Artemis

Stella Constinight

CHAPTER         I

Wind bit into my clothes and froze me to the bone as snow kissed my exposed skin. My shoes were wet, my toes numb. Each breath was ice going through my nose and down my throat to my lungs. My hands were gloved and tightly fisted and still I could not feel them, my lips chapped. The black sweater and scarf I wore were no protection from this bitter cold. My hair was packed inside a winter cap and my ears burned from the cold. How did people live like this?

         I opened my eyes and looked at the frozen white around me. Wind blew snow across the miles of white without a thing to block its path. I looked up and the sky was gray with snow clouds, not a trace of the sun to even be glimpsed. The wind did its best to knock me over, my clothes flapping behind me with its effort, yet I stood solidly in place and looked on.

        The small gravestone engraved only with numbers at my feet made my heart hurt. I looked back down at it, watching as the snow was already covering the simple marking. Soon it would be forgotten as all the others were. No one would be out here to check on the graves and make sure the markings stayed in place so they could be easily read. People only came out here to bury others. No one came here to remember those lost, to see old friend’s final resting place.

         “Harken,” I whispered. Tears stung my eyes and I lowered my head away from him. He would be furious to see me now, letting myself feel like humans did and cry. If he were still alive, he’d order me to more training as punishments. “I’m so sorry, Harken. I failed you.”

My shoulders slumped and tears streamed down my cheeks burning my skin as the winds immediately dried them. I clasped my hands together and hunched into myself to try and warm up. It did nothing.

“I won’t forget you, Harken,” I promised. “I won’t forget your place here with the others. I will keep your marker clean and readable. I’ll bring you our secret sunflowers once a week, frozen in their beauty and never fading.”

Stella

I stood straight and jerked my chin high. “What is it?” I asked, pressing my finger to my little earpiece.

You’re needed.

“Why?”

Remember your place, girl.

I flinched inwardly and stood taller. “Sir,” I said in apology.

We have found you a new handler. Report now.

The connection went silent and my hand fell to my side once more. I looked down at Harken’s place in the ground. I wanted to remain where I was and morn my loss for a while longer. I wanted to continue to feel this pain and cold so common to humans, when I returned I knew I wouldn’t be able to.

Already I could feel the sting of my punishment and I heard Harken’s voice in my head to hurry. I rolled my shoulders and let the power run free again. Fire scorched its way through my veins as my power flew free. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

My skin warmed, my clothes dried, the air no longer felt weakening or painful but life-giving and warm. I stretched out my fingers and felt the strings snap as power filled me wholly. The stone burned intensely in my chest and I shuddered from something I just controlled. I licked my lips and managed a small smile as I relished in the feeling of who I was.

I opened my eyes and there was a flash of gold as everything around me sharpened fifty-fold. I could even see home from here now, a black speck in the whiteout. I bent to Harken’s marking and wrote over his numbers, adding just enough force to deepen them. It should last a little longer now, I hoped.

I stood tall and nodded once last time to Harken. “I’ll return soon, my friend.” With my power free again inside of me my human feelings were already gone. It felt silly to me now to have cried at a loss, I felt foolish for having come out here at all.

I leaped into the air and flew in a blur home. I needed to get to my rooms and changed into my uniform before they found me missing. Time seemed to slow as I flew and I watched each snowflake taken in some strange pattern to the ground.

The black speck grew until it was the familiar twenty-three story, gray stone prison I was used to. It wasn’t really a prison, there just wasn’t another world I could think to call it. It was massive with hundreds of rooms you had to have keycards or codes to get into. The fifth floor was used as a cafeteria with metal tables and benches and angry, cold people preparing your food. The first four levels were nothing but training rooms with traditional equipment. Windows were on the fifth level and above and few and far between made of bulletproof glass with metal bars across.

The hallways were cold and narrow. There were no decorations and everything was gray stone. The instructors were cruel and always had pinched faces and narrowed eyes. No one ever spoke to anyone and always looked angry. The infirmary was the only place constantly warm and with a bit of color, and that was the white beds and curtains. The lights inside flickered for no reason and were oddly bluish.

I darted to the twenty-first floor and right through the six-foot walls. I landed on my feet silently and dusted the snow off my clothes, then ran to my closet and grabbed my uniform. I yanked off my civilian clothes and jerked on my gray leggings. I pulled my gray dress over my head and made sure it fell to my knees; then I checked to make sure the sleeves ended at a diamond point on my wrists. I grabbed my steel boots and zipped them on, they stopped halfway up my calf and the heels were deadly sharp.

