Out of the Ashes (Maji 1)

“I will never forget. I was twelve when the war started, and I helplessly watched an aug break my twelve-year-old cousin’s neck when he tried to reach his dead father then two other augs gutted my other two cousins. I was twelve, a fucking baby, and I tried so damn hard to stop the bleeding, but I couldn’t… and they died in my arms.” I said, a lump forming in my throat. “Augs will never be trusted. That collective chip is inside all your heads. It’s only a matter of time before the alpha code is rewritten, and it’s not only humans you will kill this time but Maji, too!”

Sera didn’t reply to me; she only looked down and sighed. I turned in Kol’s arms and looked up at him.

“How many augs are aboard this ship?” I demanded.

He held my gaze but didn’t answer.

“How. Many?” I pressed.

“Surkah,” Kol said, his eyes still on mine. “Answer her.”

“Sixty-eight that I have examined so far.”

My heart slammed hard into my chest. One aug could easily kill one hundred men, sixty-eight of them on board the Ebony would result in a massacre.

“I’m leaving,” I stated.

“I don’t think so,” Kol said, his voice hard.

“Am I prisoner here?”

“No.”

“Then I demand to leave.”

“Nova.” This came from Surkah behind me. “Your chances of survival—”

“I was doing just fine on my planet before you and your species showed up. I would rather take my chances in the wastelands than be anywhere near a filthy aug.”

“Nova—”

“You cannot convince her, sir,” Sera cut Mikoh off. “Originals… they fear us, and I fear they always will.”

Kol sighed. “Nothing I say will convince you, little one, will it?”

“On this?” I questioned him. “No.”

He frowned down at me, displaying obvious distress. He gave me a light squeeze and used a hand to brush a stray hair from my face; the affectionate action surprised me, but what surprised me more was when he said, “Don’t hate me, okay?”

An alarm went off in my head.

“What?” I blinked. “Why would I hate you?”

I felt a pinch on my neck, and then everything got fuzzy. My body felt heavy, my mind was a mess of colours, and then I was lost to darkness, but not before I heard one last conversation.

“She will awaken not only fearing augmented humans but Maji, too, when she learns we have lied to her,” Kol said, his voice unusually deep. “Detain all humans and recall all rescue crafts for an emergency departure. The planet’s core is cooling rapidly, and the surface is destabilising faster than we anticipated. I want to be on course to Ealra within twelve hours before the Earth becomes uninhabitable. I want a constant watch on her. And Surkah?”

“Yes, brother?”

“Alert me when she wakes,” he rumbled. “I want to deal with her personally.”

Pain.

It flooded my senses and thumped away inside my head like sticks on a drum. I turned my head and pressed it farther into the cushioned pillow underneath me to escape it, but my actions proved futile. I was stuck with a headache that I prayed would disappear soon. I groaned and jerked my head to the side when I opened my eyes, and a bright beam of light attacked my pupils.

“What the hell?” I said, groggily.

I sat upright and placed my hands over my eyes until the spotting of light went away.

“Nova?”

“Yeah?” I rasped.

My throat felt like sandpaper.

“How are you feeling?”

I tried to swallow. “Like I’ve been kicked in the head.”

Was I kicked in the head?

I groaned loudly and moved my hands to my pounding temples and rubbed in circular motions to ease the painful ache. I dropped my hands to my lap and exhaled a deep breath. Nothing but time would take away the pain that pulsed away.

“Nova, are you okay?”

The voice was familiar.

“Nova?”

I turned my head and smiled crookedly when I saw Surkah.

“Hey.”

“Hello,” she said, a wariness to her tone. “Are you well?”

“No,” I mumbled. “My head is killing me.”

Surkah said, “Maybe the dose I gave her was too high?”

Huh?

“What are you talking ab—”

“I contacted Kol. He is on his way.”

Mikoh cut me off. I squinted my eyes until his form became clear. He was standing behind Surkah with his arms folded across his broad chest. He was leaned back against the wall next to the doorway.

“How are you, tiny one?” he asked, tentatively.

“I don’t know,” I replied as I adjusted the gown I couldn’t remember putting on. “My head hurts, and I can’t remember falling asleep in here. Wait… Am I dreaming? Is this a dream?”

“Would that make me the male of your dreams then?” Mikoh asked, grinning.

“Stop it,” Surkah growled. “You’re not helping.”

I smiled at him.

“I disagree,” Mikoh replied and nodded his head at me.

Surkah saw I was smiling, and rolled her eyes.

“It is the effects of the konia,” she said with a wave of her hand. “She’d most likely spew her Earthly curse words at you if her mind wasn’t… What was the word Sera said? Cloudy?”

That was exactly what my head felt like. Cloudy.

“What is a konia?” I questioned.

“A medical agent we use to induce instant unconsciousness.”

I stared at Surkah, trying to make sense of her words.

“And you used this konia on… me?”

Surkah couldn’t look me in the eye as she said, “My brother gave the order through his comm. We could not run the risk of you attempting to flee us because we feared you would be hurt in the process.”

What. The. Hell?

“I don’t understand any of this,” I said as I placed my hands on either side my head. “Why would I flee? You’re going to rebuild the Earth and fix everything. Why would I fight against that? Why would I fight my salvation?”

Surkah still couldn’t look me in the eye. Hell, she couldn’t even look in my direction. Dread swirled in my abdomen, and worry prickled my skin. I had a feeling that something bad was about to happen.

“Are you my friend, Surkah?” I asked, my voice barely a whispered.

She jerked her head up and locked gazes with mine.

“Of course,” she breathed. “You’re my only true friend. I have bonded with you very quickly, Nova.”

“Then tell me what I’m missing,” I pleaded. “I can’t remember anything after talking to your brother in the hallway.”

That freaky Maji picked me up off the ground like I weighed nothing when I ran from him.

“Everything will be okay,” Surkah promised. “Nothing will happen to—”

Surkah was cut off when the door to the room opened, revealing Kol. I blinked as he entered the room. His stunning violet eyes were on mine, his thick dark brows were drawn together, and his lips were thinned to a line. He didn’t look very happy, and after a few seconds, I knew why. My recollection of the events earlier suddenly hit me and caused me to draw in a deep, unsteady breath. My conversation with Kol, Mikoh, Surkah, and Sera flooded my mind and caused my already pounding headache to amplify.

They kidnapped me.

“Stay the hell away from me!” I bellowed as I scrambled off the bed and away from Surkah, who looked like she was about to cry.

She took a step forward, and I screamed, so she took five steps back. She did cry then, and Mikoh was there to comfort her. I had never seen them touch one another affectionately, but when he put an arm around her shoulder and hugged her body to his, she didn’t fight him.

“Please,” she blubbered. “Don’t fear me. I am your friend.”

Liar!

“No!” I shouted. “You pretended to me my friend so you could kidnap me! You’re just like humans, Surkah. You lie, steal, and hurt people. You’ve hurt me!”

Surkah’s whine was filled with pain, and so were her whimpers that followed. Mikoh was glaring at me, no doubt furious that I had upset his intended, but I didn’t care. I was hurting, too. I thought she was a good Maji, that I could trust her with my safety, but she was like everyone else. She used me.

“Nova.”

I narrowed my eyes to slits when Kol called my name, but I refused to look at him.

“Let me go.”

He sighed. “We cannot.”

“Why?” I demanded. “Why have you taken me?”

The many human women I saw in the mess hall filled my mind, and I knew in my heart that the Maji had taken them too. Was it under false pretences? Or were they aware of what had happened to them?