Kevin probably realized what I was thinking because he came to me and took me by the shoulders. “AJ, listen to me. You are not going to become him.”

“You can’t know that for sure.”

“I know it. You are not like him.” I released myself from his grip and turned around. “Baby, you can be a headache sometimes but you don’t have a mean bone in your body.”

Please, make him be right. “That’s why the two races never mixed again?” I asked changing the subject. I can’t think about that now, I can’t. I feel like I have lost all my strength.

“Yes,” he answered in a soft voice. “The survivors went to Earth and things changed there. For some reason Earth changed the two races and they lost some of their powers. Before that, they were like us, they all had lots of special powers but since the day they went to Earth every Tracon and Alomega was left with only one power.”

“That’s what makes us special”

“Yes.”

“The reaction to the loss of their powers was different among the two races. The Tracons that went to Earth with the Alomegas were the ones that had fought against Azdé and his followers but, as time went by, they changed. They started to see humans as an inferior race, they had children with humans and in some of the cases that meant losing even more power. They hated humans for that, specially because they knew that they needed them. Without humans their race would disappeared. Alomegas on the other hand see humans as their salvation trying to avoid the history from repeating itself. They found themselves having more powers than the Tracons on Earth, no matter they had lost some of their powers too, but the children of humans and Alomegas would be less powerful and they saw that as a good thing. Since some of the children still had powers, they learnt how to bind them. They felt safe thinking that none of their descendants would repeat Azdé’s attempt. It was a well-intentioned thought but little could they know at that time that they would be needing those powers to fight against the people they considered their friends, not only against Tracons but against humans.

I was feeling sick again. I took a seat on Brian’s bed.

“So all the time the Tracons looked for the opportunity to mix their race with the Alomegas.”

“Yes. Since the beginning they wanted more power.”

“They will be disappointed if they get to know me. I can’t even control all my powers.” I tried to joke to release the tension.

“You hadn’t developed any Tracon powers yet, but you would eventually.”

“I think I don’t wanna know which powers those are. I’m not going to grow a tail or anything like that, am I?

“AJ,” he complained.

“What? You can’t blame me if don’t wanna wake up one day with horns or something worse only to hear you say “Jay, I have been keeping something away from you,”” I mimicked him. “I just want to be sure.”

“There’s no need to be harsh.”

“Well...”

“Don’t say it, I already know. I deserve it.” I didn’t mean that. “And it's good to see that you can already make jokes, that means you are feeling better.”

“Is that or crying again and I think I don’t have any more tears. I probably won’t be able to cry in years.” I gave a hint of a smile but he didn’t return it. “Okay, keep going. So they finally saw their plans come reality with my mother.”

“I really don’t know if it was planned but Drew did see in you the opportunity to have more power under his control and that’s the reason why your mother left him. She realized he wasn’t good for him. He told her that he wasn’t like the others but she discovered it was a lie. I know she believed him for a while but then she saw the real Drew. I’m not sure if Drew knows this but your mother saw him killing a man and then...” for the umpteenth time that day he doubted before speaking. There’s more? “he also tried to kill my father.”

“He tried to kill uncle Ryan?”

“Twice.”

I silently thanked the fact that I was sitting because I didn’t think my legs would take my weight.

“Remember how I told you that the things you saw on the pyramid could change?”

I nodded.

“I saw your father killing my father there. He tried to do it two months before we left Earth. I had warned my father and he could defend himself.”

“Why?”

“Why did he try to kill my father?”

“Yes.”

“I suppose he knew my father was trying to send us away and he didn’t want to lose you.”

“You were there when he tried to kill him?”

“Yes. That was the last time I saw him, until today of course.” I remembered what my father had told Kevin in the bar, about the last time they met, when Kevin was 14.

I laid myself down on the bed and closed my eyes. “What now? What’s going to happen?”

“I don’t know. He knows you are special, but he doesn’t know we are the five chosen ones.”

“Are you sure?”

“No, but the rebels are watching your father and the others and they haven’t contacted the Empire yet. He probably spent these past years looking for the five chosen ones and looking for you at the same time, without even imagining that you are part of the legend. But if he doesn’t know yet who we are, he definitely will find it any minute now. It’s not safe for us to stay here much longer.”

An idea crossed my mind and I sat up again. “You didn’t tell us everything about the crystal and our future because the Tracons were about to discover us, did you?”

“Huh?”

“You did it because of my father, right?”

He kept silence.

“That’s how you knew the Tracons wouldn’t be looking for trouble. You told Howie they wouldn’t be looking for trouble yet. What you meant by that 'yet'?”

“I know he doesn’t want to harm you,” he finally admitted. “I knew it was just a matter of time for him to reach you and I wanted you to know who you really were before coming in contact with the Tracons.”

He was afraid of what my father could have told me.

“Kevin.”

“Yes?”

“Could you leave me alone for a moment?” I saw how my words surprised him at first but he nodded.

“Of course,” he said walking to the door.

“And Kevin.” He stopped and looked at me. “Don’t be too hard on Nicky.” That probably surprised him even more.

“I can’t believe you are asking me that.”

“Don’t tell him I’m interceding on his behalf.” I smiled and this time he smiled too but it lasted just a second.

“Do you know what was he doing there?”

“I knew he had been in that bar before but he told me that he had been there just once. I didn’t believe him then. It turned out I was right.”

“What he did was totally stupid and he has to learn that he can’t do whatever he wants, no matter what.”

“I know but please, just let him talk. There’s probably a good explanation for his behavior.” Okay, now I am the one surprised by my words.

“I’ll try.” He smiled at me before leaving the room.