I checked the mirror and wrapped the thick gray belt around my thin waist. I grabbed my white cloak and slung it over my shoulders as a knock sounded on my front door. I cringed knowing I’d get punished now, and ran to my front room. I went to smooth my hair and instead caught my cap. I yanked it off and shoved it behind a pillow on the couch. I shook my hair out and it fell down my back in careful waves.

 I opened the door and a guard stood there scowling at me. He pulled a thin plastic tube from his pants pocket and removed the lid. A razor sharp piece of silver fell into his hand and he took my left hand in his. He pressed the silver to my palm and drew it across deeply. Blue blood flowed freely from the wound.

I caught my breath and yanked my hand back, gripping it in my right. The sting threatened to bring tears to my eyes and the silver made me feel weak and sickly. My palm would heel in a few hours with only the faintest of scars left behind, but right now I was in pain. I concentrated and the blood stopped flowing.

“You were called for a minute ago, Stella,” the guard barked at me. He put the silver in its tube and back in his pocket. “Where were you?” he turned on his heel and started down the short hallway and to the single elevator.

“I apologize, sir,” I said through tight lips. “I was busy with personal matters. I was coming when you arrived.”

“That is no excuse, Stella, and you know it.” The guard pressed the button and the doors opened silently.

The General, as he was called, stepped out of the elevator and glared at me so intently I visibly shook. The man was easily sixty-five and still as sharp and deadly as he was when he was fifteen. He was well muscled and covered in scares from near death battles. His hair was cut short and jet black. His right eye was green, his left had a jagged gray line through it from a missed poisoned arrow. Blind in his left eye, he relied on his missing left ear to hear everything he couldn’t see. He was terrifying, even to me, his voice so thick and cold it would make anyone cower in fear. He wore his ranking color of navy and polished black shoes like they were a second skin.

Two people stood in the elevator with their backs board straight, chins held high. They looked like they had just come from some horrible battle from the small rips in their clothing and the blood covering their faces and most everything else to be seen. Still, they appeared not even a little ashamed of their dress in front of the General.

The man wore the color of an assassin in black.  I turned my attention to him for a moment and stopped breathing. He was tall and broad-shouldered with silvery white hair and piercing blue eyes. His features were sharp, and he kept his hair long and tied back at the nape of his neck. His uniform was tight over his muscled body. I could feel the power and danger radiating off of him like waves from a storm.

I searched over the female and couldn’t see anything special about her. Her pixie hair was blue with pale blue highlights. Her face was soft, yet strong, and her large eyes were bottomless pits of brown and blue. Her lips were plump and wine colored, though right now they were a thin frown. Her yellow uniform of the undecided fit her short, thin frame well and made her hair seem even brighter than I knew it undoubtedly was.

The General pointed his meaty finger at me and said, “This is Stella. She is never seen, never heard, not wanted by anyone.”

He paused and for a moment the two new people seemed surprised and hopeful as they looked at me. My eyes narrowed and they snapped to attention once more, looking just as cold as before. The General mistook my look as distrust to the new people and stood a little taller, pleased with himself at finding someone I didn’t like.

He looked to the two and went on. “She is the secret no one knows, the force no one speaks of, the weapon whispered only by the highest level of intelligence. Those who know of her are killed when they no longer have a use. There is not a scrap of paper with any mention of her on it, and any trace of her existence is eradicated at the source.

“With this power, I find it necessary to have a handler. Her previous handler just died yesterday on a mission. One of you will be replacing him. You will also disappear. Whatever your ranking, your history, the name you made for yourself will be dissolved in acid. No one will speak or think of you again. There will be no marker on your grave, no number assigned to your death, no thought gone into your burial.” He stopped and looked at me.

I took a step forward and clasped my hands behind my back. Speaking as clearly and confidently as I could, I tried to sound uncaring and intimidating to these strangers. “As my handler, you will be in charge of my life. When I get up, when I eat, when and how long I train, what missions I go on, who may hire me and for what price, and when I go to bed. You will make sure I never leave my rooms. No one is caught on my floors, no one sees or hears me. Should my name or description get out you will find the source and kill them. My life is in your hands. You will never be seen again and will be just as much of a ghost as I am. The only way you get out of this job is if you die doing it.” I stepped back and bowed my head for the General.

