“Weren’t you wearing that yesterday ?,” one of the newer analysts asks, sitting at the desk next to Luce.
Luce hadn’t broken a sweat at work last night and didn’t see the point in paying for a cab ride home just to change clothes so he'd kept on the same ones and came back to the Resistance offices for another few hours.
“Oh god, who on earth schedules a personal training session before 6AM ?,” Genesis cringes from across the room.
“They aren’t going for the workout,” another of the new ones, who was always making jokes, laughs.
Luce had resisted settling into a life in New Jersey but his family’s money had been drained from over a decade of efforts to get them out of New Aeterna. He’d needed a steady job and apartment to support his work with Genesis so he’d found work as a trainer at private gym in a gated community. He’d found a set of clients who didn’t mind that he only worked 9PM-5AM.
Or that his water bottle was half vodka.
Luce’s phone vibrates in his pocket. He answers without looking at the screen because only one person called him. He lets it connect to his Airpods so he doesn’t have to stop working.
“I’m driving to–”
“Ma. What the hell ?” His mother didn’t have a license and hadn’t driven a car in decades.
Luce only takes vague notice that suddenly everyone in the small New Jersey office is clustering in groups and that one of Genesis' people is fumbling with the television remote.
He starts to say, “Turn around. I’ll call you a cab.” but she speaks over him.
“Twyla and Colette are trying to get a flight back home. What are those Resistance people telling you––”
“Get out of the car, Ma. It’s 5 am. Where the hell do you need to go so badly this early–”
“God, Luce. Get your head out of your ass! They said the occupation is ending–”
“Who sa–”
“Just now. On the news. I’m going to the ferry to see if they open it back up. You try the bridge–”
“–Jesus Christ, Ma. Don’t go near that place. Turn around before you get hurt. Let me–”
She starts talking over him again but Luce isn’t listening. His eyes flick to the back of the office, where a Resistance volunteer was mirroring their phone to the large tv screen.
On screen, one of the ones they called Demons–dressed in impeccably tailored burgundy shirt and pants– was holding a press conference. On his collar was a brilliant gold pin with the symbol that Genesis had told him they called lux aeterna.
The Demon’s lower third read Augustine Taylor - Spokesman, Prince’s Resistance.
Standing on either side of Augustine were two human women–the mayor of Bayonne and the Major General of the New Jersey Army National Guard. Luce recognized them both from the lesbian bar the Resistance frequented.
“Our people on the ground report that General Thantos has been killed,” Augustine says in a steady authoritative tone.“The Prince’s Resistance is still working to subdue Helion Forces. Our leader, Paris Prince, and allies are working on a plan to liberate all those imprisoned in Helion City. It is our intention to do so with zero loss of innocent life. We ask that media and the public stay clear from the city limits. I will be answering questions until the next update...”
Luce’s gaze finds Genesis pacing the corner of the room. She was texting furiously and looked close to tears.
He picks up her iPad from her desk and starts towards her. She catches his eye just as the iPad slams into the wall, shattering on contact.
“You should have told me,” he growls. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t know–I didn’t. No one told me anything,” she admits. It sounded like she was pouting. “I’m trying to contact Damien, they’ll need my expertise–”
“Take me to the safehouse. I want to get my family out. Now.”
“We’d never get through the crowds–”
“We go through the tunnels under the castle. Like how you broke me out.”
She turns her back to him and strides across the room to open her laptop. “Not right now. The Prince’s Resistance will need us–”
“They clearly didn’t need us–”
“They won’t be able to make sense of the Helion’s technology. The authorities will get humans out. We need to think broadly about what’s important. Do you still have that copy of the Helion firewall system bre…”
Luce walks away but she’s too busy looking over the Helion firewall systems he’d spent the last 3 years hacking to even notice. Luce opens his gym bag and takes out his handgun.
The room goes quiet–the only sound is Augustine on the television.
Noticing the sudden silence Genesis looks up and yelps at the sight of the weapon in Luce’s hand. She raises her arms.“Luce, please!”
“You’ve been stringing me along for three years. I did everything you wanted and haven’t heard a word from my family. Get me into Helion City, point me in the right direction and you never see me again.”
“Okay. Okay,” she agrees, tears falling from her face. She calls out to one of the other members that they were in charge before walking out the door.
