“Fuck!” he growled in frustration minutes later, when all he’d got for his efforts was a splitting headache and an upset stomach.
But what he had learned was still useful—possibly. The flashes of the outfits he’d seen… The ship… Cyrus was sure now that someone, another group, would attack Riker’s ship, Bone Turner, before they got there. Possibly not that long before…maybe even right before.
Either way, someone else was there that wasn’t, or didn’t appear to be, their enemy, at least. The question was who? And was this the current fucking timeline they were on, or the previous one he’d tossed away? And why was this even important for him to fucking know?!
Yeah, so far, the three days in space had yet to lead to any sort of answers to the many questions he had. Just more stress as his panic grew, while they neared where they’d eventually run into the hopefully soon-to-be-dead Skinwalker, and his band of merry fucking traffickers.
Killian and Skya…they had to be okay…
Taking a deep breath and letting it slowly out, Cyrus got out of bed and quickly showered away the sweat that had built due to his efforts. Once clean and dressed for the day, he was about to leave the room when the door opened, and Severo came within an inch of bowling right into him.
His brow rose at the hopeful expression on the Shadow Dweller’s face. “What?! What is it?”
Severo’s smile spread wider as he announced, “My parents got a call.”
Cyrus laughed in relief. “Thank fuck!” He rubbed his face with a groan while he stepped back and let Severo inside. Dropping down onto the couch, he rasped, “Killian…of course… He would have told them exactly who they had taken with him…I don’t know why I didn’t realize that sooner.” He rubbed his face again, his hands actually shaking with how relieved he felt.
“Stress and guilt, likely. As for why my ass didn’t realize it?” The Shadow Dweller sat down next to him. “Well, all I could think about is what could go wrong.”
Cyrus smiled and asked, “Did they say what Riker asked for?”
Severo pursed his lips. “To be honest, the amount is so low that my parents would have likely found it laughable, if, you know, they weren’t already enraged at the time they heard it.”
“Trafficker or not, Riker is smart enough to know that your parents are not people one should fuck with. He was probably terrified to ask for more.”
The Dweller chuckled. “He didn’t even ask for the low amount, really. It was more of a suggestion, and it came with an apology, apparently. I, of course, got my body threatened for running off without informing them of what had happened, while leaving Seri and his mother, Avery, alone to deal with their emotions.”
“Alone, my ass. You have literally been on the phone with them for the last three days, for almost every hour you have been awake.”
“I did argue that point. Guess how it went?”
Cyrus smirked. “They try to ground you?”
“They very much did, and they succeeded, since they’d already captured Seri and Avery by the time they called me. My mother browbeat Seri into agreeing to my punishment of camping outdoors alone for the same number of days I’m absent.”
He chuckled. “Of course, she did. What did they tell Riker?”
“I think the best way to sum it up is ‘return our granddaughter to us or die.’” Severo’s smile dropped then. “They didn’t know about Killian. Riker didn’t mention him to them, butthey told me to tell you that they promised, they would demand his return the moment Riker called back.”
Cyrus’ smirk waned at that. “So, what you are saying is that my parents likely know now too.”
“Most definitely. They’ll probably call you.”
They wouldn’t. They knew it was better to wait until the crisis was over, because there was nothing more he could tell them right now. Though, he supposed, the real truth was that they wouldn’t call because they were not as close to him as most in his life thought they were. Killian knew, but everyone else…
It wasn’t like his mother and father wouldn’t be worried about Killian. They likely were, but they wouldn’t get involved, and would wait for him to tell them, or they'd just learn what they could through Severo’s parents and never bring it up.
Cyrus did wonder what they’d think if they found out what he’d done. They’d likely laugh, possibly mock him now that he’d proven them right on just how bendable those rules he loved really were, when it came down to it…
Killian aside, the news was something to be relieved about, in Skya’s case. Yet, at the same time…he still felt wound up, like he was waiting for the many shoes to drop, due to the many unanswered questions he had.
“I’m relieved that my parents know about something for once, and that the bastard that has Skya knows…but…” Severo sighed. “Cyrus…what’s going to happen after all this ends?”
That would definitely be one of his many unanswered questions.
“I don’t know,” Cyrus answered honestly. “As far as what I do know, no one has broken this rule yet in my lifetime, at least not to my knowledge. If what I did is discovered… A warning? Punishment? Death? I just don’t know.”
“You have to be fucking kidding me. Your family elders have set up all these damn rules that you have to follow, but theycouldn’t even be bothered to tell you what the consequences of breaking them would be?!”
