“No, there are not,” his mother agreed.
“There will be nothing for me to do there,” he stated. “I will have no purpose!”
I will not be able to revenge Deaseh! I will not be able to defend the Alliance!
His mother’s gaze was steadily on him. “You will go to Earth. You will serve the humans. And there you shall remain.”
“For how long?” he asked.
“Until we call for you,” she answered, her voice dipping for once during this whole exchange.
And what those words really meant was that he would never come back. Earth was worse than exile.
The Khul
Jace eyed Timmy Grace and Danny Wilson. The two boys were eleven-years-old, best friends, growing reprobates and they were lingering near the adult magazines. Walter kept the porn mags by the AARP fliers and crossword books. The last types of content that boys like Timmy and Danny would be interested in so they stuck out there like two sore thumbs.
The boys had already gone over to the aging refrigerator and taken out two soft drinks, a Cherry Coke and a Grape Fanta. These were the only outward purchases. Timmy though had some Twizzlers that he’d stuffed in the back of his pants while Danny’s sticky fingers were trailing over the candybar section. Jace was sure a few chocolate bars would end up in the extra deep pockets of his shorts.
Walter had caught them shoplifting bunches of times, but he didn’t want the cops called on them though, because he had a soft heart. They were kids. Kids do stupid things. Just confiscate the stolen items and send them on their way were his instructions to Jace. But while Jace had sympathy for Timmy, who lived at the edge of town in the trailer parks, he had none for Danny.
Their clothes told the story of their lives. Timmy’s clothes were worn and had stains on top of stains. Danny’s were not only clean and fresh, but were designer brands. He could have afforded to buy the drinks and snacks for both of them with no problem. But he didn’t. He took. And Walter wasn’t exactly rolling in dough.
Danny wandered to the end of the magazine rack and oh-so-casually tipped one of the adult magazines to the side so that it started to fall off of the rack. He caught it adroitly and slipped it up underneath his t-shirt. He bloused out his shirt to hide the evidence. Then they both sauntered to the counter to pay for the drinks but nothing else they had secreted on their persons.
They must think I’m blind.
Jace was wearing his sunglasses indoors so maybe they thought he was. Or asleep. Even though the Con-Ve was dimly lit, the shop windows were darkly tinted, and the counter was at the back of the store, it was still too bright for him that day. The strange clouds he had glimpsed earlier were still there. He’d caught sight of lightning in them every once in a while, but none of the needle shaped “ships” he’d imagined before. Thankfully, they often obscured the sun, but what he really needed was a completely black room for his head to get better.
Right now, his headache curled around the back of his skull almost as if it were hugging his brain in a painful embrace. With the sunglasses on and keeping himself totally still, the pain was just a throb, instead of a skullcrusher. But the pressure was building.
There was a sense of anticipation in the air. Everytime he looked at the clouds through the windows his heart would start to race and the bitter taste of adrenaline would be on his tongue. He was in fight or flight mode. He tried to tell himself that it was the upcoming “fight” with the boys that was causing this, but he knew it wasn’t.
Danny arrogantly set his pop on the cracked counter and gestured for Timmy to do the same. Timmy’s face was a little too blank as he set his pop there too. Danny fished out his wallet. Jace was pretty sure he hadn’t had a wallet when he was 11. He was positive that, even if he’d had one, that it hadn’t been stuffed with cash like Danny’s was. Danny gave Jace a little superior smile.
I’m rich. You’re poor. I matter. You don’t, the smile seemed to say.
Jace’s parents weren’t poor unless you compared them to Danny’s. It irritated him that this little punk honestly thought that because his parents made more money than gods that he thought he could act like a dickhead to everyone.
“How much?” Danny asked.
“For what?” Jace asked back.
“The drinks, stupid.” Danny let out a disgusted snort. “Take off your sunglasses and maybe you’ll be able to see.”
Danny looked over his shoulder at Timmy and they both let out unkind laughs. Jace gave them a bloodless smile. He did not say anything though in return.
“How much for the drinks?” Danny asked again, rolling his eyes as if Jace were the stupidest creature in existence.
“Oh? Those?” Jace smiled more broadly even though it hurt.
“Yeah, what else?” Danny scoffed, and there wasn’t the slightest bit of shame that he was stealing.
Jace’s smile became sharp and he leaned forward on his stool towards the boy. “What else? Well… I thought you might want to know how much the two Twix bars were in your left pocket cost.”
Danny’s arrogance faltered slightly. “W-what--”
“Or the Jugs magazine that’s poking out of your left side like a really square tumor,” Jace continued.