“Are you going to point that at me the whole time ?,” Genesis asks once they are in her car.
Luce shoves the heavy handgun awkwardly into the pants of the expensive workout gear his job required he wear.
When they arrive near the shore, Luce easily removes the sewer grate and follows Genesis down the winding sewage systems from New Jersey to Helion City.
When they arrive at the lower prison floors, every cell is empty. Luce turns to Genesis once they reach the door to the service level. He knew the way from here. “Tell me how to get to the safehouse and you can go ba–”
Luce goes quiet at the sound of footsteps coming toward them.
He reaches for the gun and gestures for Genesis to get behind him. She grabs on to his arm, her fingernails digging deeper into his bicep as the footsteps get closer.
“THE CASTLE IS BEING EVACUATED. HELION CITY HAS BEEN LIBERATED!,” a voice shouts from down the hall.“THE CASTLE IS BEIN—Genesis?”
Damien–dressed in dark fatigues–stops short at seeing them. Behind him is an angel woman in a white negligee and another male Hellion. The Demon and Hellion were strapped with firearms and looked as though they’d lost several fights in the last hour.
The Hellion man wore a white arm band embroidered with a large gold lux aeterna–which Luce hoped meant he was on their side.
“What the hell are you two doing here ?,” Damien demanded. “They're about to blow this place–”
“Don’t worry, I’m going back to the office,” Genesis says quickly, unlatching herself from Luce. “Um, can you take Luce to Ophelia’s–”
“You can’t go back through the tunnel, you won’t make it in time. Follow us.” Damien gestures at Luce’s gun. “Might want to put that away…everyone’s a little jumpy.”
They follow Damien out the service level and to the main floor of the castle. During his time in the castle, Luce had never been allowed to see the main floors. It reminded him of a museum.
Genesis stops short as they enter the main foyer and Luce collides into her trembling body.
“Oh, god,” Genesis cries. “Oh god. I can’t do this, I can’t do this I’m going back–”
“Just close your eyes, I’ll guide you,” Damien says, taking Genesis hand and hurriedly guiding her across the once opulent marble foyer that was now covered in the dying and the dead.
Damien attempts to lead her around the bodies but she squeaks every time she missteps and makes contact with one.
The allied Helion with the white arm band offers his hand to the angel woman in the nightgown but she simply makes her own path, seemingly uncaring that her bare feet are smearing blood across the foyer floor.
Luce follows the group towards the thrown open front doors of the castle. He catches a glimpse of the Demon Prince and his wife deep in conversation at the threshold of the castle as they exit.
There’s another Helion waiting outside, this one isn’t in a Helion uniform. He’s well built and strern faced, dressed like Damien in dark Resistance fatigues.
“Service level is clear, Leon,” the allied Helion reports to the Hellion in black fatigues. “Castle is empty.”
“I want to check the dorms again for my sisters,” the angel in the nightgown speaks up.
Leon shakes his head. “The dorms have been checked twice. We need to get you secure, Thalia. Some of the humans are looking for revenge on anyone affiliated with the regime–”
“I can go with her,” Damien offers. “We fucked up enough today. Let’s not lose anymore lives.”
“No. It’s better if its just me,” Thalia says. “If they’re hiding they’ll trust me. I’ll ask Sera to come.”
“Fine.” Leon says and speaks into a radio before looking back at the rest of their group. His gaze shifts to the allied Helion with the Lux Aeterna arm band. “Pathos. It’s time.”
Pathos gestures to Genesis and Luce. “These two need to get to Ophelia. I can take them. I know the back way to the work farm better than anyone.”
A sick feeling washes over Luce at the word work farm. He tries to catch Genesis’ eye but she is on her knees trying to quietly vomit.
“Who the hell is Ophelia ?,” Leon asks. He looks from Luce to Genesis’ hunched form on the ground. “And who the hell are these two?”
“You know Genesis,” Damien says. Leon doesn’t seem to remember her. “And this is the guy Green23 won’t shut up about. His kids have been trapped in the city. Ophelia has them.”
Leon nods. “I’ll follow you. Then it’s time, Pathos.”
“I’m coming too— to watch,” Damien smirks. He raises his eyebrows. “Road trip.”