“Her weakness is silver,” the General spoke. “Any amount is weakening. A large amount could even kill her. You will carry a sharp piece of it on you at all times. Should she do anything you do not like you use it. Cut her, hold it to her skin, set it next to her, make a necklace and drape it around her neck, I don’t care. She is a weapon, a tool, a power we must control. Bits of silver protects her floors she cannot touch. Her door handles, the elevators, the windows and such are all laced with it. Your new uniform will have enough silver in it to keep her away from you.”

He looked at me and I held up my hand, showing them my wound. “She bleeds blue,” he said. “When she did not arrive in a timely fashion at her summoning she was punished. She heals quickly and there will be no scare, but the pain will be her reminder.”

Without a word, the General went to the second elevator and pressed the down button. The doors slid open soundlessly and he stepped into the center. The strangers went to his side and stood as far back as possible from behind his massive frame. The doors shut and they disappeared. I turned to my guard and laid my hand on his shoulder while he crossed his arms in anger. I closed my eyes and suddenly we were weightless as we dropped through the floor and down three stories. I made sure that we landed firmly on the ground before releasing the guard right as the elevator doors opened and revealed an angry looking General.

He walked out first and the other two followed suit quickly, then stood at attention with their hands behind their back.

“You have passed your other tests and beaten your other opponents. Now just the two of you remain. Only one handler is needed and I have brought you both here to finish the job. This is your final test and whoever lives will have control of Stella. Begin," the General ordered and stepped back.

The guard and I went to stand by the General as he leaned against a wall, his eyes with a slight glint of excitement. He did not look at me as I approached him and I made sure to stand several feet away. Once I’d dared to stand three feet from his side and he had engraved a memory on me I was sure never to forget. I was a weapon, not a person, and as such I had no right to stand by his side.

The man struck first and she easily deflected. She attacked next and he sidestepped without a blink of the eye. They rolled and struck, attacked and dodged, leaped and swung their weapons again and again for several minutes without ever really touching each other. They were holding back. I watched as he swung his left-handed dagger at her throat and when she knocked it away he came up towards her chest, she jumped up and backward in a second with the blade just missing her. It was a move I could see coming, somehow she’d seen it, too.

I noticed at that moment, right before he came upwards with his right dagger, her eyes closed and a yellowish haze surrounded her. As the haze swept over her, she leaped up and managed to get away from his strike. When she landed several feet away she opened her eyes and looked at him.

Neither of them were human. I knew it. I knew what they were. I knew the power they had inside of them probably better than they did. She was easily explained, might even be happy to find out. But him? He wasn’t even supposed to exist, let alone be here. Knowing what I knew I couldn’t let this go on. But how to stop it? Neither of them would do what needed to be done to win; there was something between them which would make that impossible.

I turned slightly to the General and bowed stiffly to him. He took a deep, slow breath to let me know how annoyed he was and tore his eyes away from the fighting. His anger and hatred were always clear to me, but right now it seemed more so.

“Sir,” I whispered. “I believe we should let them both live.”

His eyes grew wide for a millisecond and then they narrowed sharply. “Why would you say that?”

“Sir, because I believe them to be very skilled and useful,” I lowered my head meekly. “They have killed the others and have been going on like this for some time without so much as a tear in clothing. If you allow them to live I believe two handlers will be better than one. They will both watch out for me and make sure your orders are carried out. Also, should one fall in battle I will have another already in place and trained. That is my humble opinion, sir.” I bowed lowly and kept my head down until he gave me leave to do otherwise.

I didn’t know if I should save the two strangers or not, but I knew I couldn’t let them kill each other. It was my job to protect their kind, my sworn duty, and I would at least try. Then again, what if they were just like every other person here and abused me when they got the chance? Maybe letting them kill each other wasn’t such a bad thing. No. They weren’t. They couldn’t be. I knew better than to trust them right away, but I’d give them a chance before letting them fall.

Four pieces of round silver sliced across my cheek and I gasped and stumbled. My jaw shot up in pain and the taste of blood and silver filled my mouth. My mind spun and I managed to catch myself quickly, standing back in place as stiff as ever. The coldness of my blood ran down my cheek and neck and I dared not move to wipe it away. It stained my collar and cape as it flowed freely and I willed myself to stop bleeding. The pain brought tears to my eyes and I blinked them away in a second.

“Do not share your unwanted opinion again, Stella,” the General growled. I nodded once and turned back to watch the two work.

