked at him like that, and she just nodded like she had never heard anything more true in her life.”
Leslie swallowed, taking a breath to steady her suddenly shaking voice. “For the next few years, we heard about you all the time—Nico this, Nico that, Nico wears eyeliner so why can’t I, Nico likes Pink Floyd, Nico said the funniest thing in English class, Nico is so good at math—“
Nico snorted, biting her lip. “I was terrible at math.”
Leslie laughed. “Well, as far as Karolina was concerned, you could do no wrong.”
They sat quietly, both lost in the past, before Leslie continued.
“But then after a while, she stopped talking about you, stopped talking about anyone really,” Leslie explained, her tone growing increasingly serious. “She got more quiet, more involved with the church. She always stayed friendly, always positive, but I worried she was lonely. I was worried that being involved in Gibborum was isolating her.”
“Yeah, well, cults have a tendency to do that,” Nico shot back before she could stop herself. “She tried so hard to be whatever you wanted that it took her finding out you were a murderer before she even considered that it might be okay to just be herself.”
“I know,” said Leslie, her voice low. “Believe me, I regret that more than I can say. And I will for the rest of my life. There was a time, after Amy died—“
Nico stiffened at the words, and she straightened, staring straight ahead into nothing.
“I was so afraid. I watched Karolina, watched all of you, losing each other. It’s going to sound crazy, but I’m almost glad you found out what we were doing that day at the Wilder’s house. Karolina, you, Molly, Alex, everyone… you’ve created a family in a way that we never did. And I’ve never seen Karolina happier than when she’s with you.”
They sat in silence for a moment, both staring out into the night. Nico swiped at her eyes, hating the tears that kept coming.
“I let her distract that drone alone,” Nico whispered, choking on the words. “I couldn’t even—I couldn’t do anything to protect her. I couldn’t talk, couldn’t tell her that I... I couldn’t do anything but stand there.”
“Nico,” Leslie moved her hand to Nico’s blanket covered arm, and Nico finally met her eyes. “You can find her. You can save her. I know you can. And please, take the advice of someone who would give anything to go back and follow it herself—take care of your family. All of them. They need you, so don’t give up.”
{Day 98}
When they were four blocks from Chase’s house, Alex broke the tense silence.
“Remember, this can’t be like last time. We can’t let them manipulate us into giving up.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” Chase snapped back, “neither one of your parents is inhabited by an alien that’s slowly taking over their brain.”
“You know what, you’re right, my parents are just in prison for the rest of their lives taking the rap for murders that all of our parents committed. My bad.”
“Knock it off, both of you,” said Molly. “The only way this is going to work is if we stick together.”
“Look, I know I was the one that called it last time, but we’re moving too early,” Alex answered, “the Fistigons aren’t ready yet, and the virus I was planning on planting isn’t finished—“
“It doesn’t matter if we’re ready.” Nico’s voice was soft, but her tone ended the discussion. “I saw them putting her back in the box. If we don’t do this tonight, Karolina’s dead.”
{Day 69}
They hadn’t tried to get Karolina as soon as Molly demanded, but between Nico’s insistence that she would leave alone and Molly’s constant barrage of questioning as to when they were going to actually try and do something about the situation, Alex and Chase finally agreed to a mission. Chase had wanted to stay with Gert, but she reminded him that it wasn’t 1952, she could take care of herself, and Old Lace was a better guard than he was anyway. Nico knew that despite all of that, Gert wanted him to stay. She had never been more grateful for Gert’s bravery. They needed all the help they could get.
Only it turned out that all the help they could get was nowhere near enough.
“Stacey, no!”
Molly was staring at Stacey, who was propping Karolina, unconscious, up in one arm and standing in front of Tina. Her hand was glowing.
Nico groaned and rolled over, forcing herself onto her knees. She managed to hold the spell that had temporarily blocked Jonah, but the viciousness of her mother’s attack had caught her off guard. Tina’s last kick had dislocated Nico’s shoulder, and her hand was shaking with the effort of gripping the staff. Alex was standing next to Nico, blood dripping from his nose, and Chase was on the floor, holding the leg that hadn’t had nearly enough time to heal after the car crash with one hand and pointing a Fistigon at Tina with the other.
“Look, it’s a simple choice,” Stacey said, the voice of the alien so unlike Stacey’s usual happy chirp that it made her words all the more unnerving. “You either leave now or I kill one of these two. My daughter can find another host, and frankly, this one,” she tilted her toward Karolina, “is not worth all that much to us anymore. Her energy is more or less sapped regardless.”
Molly looked at Nico, eyes wide. “What do we do?”
“We leave,” Alex said.
Nico shook her head, her breathing shallow with pain.
Alex looked down at her, and the slight nod of his head filled her eyes with tears.
“You shouldn’t have to make this decision, Nico, so I’m making it for us. We’re leaving. You’re not going to decide between the life of your mom and the life of your girlfriend, not tonight.”
Molly nodded at him, and then sprinted to Chase, hoisting him easily across her shoulders. Alex followed them toward the door, but Nico didn’t move. She couldn’t move, not with Karolina right there—so close, and looking even more worrisome in person. She couldn’t leave her.
“We will come back for her,” Alex shouted, from the doorway. “I promise.”
“Nico,” Molly called, “please. I can’t lose you, too.”
And so Nico staggered to her feet, backing out of the room, watching as Stacey allowed Karolina’s limp body to slip the floor. Nico held the spell until she passed out, a mile away from the Stein’s. The darkness was a relief.