Pathos leads them to a detached garage filled with luxury cars and transport vehicles. They load into a white van and Pathos uses his fingerprint to get them though an electric gate that led to a small man made bridge that connected Helion City to New Aeterna.
During the ride, the two Helions soberly discuss the brutality of taking the castle, trading the names of the dead. Luce can barely hear them. His heartbeat had started to pulsate loudly in his ears as New Aeterna came into view.
The New Aeterna broadcast signals weren’t turned on until 7AM, which meant most New Aterenan’s still had a few more minutes left before they turned on their televisions and saw the news.
Luce felt on edge as they drove through Central Park and past a deserted campground. In the distance he could see unruly farm animals trapped behind a fence and dozens of large greenhouses.
Work farm.
Pathos had called this place a work farm.
But Genesis has said it was a safehouse.
Pathos stopped the truck in front of a squat concrete building with metal garage doors.
“You said my family was in a safehouse,” Luce whispers to Genesis as they all exit the van.
She’d seemed to have finally calmed down after seeing the bodies in the castle.
“Ophelia keeps her people safe,” Genesis offered weakly. She speeds up to get in step with Damien as they exit. Luce had noticed she’d been keeping close to him. Likely, because Damien had a gun too and would be more than willing to shoot Luce.
A garage door panel slowly raises on the front of the building revealing a slaughterhouse.
A female Helion steps out. A hunting rifle was slung across her chest and three armed MS soldiers stood behind her.
Leon takes a few careful steps towards the Helion woman and his eyes soften. His voice cracks. “Orpheus?”
“Ophelia,” she corrects. Then gives him a curt nod in greeting. “Leonidas.”
“You…came back ?”
“No. He imprisoned me, then gave me too much free reign. I used it to fuck him over.”
“No one told me you were here.”
“Why would I tell an SGI anything? I only allied with Pathos because I had to.” Her deep frown goes neutral. “Did you get him ?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She presses her thumb on the radio strapped to her shoulder. “All clear.” She gives Leon a small smile. “Ma’am ? I used to like it when you called me boss.”
“I’m so sorry, Ophelia–”
“Your apology means nothing to me. I got over Abandonment decades ago.”
“Not for that–I mean, yeah, that was fucked up. But also–”
“Also what ?”
Leon removes a pair of white gold handcuffs from his tactical belt. “By the Resistance’s orders any Helion complicit in the regime is under arrest unti–”
“I had nothing to do with The Seige!” Ophelia snaps. She flinches when Damien steps toward her, a pair of white gold handcuffs in his gloved hands. “Get off me!”
“This is part of the deal. Our trials will be first,” Pathos explains
Pathos had kneeled to the ground next to her with his hands behind his back. He keeps a cool expression as Leon snaps the cuffs around his wrists. “Any legionnaire who helped the Prince’s Resistance will be given extreme leniency. America needs to see justice so Paris can–”
“Can what ?” Ophelia side steps Damien’s attempt at cuffing her. “You’ll lock me up with those brainless Helios sycophants until a fucking trial is set up? You think they’ll let me survive that ? All the consequences and none of the brotherhood. Again. Get your filthy fucking hands off me, Demon–”
She moves to elbow Damien but he steps just in time for her elbow to graze his cheek instead of striking his nose.
“I’ll cuff her,” Leon says, jogging over to her. He rests his lips near Ophelia's ear. “Remember what we talked about in France?”
Ophelia’s jaw tightened as Leon moved her gathered wrists from her front to her back. “Which time ?”
“The second.”
“I think my traveling days are over,” Ophelia says. Her tone almost conversational now.
“I don’t know,” Leon says. “I heard Cypress Hill, Ohio is has some nice farmlan–”
“Daddy! Daddy! You came back!”
Warmth bloomed in Luce’s chest at the sweet small voice.
He turns to see the call had come from a little brunette angel girl running towards the handcuffed Pathos and his body goes cold with envy.
The angel girl wraps her arms around Pathos neck and he slumps down to be closer to her, burying his face into her small boned shoulder. He holds his handcuffed arms awkwardly to the side so they don’t touch her skin.
The girl is followed by an angel woman in a white nightgown similar to the one that Thalia, the angel at the castle, was wearing. She’s holding a younger child.