After a few more minutes of pointless fighting, the General clapped his hands together and they stopped. He motioned them forward and in a few seconds they were in place and calmly breathing. He looked over them carefully and paced back and forth with his hands behind his back. The angry air about him keeping everyone else silent.

“I am growing tired of watching you two dance around like this is some sort of game,” he finally broke the tense silence. “It is clear to me you both have extreme talent. I feel it would be a waste to have one or both of you killed at this time. This has never happened before and I doubt it will ever happen again, but I have decided to keep you both on. You will work together on handling Stella and I expect her to be even better than she is now. This also saves me the trouble of having to find someone new in a few years when one of you dies. I will already have another.”

He turned to the guard who brought me here and said, “Take them to Stella’s rooms. Order the appropriate clothing and necessities for them both.” The General turned to the man in black and women in yellow and narrowed his eyes. “I’ll have a detailed list of your duties and expectations sent down to you in an hour. I will expect weekly reports from both of you every Wednesday morning before eight a.m. Dismissed.”

They took the only elevator and in a second were gone. The General said nothing to me and I prepared to follow my handlers. A heavy hand gripped my shoulder and pulled me back.

“Stay a moment, Stella,” the General ordered. He turned me to face him and searched my eyes carefully. “I do not like you thinking, Stella. It’s dangerous for you. I do not like you believing you can share your opinions either. I did not give you leave to speak to me. I did not ask for your advice. I question your motives as to why I was to let them both live.”

“I have no motives, General,” I replied softly. And it was true. As he searched my eyes for any hint of a lie he would not find it.

There was a long and tense silence before he released me and took a step back. “Fine, Stella, have it your way. I do not trust you, I have never trusted you. If there is anything even slightly out of place with you or your new handlers I will find out about it and drown you in silver dust. Is that clear?”

The blood drained from my face at the threat and the General’s cruel smile appeared. I bowed lowly and took a step towards the door. “Completely clear, sir. There will never be anything out of place, sir, I can promise you.”

“As though your word means anything to me,” he yelled. “Get out of my sight before I rethink why I let you live in the first place.”

I bowed and turned to leave before he hit me again.

“And take the elevator,” he ordered.

I froze only a second before following his order. Even as I pressed the button my hand started shaking. I stepped through open doors and rode silently to my room, not so much as bad music to fill the quiet.

I hated this elevator more than anything else I had been given here. Everything was silver and each time I got too close to it I felt weak and feverish. In my rooms, I kept a safe distance away so as not to feel its effects, but riding in it there was no escaping. My hearts raced and my head spun. I felt hot and cold and powerless. My shoulders sagged and my head was bowed, my eyes closed tightly. It was designed to keep me from trying to escape, and it was more than working.

Finally, it came to a stop and the doors opened, I was allowed to leave and I did so happily. The guard was leading the new people to the three rooms they were allowed to choose from and went down a quick list of rules they were to follow. I heard him saying something about food and I started to feel a little stronger, I was starving.  They were ordered to change and after they picked their rooms the guard didn’t have much else to say. The tour didn’t last more than a couple of minutes and the guard left us alone without a glance at me. The training room doors opened, and the General appeared for only a second before stepping into the other elevator. The guard was forced to ride down with him, and joy lifted my heart just a tiny bit. Once the elevator doors closed, I took ten steps away from it and leaned against a stone pillar to try and catch my breath.

I have three floors here. Two and a half for my personal training and the other half is for living. I have the side which faces East so I might have the sun’s healing powers every morning, my handlers would have the North side. The South and West sides were walled off for their training. Where the East and North met in a square were the middle grounds. It had a kitchen, dining and living room set up off of the elevators.

Everything here was gray stone and cold. The living room had three long gray couches that were like bricks they were so stiff. There was a metal coffee table with a glass top on a white rug and no end tables. The TV was large and only got news channels. I never watched it. The kitchen was all white and gray and glass. There was a large stove and gray granite counter for meals. The sink was stainless steel and deep and wide. There was a large refrigerator that was used maybe in a fancy restaurant filled with foods of all kind. The dining room had a glass and metal table large enough for eight with metal chairs and white cushions. Since the windows were so sparse and so far away from the center space, the area was lit with hockey puck lighting every few feet.