{Day 98}
If Jonah hadn’t been standing outside the lab, Alex’s plan to take the aliens by surprise might have worked. Chase set the precedent for their new plan, however, when he blew Jonah off the lawn and into the pool without blinking. His Fistigons were apparently more ready than they had given him credit for.
“Freeze!” Nico yelled, instinctually imitating her mother. The water shimmered and froze, the surface hardening instantly.
Gert’s mouth dropped open. “What are you doing? We can’t kill him!”
“We’re not going to,” Nico shouted, sprinting toward the lab’s entrance. “Chase, stay out here and break the ice after he passes out but before he drowns, okay?”
Chase nodded. “Can you guys handle Tina and Stacey on your own?”
“Not looking like we have much of a choice,” Molly yelled, easily yanking the outer door off its hinges and disappearing inside.
Nico glanced back at Chase, Fistigons pointed down at the pool his father was trapped in, and then she ducked through the door and into the lab.
Tina had obviously heard them coming because by the time Nico made it inside, Molly was sprawled on the floor. Nico shot a spell at her, but Tina dodged it, backing up toward the two glowing boxes at the back of the room.
“Molly!” Gert shouted, dropping to her knees at her sister’s side.
Nico jumped back as a shot of light flew past her face, the heat still buzzing in the air when she rolled away.
“Alex!” she shouted, “can you figure out how to get Karolina out of the box without waking up evil ginger alien mother over there?”
Her only response was a grunt as Alex dropped to the floor to avoid another barrage of light from Tina, but she saw out of the corner of her eye that he was making his way toward the computers.
“Nico,” Tina said, using a tone that Nico could tell was supposed to sound like her mother’s voice instead of an imposter’s, “I know we can work this out. I don’t want it to come to violence.”
“Since when,” Nico answered, launching a set of ropes from the staff toward Tina, who burned them to nothing with a flick of her hand.
“She’s in the right box, Nico,” yelled Alex, typing furiously on the keyboard. “Just give me two more minutes.”
“You know what,” Tina said, jumping forward and catching Nico off guard with the sudden aggression, “for a mother, this woman sure doesn’t like you very much.”
The stream of light hit Nico in the side as she was spinning to avoid it, and she hurtled across the room. Nico’s vision exploded with stars, her back slamming into unforgiving metal. All the air was pushed from her lungs, and she heard one of her ribs crack.
“Nico!”
Her head lolled forward, red dancing in the corners of her vision, but she used the staff to push herself to her feet. With a jolt, she realized the metal box she hit was Karolina’s—where she was standing was the closest she’d been to her in 98 days.
“Bitch slap,” she croaked, pointing the staff at Tina and watching with some satisfaction as a sudden wind seemed to spring from nowhere and whack Tina across the face so hard it knocked her into the wall.
“How’s it coming, Alex?” she panted, pain radiating from her ribs with every breath.
“Try opening the box,” he answered, not looking up. “I think I got it unlocked.”
Nico spun on the spot and tentatively pushed the lid of the box. It shifted. Hands shaking, she took a deep breath and shoved the lid as hard as she could, sliding it three quarters of the way off. It was enough. As carefully as possible, Nico reached inside and gently ran her fingers across Karolina’s cheek and jaw. She was warm. She was alive.
Relief flooded through her system so fast that her legs felt weak beneath her, but she turned toward the others, eyes shining.
“You guys, she’s alive,” Nico told them, unable to stop the smile from spreading across her face. “She’s alive.”
Suddenly the lid to the second box flew off, and Stacey jumped out, looking only mildly less like her entire body had developed a serious case of dandruff than she had in the staff’s projection hours before.
Tina, groaning, stood up as well. The two woman looked at each other and then shot bolts of light at Nico, one after the other. Nico ducked down behind the box, not daring to leave Karolina’s side.
“I thought you said it was safe to open the box,” Nico shouted.
“No, I said it was unlocked,” answered Alex, diving out of the way of a computer-frying beam, “two different things.”
Just then a chair flew across the room and hit Stacey in the face, knocking her back down into her box, and Nico turned to see Gert running behind a car for cover. Molly army crawled forward, narrowly avoiding Tina’s latest shot.
“I can carry Karolina,” she said, “if you can give me some cover to get out of here.”
Nico nodded, shooting a shield spell over the box and standing up again, ignoring the fiery protest from her ribs. She glanced down at Karolina to make sure she was still okay, and her breath caught in her chest.
“Nico?” the voice was soft and rough, like it hadn’t been used in a long time. But it was there, and it was unmistakable. Karolina was looking up at Nico, her eyes glistening and full of warmth as they searched Nico’s face.
“Nico,” she said again, just that, like it was enough and always had been just to have Nico there, and even though it was dangerously absurd timing, Nico leaned down into the box and kissed her. Karolina’s lips were chapped, and her fingers were freezing when she reached up and cupped Nico’s face in her hand. But as Nico breathed her in, the only thing that she could think about was that after all this time of being a runaway, she had finally come home again.
“Guys, I think we should really get out of here,” Molly said, unable to hide the smile from her voice. “Not to, like, ruin the moment or anything.”
Tina shot a beam of light at the car Gert was hiding behind, exploding the engine in a burst of energy. Gert shrieked and jumped behind a different one.
“FYI, the moment will be ruined forever if one of us gets barbecued right now,” Alex yelled. “Let’s go!”
Nico stood up.
“Safe passage,” she shouted, and then, looking down into Karolina’s eyes one more time, she added one word— “home.”