“Uncuff him. Please,” the angel pleads with Damien. She grazes the cuffs and seems to be repelled by the feel of them. “Pathos risked his life more than anyone.”
“It’s okay, Aurora. I have to stand for my crimes, I’ll be–”
He is interrupted by a loud woosh of air as wings sprout from Ophelia’s back–the golden cage now hanging crookedly off her back.
She take off straight up into the air but can’t keep her momentum and plummets back to the ground. Her wings flap frantically against the ground before she arches her back and moves her wings in a fluid arc that launches her back in the sky.
She hangs there –wings spread to their full length, blocking the early morning sun.
“Leon...” Damien warns.
Ophelia focuses her gaze downward. Her stoic expression brightens for a second and she gives a small wave before gathering her strength and disappearing into the sky.
Leon kneels to pick up a small hand saw and places it back in his vest. “She…must have taken my saw.”
“Oh, fuck you,” Damien says with no venom.
“Ophelia!” an angel calls out, she’d appeared from somewhere in the slaughterhouse. She stops short at seeing Pathos handcuffed.
“She’s free now,” Leon says.
The woman turns to look at Leon and her hands fly to her mouth. “Leonidas! Where’s Sera ? What does this mean–”
“Helion City has been liberated.”
A slow procession of women and children begin to file out of some hidden floor in the bottom of the concrete slaughterhouse floor. Unlike Pathos’ family, these women and children were covered in a thin film of dirt and in an assortment of well worn clothes.
Luce watches the exiting group carefully.
He glances right over his own children at first. Both had their hair jaggedly cut to just above their ears and a hollowness in their eyes he didn't recognize.
Sailor had changed the most–she was taller and her face had lost all it’s roundness. She was wearing the sweatshirt that Nova had worn the night of the Siege and loose fitting jeans that were molded to her waist by duct tape.
Nova wore a t-shirt and pants covered in holes and patches. His build was leaner and more muscular than it had been. His skin a deep tan.
Nova stares at him dead eyed and Sailor stays a half step behind her brother. She keeps her focus on the ground but makes small shy glances up at Luce.
“Luce ?”
“Yes.” Luce walks closer and he notices them both tense up. Sailor takes another half-step behind Nova.
“Sailor, sweetheart, do you remember me ?”
“Yes, Daddy,” she nods but still talks to the ground. “How come you left us?”
“I was smuggled out against my will and couldn’t get back in. I never chose to–”
“Are we going back hom–”
“Is it true ?,” Nova cuts in. He crosses his arms and Luce notices his thumb and index finger are missing. “It’s over ?”
Luce nods. “Where’s your Dad?”
“He went missing six months after you did–”
“What do you mean–”
“Don’t act like you didn’t fucking know,” Nova shouts suddenly. “If Genesis knew than you knew–”
“Genesis ? You know Genesis ?”
“Yeah. Your friend that dropped us off at this shithole and never came back.”
The lies never ended with The Resistance.
Luce turned and strode to the van they’d arrived in. He finds Genesis on the floor of the passenger side with her head cradled in her arms.
“Please don’t hurt me–”
“What the hell is going on, Genesis?”
“I had to–”
“You fucking bitch.”
Luce pulls her out the van by her wrists and shoves her against the van's hood. She looks around desperately for Damien, but he had gone off somewhere with Leon and the other angels.
“Look at me–”
“Don’t hurt me–”
“If you can look me in the eye and bullshit me then you can look me in the eye and tell the fucking truth. You told me there was no way into the city. But you go to them. How ?”
Genesis starts crying . “I couldn’t have done anything. I was being watched. I said what I thought I had to keep you focused. I wanted us to win this together. I knew we could bring down the Regime–”
“You’re an idealistic fucking idiot—”
“I’m sorry–”
“Where is Alex ?”
“You have to promise not to shoot me.”
“Where is he ?”
Genesis inhales to steady her shaking breath. “He was already detained by The Regime by the time I went to get your kids. He was a Special Circumstance detainee…we never knew what that meant. Just that they seemed to disappear. The Resistance is setting up camp in Helion City. We have an intelligence team…they might have some new answers…you can come back with us.”
“I need to get Nova and Sailor safe first.”
Genesis takes a key ring out her pocket. “Your kids can stay at my place in New Aeterna. I have…had elevated dual citizenship–”
“No.” Nova had appeared beside them at some point. He shoots a glare at Luce. “You’re not leaving us again. We stay together until we find Dad.”