I rolled my shoulders as I felt better and remembered my stained clothing. I couldn’t be seen, really seen, by new handlers with blood on me. I hurried to my room and ran to my closet to change. I removed my cape and gray dress and grabbed my robin’s egg blue dress. I slipped it on and clipped my blue belt on over it, then snapped a new cape into place and looked in the mirror.

My cheek looked like a large bruise now and it was slowly fading, though the sting was still there. My skin was permanently tanned from my trips to the sun and I smiled at the thought of going there again tonight. I was of medium height and thin and my clothes always fit a little more around my chest. My face was annoyingly soft and my large gray eyes had speckles of the rainbow constantly flying through them. My hair was long and silvery white and I could change its style with a wave of my hand. No one ever saw the white of my hair, though, they saw brown or blond depending on the light. I don’t know why they saw it differently, but for some reason, they couldn’t see the white if their lives depended on it. I went to my bathroom and wiped the blood from my cheek and neck. I added a bit more eyeliner and checked to make sure my red lipstick was still perfect before turning to leave.

Out of this whole place I loved my rooms. While everything else was gray and cold, my bedroom and bathroom were happy and colorful. My bathroom was decorated with a sea theme. Little shells covered my floor and my shower was made of fake pearls. The walls were painted in such a way it looked like the ocean going on forever. My counter space was covered in little fake starfish and my sink was made of the same pearls as the shower. There was a chandelier made of gold painted piping and over it hung dozens of silver-colored chains and seahorses.

My bedroom was large and had a king-sized bed and a nightstand on either side. The stone floor was painted a dark plum and there was a large navy rug over most of the space. My bedspread was a thin navy quilt and my pillows were sequined covered in plum and navy. My nightstands were navy and on top of them were purple lamps with purple lampshades. My bed faced the window and I made sure not ever to cover it with anything, I loved looking outside.

From top to bottom the walls were nothing but navy painted bookshelves filled with every book I had brought with me from home. All of them were steel bound decorated with precious stones and gold. There were no titles written on them and unless you were like me you would only see blank pages if you opened it. These were all I had left in the universe from home. In the morning light my room was covered in rainbows from the sun bouncing off of the stones.

I didn’t want to go and properly meet my new handlers, I didn’t want handers at all. They would be changed by now and who was I to keep them waiting? Until I knew their characters, I needed to hurry. I took one last look at the shelves and left.

Handlers wore white pants, white collared shirts, white boots, white gloves, and a white jacket that fastened around their waists and glided across the floor. Their jackets had hoods and masks which covered their entire face. They would wear the same thing every single day from now on and only be allowed to wear something else when they slept. White sunglasses where tucked in the inside pocket of their jackets that they would wear them when we went outside, they were specially made so the blinding white of the snow wouldn’t hurt them. And, I noted, the glasses where right next to the silver bit they were given.

They were standing outside of their rooms and whispering to one another urgently. They turned to me and walked slowly forward. I would not be the first one to speak. I would not help them along in any way. Until I knew what kind of people they were, I would continue with how I was trained and never speak first. And while they held the silver over me as a weapon, I would not trust them.

They stopped a few yards away from me and shifted uncomfortably. The woman looked around the space and nodded slowly, as though she was waiting for me to say something. The man nudged the woman beside him and looked at me oddly.

“Hey,” he finally said.

I bowed my head in acknowledgment and remained silent. It made them even more uncomfortable.

“I’m Vice, and this is Cherrie,” the man said with a bow. His voice was deep and warm, if not a bit nervous.

Cherrie bowed slightly and tried for a smile. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Stella.” She was soft-spoken and sweet, yet there was a strength to her I admired.

Again I said nothing and they looked confused. Vice looked at the couches and gestured to them. “Mind if we sit?”

“This is your home now. You may do as you wish.” I replied with a nod of my head.

Vice and Cherrie sat together on one couch, I sat across from them. I always sat on the edge of the cushion and in doing so they seemed worried and mimicked me.

“You don’t speak much do you?” Vice asked me.

“Not unless directly spoken to,” I replied. “I was trained that way.”

That seemed to make sense to them and they slightly relaxed. Vice sat farther back in his seat, and Cherrie looked more comfortable.

“So, what exactly is expected of us?” Cherrie asked. “I mean, what do we do now?”

“Whatever you like,” I answered. “As I said before, you control my life from now on. If you want to train, I’ll take you to your area now. If you’d like me to train, then I shall leave for my other floors and remain there until y’all see fit to tell me to stop. If you are hungry, you may eat whatever you want. You may rest. If you just want to sit here, then we sit here. You are in control, you decide what we do.”

