The Lonely Orphan (The Lost Planet 5)

“Hold on there, buddy. You don’t even know where you’re going.”

“We’ve a lot to do if Theron and I are going to return to the Facility soon. I don’t want to be gone too long.”

I tug on his shirt sleeve, pulling him down a hall. “Then you’d better let me lead for a change, sparky. You’re going the wrong way.”

“I know where I’m going,” he retorts, but he doesn’t protest when I lead him down the correct hall to the stairs that will take us to the top level. His attitude shouldn’t make me smile, but it does.

The smile melts from my face as I push into the command room. Zoe and Willow greet me with mirror expressions of tension and fear. Well, on Willow it’s tension and fear, but on Zoe it’s anger and frustration. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Zoe afraid.

“What the hell is he doing here?” she grits out at the sight of him.

“I’m here to speak with you aliens. And to facilitate communications between Willow and Lyric and their families.”

Zoe turns to me. “You can’t be serious. You’re just going to let him walk around free?” She throws her thick black waves over her shoulders, her gray eyes flashing. “Do you not remember them threatening to kidnap us or am I the only sane one here?”

My back straightens. “He’s not walking around free. I’ve been with him the whole time. There will be no kidnapping today, Zoe. Besides, if he tries anything, I give you permission now to use the zap stick on him.”

This seems to mollify her, but only a little. “I think this is a bad idea. He could be lying to you.”

“The truth-teller seems to think otherwise,” I say coolly.

She relents, but I know it’s only momentary. “Whatever you say.”

“You can really help us talk to them? My mother?” Willow asks. Her red-orange hair tumbles around her shoulders from a bun held in place with a pencil.

“You don’t actually believe them?” Zoe’s voice is incredulous.

“I believe even the chance at hearing from my mother is worth the risk.” Willow has never been the defiant sort, but she sets her jaw and meets Zoe’s eyes head-on. “Lyric and I have been waiting for this opportunity for years. She wants to talk to her sister, but she wouldn’t risk the lives of those she helped saved for it. You know that.”

Zoe crosses her arms and slumps into a chair. “I still think it’s a bad idea.”

“Noted.” I turn to Hadrian, who has been watching our conversation with an amused expression. “You’re up.”

“It’s a frequency-based system,” Willow says quickly, the excitement evident in her breathy voice. “Do you think it’ll be compatible with the one where you’re from?”

“Where are you from, exactly?” Zoe interjects before Hadrian can respond.

He nods to Willow and begins to study the controls, tinkering with the buttons and dials. To Zoe, he says, “The morts have lived on this planet since radiation destroyed it.”

I nod to Willow when she looks at me for confirmation. “It’s true. He told me during interrogation.” I still can’t imagine it. My whole life I was told Earth was uninhabitable after dangerous amounts of radiation destroyed it. That’s why, generations before me, we took to the skies and have lived on a man-made planet ever since. But, the planet was small and crime was out of control. They exiled people for life sentences to Exilium for the smallest of offenses. In fact, Exilium was built specifically to see if Earth was safe enough to live on again and to house prisoners to use as test subjects. Little did we know the prison hadn’t been completed until recently.

“Our ancestors built the facility where we now live. It keeps us safe from the beasts that roam this planet and the radiation. Our kind survived for many years this way until most of our numbers were wiped out by The Rades, a deadly virus. We were nearly extinct, until Theron found the ship with Aria, Molly, and the others. Without them, we certainly would have been the end of all morts.”

“What’s the Facility like?” Willow asks.

Hadrian pauses his examination of the controls. “It’s located a few solars travel east of here, over the mountain range. After The Rades, we were forced to remain indoors where it was safe. Our commander, Breccan, is the only reason we survived.”

Breccan. According to Hadrian, he’s my sister’s mate. I still didn’t know what to think about that. Aria…married and a mother. So much has already been taken from me, the thought of getting even a piece of it back is like having electricity under my skin.

“And he sent you here to take us back, is that it?” Zoe interrupts.

“He sent us here to bring back family,” Hadrian answers quietly, a preternatural stillness settling over his muscled frame. “Aria’s and Molly’s. They’re our family.” He catches Willow’s eyes. “Which means you are, too. We won’t be leaving without you, that is true. I won’t let Aria down that way. No matter how long it takes to convince you.”