Luce shook his head. “Helion City isn’t a place for children right now–”
“Sailor will be fine,” Nova tells him.
“I’ll be okay,” Sailor agrees. She’d snuck up just as wordlessly.
The angels and their children were slowly making their way into the van, some carrying possessions in wrapped up bedsheets, others carrying nothing.
“Get in the van…it looks like they are heading out soon,” Luce observes.
“I want to say goodbye to Mikayla,” Sailor tells Nova.
Nova nods. “Go. I’ll get our stuff.”
She sprints off into a an overgrown section of the park and Luce follows Nova to a makeshift tent made of a rusted piece of siding and a waterproof tarp. Inside are two bundles of sheets, the suitcase and dust covered pillows.
Nova stuffs some errant notebooks and a water bottle into the suitcase before carefully zipping it up. Luce is surprised the suitcase’s rusted zipper still worked after a decade.
“You’ve been living like this?,” Luce asks. When he doesn’t get a response he tries a different question. “Who is Mikayla ?”
“Her friend. She died.”
"Your hand ?"
Nova looks noncommittally at the missing fingers on his hands.
"Wasn't paying attention in the slaughterhouse."
“Jesus Christ, Nova. What happened to you two out here?” This time Luce doesn’t let the silence go. “Nova, sweetheart, you have to talk to me. I–”
“Kind of seems like you should have been asking these questions two years ago.”
“Genesis lied to me. She said you all were fine. I’m sorry, I didn’t try harder–”
“I’m sorry you didn’t try harder too,” Nova retorts sharply.
***
The van ride to the liberated Helion City is tight.
Pathos’ family was crammed into the front seat with Damien and Genesis. A few angels and Nova rode on the outside of the van, standing on the bumper and holding on to the back.
Luce made himself as small as possible in the corner of the van with the rest of the angels. The children sat in their mother’s laps to make room and when Luce pulls Sailor into his lap he’s afraid she’ll go rigid but she relaxes into his hold.
The van stops at Ambrosia–Helion City’s luxury resort–that was now overtaken by the Prince’s Resistance. The angel woman and their children are quickly escorted inside, most of the angels exit quickly but a few whisper encouraging words to Sailor before exiting.
The next stop is at the Helion Military Academy. He follows Damien and Genesis into the school’s gymnasium. Half of the gym was lined with equipment from the Resistance’s New Jersey office.
The other half was populated by teenagers and pre-teens with Helion prison tattoos.
Some of them looked like they were at recess; running and playing with the sports equipment. Others stood cautiously apart.
“No! NO!,” a girl shouts from just behind them.
Augustine, the Demon that had been representing the Resistance on television was gripping a hysterical teenaged girl by the arm. Another pair of teenagers were trying to pull her away from him.
“Let her fucking go!,” the teenaged boy bellows. He claws into to Augustine’s arm. “Let her go!”
“Take someone else!,” another girl begs. “Please not Aster. Please.”
Augustine tries to pass Aster off to Callum but she knees Augustine in the crotch, wrestles away and runs back into the crowded gym–her friends following behind her.
Augustine stays standing but looks like he wants to to collapse. “Damn, these kids are fucking feral–”
“They’re scared,” A young Asian woman holding a thick manila folder says. “All they know is fear and each other. We need to ease them into it.”
“No time,” Augustine bites out, regaining some composure. “The humans need to see Paris reuniting some families. The Belfords will buy us a lot of goodwill.”
Aster Belford.
Luce had heard the story of Aster Belford. 3-years-old Aster had been with a nanny in Manhattan during the Siege. The nanny’s body had been found floating in the East River but there were always questions about Aster. Her family had spent millions in lobbying efforts to invade New Aeterna.
The girl, like most of the teens in the gym, likely didn’t even remember her parents and had only known life as a Helion prisoner. He hoped Nova and Sailor understood that that was what he’d been trying to save them from.
Sailor follows behind him as he finds where they had put his computer. He lets one of the younger resistance workers bring him up to speed on where they were with the Helion firewalls. They didn’t have any news on Alex but there were interfacing with several Helion databases for the first time and writing programs that would help in reunite unaccompanied children and parents.