The minute Kevin closed the door I found myself tormented by my thoughts. I still didn’t know what to do, what to think. I didn’t even know what word to use to refer to him. My father. That word kept causing me pain. Someone was yelling outside. It seemed that Kevin had lost his patience pretty fast. I decided to activate one of my shields. I guessed Kevin wasn’t going to object me using my powers anymore. After all, if it was a matter of time for the Empire to find us, what was the use of hiding? I was still learning how to use my second power, the defensive one, but one of the first barriers I had created was the soundproof shield. I had found a good use for that shield long time ago. It was perfect to avoid Nicky’s constant chatting. The lecture outside my room made me think I had found another reason for using my shield. I needed silence to think.

------------------------------------


I don’t know when exactly I fell asleep but I woke up with a terrible headache, probably due to all the crying. For a minute I thought everything had been a bad dream but reality hit me. My shield of course was off, it would have surprised me to know that I could used my powers in my sleep. I was about to go to the bathroom when I heard someone crying. I left the room and just a couple of steps away, at my left, I found Nick, sitting on the floor, his eyes red.

“Kaos, are you crying?”

“No!” he said wiping the tears with his hand.

“You are crying!”

“Go away AJ, leave me alone.”

“Man, what did Kevin do to you?” I asked him, sitting down at his side.

“I said leave me alone.”

He was about to stand up but I pulled him by the shirt. “Come on Nicky, it couldn’t be that bad.”

He took a seat again and hugged his knees to his chest hiding his face. “He told me that I’m not worth of trust,” he hiccupped. Man that was harsh. Kevin can be a real jerk. “That he will not trust me again unless I prove him wrong. And that If I keep acting like a child he will treat me like one and send me away.”

“What?”

“He mentioned something about a rebel base where the rebels keep their children safe. I’m not a child!” Try not to whine every time you say that Kaos.

“Nick, he probably said that to scare you. You know Kevin, his bark is worse than his bite.”

He didn’t answer.

“Come on Nicky. You know he will never send you away. I will never let that happen, nor Brian and Howie.”

“No, you don’t get it,” he said finally looking at me. “I did something really stupid”

“I know, bro. Remember, I was there. I still can’t believe you did something like that.”

“I’m not talking about today, Aje. I’m not talking about the bar.”

“Huh?”

“I’ve already done another stupid thing.”

“What? When? How long have I been sleeping?” I asked looking at my watch.

“Not right now. I did something really stupid a couple of weeks ago, but when Kevin finds out he is going to kill me.”

“Nick if he didn’t kill you today he won’t be killing you anytime soon. What did you do?”

He opened his jacket to show me... a gun?

“That’s Kevin ATX...” I said before noticing a different pattern. This was an ATX-4 not an ATX-5. “Nick, whose laser is that?”

“Mine.”

“Yours?”

“Aha.”

“I don’t...”

“I bought a gun.”

“YOU BOUGHT A GUN?”

“Shhhh! Keep quiet or the others will hear you.”

“You are kidding, right? You don’t have the money. Nick what the hell have you been doing in that bar? How many times have you been there.”

“Plenty. I’ve been going there since we arrived, before having the bracelet. And you know I kept going to that place even after Kevin made me use that thing.”

“And the laser?”

“I bought it on installment. I still haven’t given the guy the two last payments. He said that...”

“Guy? Man, Kaos, that’s gunrunning! You didn’t buy it on a store. Who sold that to you?”

“A Gris.”

“How much did you pay. Where did you get the money?”

“I’ve been doing some jobs, working for some Grises and humans there.”

“Jeff?” I asked him and he looked down.

“Yes and some of his friends too,” he whispered.

I smacked him on the head.

“Ouch.”

“How could you be so stupid? What kind of jobs?”

“Just delivering some messages, and one or two packages.”

“You realize you have been working for the enemy?”

“I didn’t knew they were from the Empire,” he whined. “They didn’t have uniforms or bar codes.”

“Nick you got to tell Kevin.”

“No. He will send me away.”

“He won’t.”

“You didn’t hear what he told me, AJ. I had never seen him so mad before.”

“Nick, if you don’t tell Kevin what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. The Gris that sold me this, I haven’t seen him in days. I’m afraid he could come here looking for his money.”

“How much do you owe him?”

“30 kubrimks.”

I felt like smacking him again.

“What about Brian. He could help us.” Us? Why am saying us? There’s no way Nick will draw me into this.

“No, AJ. Brian would tell Kevin. I know him.” I guess the same goes for Howie.

“I don’t know how to help you Nick. I really think you need to tell Kevin.”

“I was thinking,” he said and I knew nothing good would come from that phrase. “Maybe he will take the laser back.”

I knew it. “You can’t go there again, Nick.”

“It’s the only thing I can do.”

“You are crazy if you think I’m gonna let you go alone to that place again.”

“Come with me.” What?

I was about to say no but an image appeared in front of my. My father.

“Okay. I will go with you.”

“Really?” He couldn’t believe I had accepted.

“Yes, but not today. Lets do it tomorrow.”

“Thank you. Thank you, AJ,” he said hugging me.

“Kaos. Get away.” He kissed my check. He knew how much I hated that and that’s why he was always doing it. “Let me go Nick”

“AJ you are the best brother. I love you man,” he said trying to kiss me again.

“Kaos if you kiss me again I’m gonna kick your ass and I won’t go with you.”

He finally stayed put and I stood up.

“Where are you going?”

“Do you know where Howie is?” I needed to talk to D.

“Howie? Right! I almost forgot. What the hell happened today? Why did you do that Bone? You hit Howie”

“None of your business.”

“I...”

“Another word Nick and I will tell Kevin about the gun.”

He rolled his eyes.

“Well?”

“Well what?”

“Aren’t you going to tell me?”

“Tell you what? You just told me not to say another word.”

“I want to know where is Ho… You know what? Forget it! I will find him,” I said leaving the kid behind.


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