“I have to be honest,” Vice started. “I don’t like the idea of being in control of you. Even though I know nothing of you, the fact that you must have handlers and are so important as to not exists make it seem silly for me to tell you what to do.”

“That is your job now,” I said. “I may have no thoughts or opinions of my own. I do what you order me to do and nothing else.”

“You can’t do anything without asking us first?” Cherrie asked in surprise.

“I do not ask anything, you tell me,” I answered.

Cherrie shook her head in surprise. “Well, that’s got to change.”

“Agreed,” Vice said grimly. “I suppose we should start this with telling one another a little about ourselves.”

Cherrie nodded eagerly and looked at me excitedly. “Yes, please, do. I love learning new things.”

There it was again. The yellow haze around her. I wondered if she knew what she was, what she was capable of.

“I guess I’ll start,” Vice said when they saw I wouldn’t. “I don’t have a last name or memories of any kind before waking up here. I’m told I am nineteen and have no reason to doubt it, but there’s a nagging feeling in the back of my mind I am a good deal older. I feel as though I’ve lived lifetimes over again, but I cannot remember any of them. I went through the same tests as everyone else to be allowed to stay and I showed immense skill in killing. There was nothing the instructors here could teach me and so I taught classes from the age of ten until today. I’ve never been hired out before like you have, Stella, but I’ve been used here plenty of times.”

Cherrie practically bounced in her seat as she realized it was her turn. “Well, I can’t remember anything before the age of ten either and I don’t know my last name. Vice has been here only a year longer than I have and has been a great help. I know I’ve been taken from place to place, each strange and unknowingly, but I cannot prove it. My tests did not go as well as Vice’s and they were going to kill me when I showed them my only real skill. I can remember everything and brake into anything. There is no system on earth I have not hacked into and changed without anyone knowing. Vice has been my only instructor and has helped me in my fighting, but the people here use my mind constantly for their specific needs. I do not understand why they would give me the option to be your handler, unless I have learned too much and they were hoping this would be the end of me.”

I wanted more than anything to ask them questions and try to understand what was going on, but I couldn’t and I held my tongue. Cherrie narrowed her eyes at me and tilted her head. She was reading my mood and trying to understand the sudden change I was feeling.

“We both awoke here with the same woman helping us.” Vice went on, glancing at Cherrie as he spoke. “She told us not to ask questions and to act as though we had every right to be here. She said we would learn things by staying quiet and watching everyone. We were not to tell anyone who we were or our history, the less they knew, the more power we would have.”

“We were told a time would come when we were offered the chance to protect someone and we were to take it. No matter what, we were both needed for this person and to do whatever we could to make sure nothing happened to the other.” Cherrie added to Vice’s story. “She told us our names and to seek the other out, then she was gone.”

“She didn’t give you a name?” I whispered, forgetting for the moment who I was supposed to be and letting my will get the better of me.

“Stella,” Vice replied softly.

My back stiffened and my hands clasped together too tightly. I shut my mouth into a thin line and stared at the floor as I tried to gather my thoughts. Some strange woman had appeared to both Vice and Cherrie and told them the same things and to look for me. She was only with them long enough to tell them their names and then she was gone, not to be seen again. She knew who they were, she knew their secrets and the truth, yet she had left them to their own devices without any explanation.

Vice was told he was nineteen and Cherrie was eighteen, yet neither believed the information they were given. They were not human and they were a good deal older than that, yet just how old I wouldn’t know. Vice came here a trained killer and Cherrie with the knowledge to hack and build systems. That didn’t just happen. And why would they not have memories of their lives before coming here at ten?

Unless they were being hidden.

My head jerked up and I looked at them quickly. Cherrie was on the edge of her seat looking at me hungrily, as though trying to drag the thoughts from my head. Vice was doing just a tiny bit better at acting disinterested, even had his legs propped up on the glass coffee table.

I cleared my facial expression and forced myself to appear relaxed. I stretched out my fingers and set them gently by my side. Cherrie looked disappointed and sat a little more comfortably in her seat, her eyes never leaving me. Vice placed his hand on her shoulder and gently squeezed. She looked back at him and they shared a silent conversation with one another for a minute before turning back to me.

“You are the one we were told to find and protect, Stella,” Vice spoke carefully.

“And we know you know something about us,” Cherrie added quickly.