Luce splits his focus, doing some work on the system but mostly running through every database he could to see if he could figure out where they’d put Alex.
The young Asian woman, Isobel, gives Sailor a job when she asks if there is work she can do. They line up all the teenagers and Sailor types their names and other information into a database. She’s impressively quick with typing, though the children all struggle with spelling things out.
It made Luce proud to see how well she did. He wanted to hug and kiss her but neither she or Nova seemed open for physical touch.
Nova wanders up to them carrying two paper bags. His flat expression hadn’t changed.
“What the fuck are you doing ? You have to eat,” Nova tells Sailor, his tone harsh and belittling. He sets one of the paper bags in front of her and glares at Luce. “I told you. Your daddy doesn’t give a fuck about you.”
Luce lets the comment slide because he was right about her having to eat— He’d gotten too used to ignoring everything around him to work.
“He’s right. You should both get cots and rest–”
“She shouldn’t even be working,” Nova points out.
“I asked.” Sailor cuts in.
“I know you did. Because all you know how to do is work–”
“No. I want to help.”
Nova turns away from her to face Luce. “You’re a fucking asshole–”
“Nova, I know you’re angry with me” Luce says under his breath. “I know we have a lot to talk about but I’m trying to find Alex–”
“Now ? You’re doing it fucking now ? What the hell have you been doing all this time ? Sitting around looking like a dick in expensive ass athleisure ?”
Luce hadn’t been doing as much as he could. He’d assumed Alex was with Nova and Sailor in a safehouse. But he doubted Nova wanted to hear that.“I need you to know I never gave up on you–”
“We gave up on you.”
***
Luce bears the brunt of Nova’s wrath for the next three days. Nova would say something cutting to him or Sailor and then walk away.
But he’d always come back.
Usually with items from the aid stations set up in Helion City. He’d sit quietly next to Sailor, helping with Resistance tasks if needed until the next mood swing came. Luce knew they needed support but none of them were leaving the the gym without finding Alex.
Luce was still ambivalent about Damien, but the Demon knew where all the contraband American liquor was kept. All Luce had to do to get a decent drink was listen to Damien plead Genesis’ case for why Luce should stay in New Aeterna and help the Resistance in Phase II of their plan.
They are standing in a locked classroom, splitting a mini bottle of bourbon, the morning the transcript comes in.
One of Luce’s programs sends a message to his Apple Watch that the term ‘special circumstances’ had come up in an interview the Intelligence Team had with a Helion woman named Charisa.
“She's taking them to the prison. Come with me, he might need a doctor,” Luce tells Damien
Damien shakes his head. He’d finished off the mini bourbon and opened a lemon flavored vodka. “I'm done. You shouldn't go either. Those offsite prisons make the prisons in the castle look like a spa. Shit is bleak. Besides, every other medical professional in the world is here now.”
Luce doesn’t care to argue, he goes to the tent in the corner of the gymnasium where he, Nova and Sailor were camping out. He shakes Nova awake and he bolts upward, covering Sailor with his arm before he seems to remember where they were.
Luce beckons him out the tent and shows him his laptop screen.
“Intelligence just uploaded an interview with a Helion woman who told them where the Special Circumstance prison is,” Luce says. “She said she remembered a prisoner who matched Alex’s description. They’re going to liberate it now. I’m going–”
“We’re going too–”
Luce shakes his head. He’d skimmed the interview by now. “I’m telling you because you’re older. Sailor shouldn’t–”
“She’ll be fine.”
“The Intelligence team thinks there might be corpses.”
Nova seems shaken for a moment but the steeliness quickly returns.
“It wouldn’t be her first.”
Luce hated the cryptic references Nova made. He still hadn’t been able to get them to sit down and talk about what had happened.
Before he can say anything else, Nova wakes Sailor up and pulls her out the tent.
A Resistance volunteer drives them on a golf cart to the Helion Castle remains
National Guardsman and Resistance members were gathered around an outpost building, the doors busted open. Surrounding it were Emergency Services members.
They were all just waiting.
Luce spots Callum standing at the front of the crowd. The crowd parts as Luce pushes his way to the front, some throwing concerned looks when they see Sailor trailing behind.
“What are they waiting for ? Is anyone alive ?”
Callum turns and it takes him a minute to place Luce. When he does he speaks. “The prisoners asked for 5 minutes alone with him.”
“Leon’s not going to like this…,” a Demon standing next to Callum says.
“Well, Leon isn’t here.”
The crowd begins to shift as a group of soldiers and emergency workers rush into the building.
After a moment, they bring up what looked like the skeletal remains of a Helion on a stretcher. His featherless wings were just barely connected to his back by an amalgamation of bone and flesh Luce couldn’t make sense of. His face and naked body were blackened by fresh dark bruises--the only sign he was alive.
The Helion is laid on a gurney and Callum and the other Demon immediately go to him. They cuff his raw wrists with the gold handcuffs and carry him towards a Resistance van.
The emergency workers bring up two body bags next, followed by another man who was alive but smelled like death. His decomposing leg had fused into the hospital bed he was being carried up on
“This is scaring Sailor. She shouldn’t see this,” Nova whispers in Luce’s ear suddenly. Luce looks to see Nova doing a terrible job of hiding the panic on his face.
Luce gazed down at Sailor. They'd just brought out another man who was seizing and writhing in pain. Sailor stared at him through squinted eyes, she seemed resolute in looking at everything.
Luce wraps an arm around Nova’s shoulder. “It’s okay–”
“No, it’s not. Come on,” Nova snaps, jerking away from the attempted hug. His voice cracks as he pulls Sailor away.
Luce watches them walk back to the golf cart. Nova sits in the backseat and hides his head in his folded arms. Sailor is asking him why they left and he tells her to shut up.
Luce turns back to the building, vowing to bear witness to it all no matter how it ended.
Haley is carried out sixth. There’s an oxygen mask over his face. Like the others, his body was covered in filth and so emaciated it seemed impossible was still alive. His hair had gone brittle and knotted down his back in a discolored mass crawling with lice.
His stretcher is laid out on the grass and Luce walks over, kneeling next to the EMT who was scribbling diligently on a pad.
“Alex,” he slips his hand into Haley’s hand and he pulls it away.
“No.” Haley’s voice is muffled by the oxygen. His eyes were covered. They’d covered all of the men’s eyes with gauze since some hadn’t been in direct sunlight in years.
“It’s me, Luce,” tells him. “Can–”
“The kids…I left…Novandsailor”
Haley’s shallow breathing gets louder, it sounded like there was something rattling in his lungs. The pulse oximeter starts beeping and the EMT adjusts the oxygen.
“Alex, they’re okay.”
“No.”
“They stayed together and took care of each other. Sailor and Nova are here. They want to see you.”
Haley says something that Luce finally understands as “Don’t let them see me like this.”
Luce looks over at the golf cart to see Nova had walked even farther away while Sailor stood watching them curiously from a distance.
“I’m going to sedate him a little to keep him calm,” the EMT says. She places another mask over Haley's nose and tells him to breathe slowly before putting a triage tag on his chest. It was green for Minor Injury.
“This isn’t a minor injury, he should go now.” Luce tells the EMT. The survivors brought out before him had been rushed to ambulances. He takes off the green Minor Injury tag. “ He can’t breath. Get a red tag. He needs the red tag.”
“We’re spread thin,” The EMT says, standing to get the next survivor--this one was strong enough to walk.“We’ve had to triage everyone down one.”
“Luce,” Haley says and Luce snaps to his attention. “Nova…Sailor…”
“They're, okay.”
“Don’t…lie,” he repeats. “Don’t lie.”
“I swear on my father’s grave they are alive.”
“Novaandsailor.Tell them…I’m sorry.”
“No. You can tell them.”
“I…won’t make…it.”
“Alex, I need you to fight for a few more minutes.”
“I’m tired…. I’m…ready to go. Tell them I love them.”
“No.”
“Luce…Nova...Sailor...find them. Go...please”
“They're okay,” Luce repeats.
Luce replays the same conversation with him for 15 minutes. Haley was hyperfocused on finding out if Nova and Sailor were alive, only drifting from the topic to talk about time, colorless eyes and white veils. Luce is happy to repeat the conversation if it meant Haley would hold on for a little while longer.
When he finally jogs back over to where Nova and Sailor waited, Sailor rushes into his arms. He picks her up like when she was a little girl and hugs her close.