“Of course, you do not trust us,” Vice went on. “We need to prove to you that you can trust us, that we are not your enemies. I don’t know how to do that, Stella. I need your help.”

He sounded so honest and as though he really did need me. Their history intrigued me more than I’d like to admit and I would look into it. I wanted to trust them, to help them to figure out who they were and why they were so far from home, I just couldn’t. I couldn’t make myself speak, to tell them anything. No, they were not human and I knew exactly what they were and where they were supposed to be, yet I didn’t know if I could trust them.

Why were they here? Why was Cherrie not with her people and training in her birthright? What exactly was Vice and why was he here? Earth was where planets sent their unwanted and those needing to be stopped or hidden. Earth didn’t produce anything valuable to other planets and so we had nothing to do with it unless to get rid of someone. Never admitted to and always frowned upon, we hid people here secretly and didn’t admit to doing it. The farthest from any other solar system, it was easy to do and never remembered.

I knew why I was here and that I was not wanted. Maybe my books would shed some light on the matter and explain something about these people. I had the Readers book which regularly updated with people sent from their home planets. Maybe their names would appear somewhere in there? Then again, I didn’t know how old they really were and there were hundreds of pages in the book going back thousands of years. I could search for weeks and still never find them.

“Do you know the woman we spoke of?” Cherrie asked.

“No, I do not. I’m sorry.” I answered honestly. “I had no one to tell me anything when I came here.”

Satisfied I had told the truth, Cherrie asked, “How long have you been here?”

I looked down once more and said, “Too long.”

They asked nothing else and an uncomfortable silence fell over us. Vice started digging in his pockets and I looked up, observing him carefully. He pulled the little metal tube out of his pocket and looked at it which fit so perfectly in the palm of his hand. He looked at me and I stiffened. Without a word, he leaned forward and set it on the table. My eyes grew for one second as I stared in shock at what he’d done. Cherrie quickly followed suit and smiled at me widely.

I stared at them in wonder. Now I was even more confused.

“We are not your enemy, Stella,” Vice said seriously. His eyes narrowed and burning holes in my very soul.

I could only manage a nod and I looked at the clock. Nearly noon and I hadn’t done anything but mourn my loss and be thoroughly confused by my new handlers.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Vice said as he stood. “Are we supposed to be doing something?”

“Usually, with my former handlers, I would be training from six a.m. until seven at night. I eat breakfast at five-forty-five and don’t eat lunch. Dinner is at seven-thirty and we go to bed at nine. Of course, y’all are welcome to change things and I will gladly conform to new rules. I am merely sharing with you my past routine. I feel strange not doing anything right now.”

“What did your old handlers do while you trained all day?” Cherrie asked.

“Trained or rested or found me high paying jobs,” I explained. “I’m certain there are hundreds of emails requesting my specific skills in your computer. It is your job to find the most dangerous, the highest paying, and the one with the least amount of eyes on it. I must remain a secret to the outside world, so if I am to kill someone you must have a fall guy prepared with all necessary proof in place.”

“What exactly do you do, Stella?” Vice asked.

“Whatever the job needs.”

Vice and Cherrie looked at one another seriously for a moment. They had not been prepared for that answer. Apparently, they really did not know anything about me or what I was capable of. They would be in for a rude awakening soon when they read over my history on Earth- spanning about five hundred years.

“Please, feel free to train,” Vice waved his hand towards the elevator. “I suppose one of us should read past reports.” He looked at Cherrie.

Cherrie’s eyes grew large and her mouth dropped. “There will be so many to read.” She looked at me and I could easily see just how much effort it was taking her to remain calm. “Where is the computer?”

“In your rooms. You should both have one. I wouldn’t know where, though, I’m not allowed inside.” I told her.

Cherrie nodded and smiled at Vice. “I shall see you at dinner, brother.” Her eyes twinkled and the yellow haze flared up around her. She clapped her hands and flew to her room, the door shutting a little too hard behind her.

Vice laughed softly and shook his head. “She loves reading,” he said.

“Of course, she does,” I replied.

He looked at me quickly and studied my face for a second. “Should we go?”

I paused and looked over him. “You wish to train?”

“Your handlers don’t train with you?”

I wanted to laugh. “My training rooms are not for humans, Vice. You must train in your rooms if you want to practice. If you wish to come with me, then you have to stay in the viewing box.”

“Viewing box?”

I managed a small smile and nodded once. “Come. I’ll show you.”