They walk over to the golf cart where Nova was sobbing into his now soaking wet t-shirt.
This time Nova accepts the hug Luce offers. He cries into Luce’s chest, seeking the comfort he’d never looked for from his stepfather. For a moment–with both is children in his arms–it feels like 10 years ago when the prospect of being newly married and father was exciting instead of full of heartbreak.
“It’s my fault,” Nova cries, sobs wracking his body “I was such a selfish kid. I wanted to come to the city. I made you come. We shouldn't have been here…we shouldn’t have…we shouldn't have been here.”
—
The next time the Haley-Grace family is reunited is in the ICU of the Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital.
The day Haley was found Luce had left Genesis all his source code and notes and walked away from the Resistance. Haley had been evacuated to New Jersey and that’s where they needed to be.
Luce kept a close eye on Nova–who was always on the edge of tears or an outburst and Sailor–who had a panic attack about everything from the highway to Twyla's outpour of emotion at seeing her for the first time in 10 years.
“Mr. Haley, we’ll keep you one day here, two days in the stepdown unit and then you’ll be ready to go home,” the ICU nurse says. “Does that sound good ?”
Haley was awake from the emergency surgery that removed his lung and seemed alert. But the ventilator prevented him from speaking. His hazy gaze wasn't on the nurse speaking to him but on Sailor and Nova who stood by the room's door. His eyes flicked rapidly between them.
Haley holds out his hand, palm up.
“Can we touch him ?,” Luce asks from the chair next to Haley's bed.
The nurse nods and stands unobtrusively in the corner.
Luce cradles Haley’s hand is his. All of his fingernails were gone, the doctors has suspected he'd eaten them. Luce brings Haley's hand to his lips but Haley’s eyes won’t meet his.
“I think your dad wants to see you,” Luce calls to Nova and Sailor. He isn’t sure he can make them come closer. The doctors said he'd live but he looked like he was on his deathbed.
The loud obtrusive machines and various tubes helping keep him stable terrified Sailor. The nurses had shaved his head and it made he look more gaunt. He’d been so thin that the pajama set he wore was originally meant for Sailor. Even after a few days in the hospital his weight was still just under 75 pounds.
Nova approaches them slowly, his arms crossed over his body defensively.
When Nova gets closer, Haley reaches for Nova's arm and grips it. Nova stares at his father’s hand in silence until Haley drifts asleep and his grip loosens.
“Are we going back home when Dad gets out ?,” Sailor asks when they are back in the hospital waiting room. Luce takes out his phone to call an Uber to take them back to the hotel.
“She means the basement. She thinks the basement is home,” Nova snaps. He suddenly had a lot to say now that they weren’t in the ICU room. “I told you to stop fucking saying that. We’re never going back ther–”
“Enough,” Luce says sharply under his breath. People were anxious for stories of New Aeterna survivors and Luce didn’t want to have this conversation in a crowded waiting room where it could be overheard.
“But I want my other stuff,” Sailor whines. "I want--"
“Aunt Twyla, Colette and Grandma have new things for you,” Luce reminds her.
“I want my old blank–”
“I know, baby. But we have to move on. I don’t even think that stuff is there. You have a new room.”
Luce wasn’t sure what had become of their secret basement apartment, but he had no intentions of stepping foot back in New Aeterna.
“Am I going to share a room with you or with Nova ?”
“You’ll get your own room. Nova’s going to get his own space in the attic–”
“Actually, I’m getting my own place.”
Luce turns to Nova. “Excuse me--”
“I’m going to get my own place--”
“Nova, you are not ready for that–”
“I'm 22-years-old,” he reminded Luce. And Luce hated that he had to be reminded how much older Nova was now. He’d seemed trapped as a 12-year-old boy to him.
“Nova, let's talk about this later-- ”
“They have all kinds of programs for New Aeterna survivors. Aunt Twyla and Ms. Sara live in a 3 bedroom house, you know there isn’t room for all of us.”
“We’ll talk about this when Alex gets out the hospital.”
“Fine,” Nova agrees but the next evening he is gone.
---
The next and final chapter is the epilogue and extended epilogue. I think I wrote this chapter in 2023 when I was getting comfortable writing Lile characters. I couldn't bring myself to do Sera or Paris but I tried to do Leon.