CHAPTERSEVEN
AZURA
Onyx, Martin, and Azura are blasted through time and space before anyone had time to consider what is going on. Azura held onto her brother as their necks snapped backward, somehow moving but not moving, pushed against the cosmic force that was transcending every moment they held dear.
Azura was stunned by how easily they slipped onto another planet once they had traversed the wormhole. It was obviously using some advanced technology that earth beings had yet to acquire, or maybe they had acquired, she didn’t know.
They popped into existence on a velvety bed of sand, except the sand was a strange neon yellow. Azura didn’t care to notice, though. She was feeling herself getting that panicky sensation again, rising inside her chest and threatening to suffocate her internally.
Azura fell to her knees, inhaling and exhaling deeply to prevent herself from vomiting.
“Azura!” Martin yelled.
He tried to take his sister by the shoulders. She pulled her arm away, rage mixing with the panic in a strange hot cocktail of emotions.
“What did you do this time?” she nearly yelled.
Martin sat back on his butt on the sand, peering down between his legs. She focused on the color of the sand, so odd and surreal, the little grains that sparkled in the sun as dry as the Vegas desert. She calmed herself and then turned to Onyx. He was speaking to someone through a communication device. Azura felt her heart rate slow as she listened to him, his voice deep and reassuring.
“Get into contact with them ASAP,” he said. “Then report back to me just as fast, if not faster. I’ve got a young man here waiting for answers.”
She continued to sit on all fours on the sand, laying on her forearms as Onyx nodded and seemed to make some kind of agreement. When he was finished, he pocketed the comm device.
“I’ve spoken to my lawyer,” Onyx said. “My own here on Nova Aurora. He is going to figure out what is going on with you, Martin, and get back to me.”
Azura was focusing on the sand still. It was a meditative procedure she had learned in therapy that would help ease her panic attacks while bringing her back into the present moment. While her panic had been sedated, her anger continued to boil.
“I think we should go back,” she whispered into the stand.
Martin kept his head down, ashamed, and assessed the sand the same way Azura was.
She could feel Onyx cautiously stepping close to her. He crouched and placed a hand on her back. It was gentle.
“There is a treaty between my planet and yours,” he began. “It essentially states that we can get a court date set while he is off the streets, and technically, while he’s here, he’s off the streets.”
Azura sat up, Onyx’s hand remaining on her back. She was staring daggers at her brother. He was looking sullen and sorrowful, and she hated that he was making her regret her feelings for him. It was her nature, after all, to be empathic and caretaking, as much of a curse as it often felt.
“During that time, he can prepare for court with a lawyer,” Onyx continued. “And you can both enjoy my planet while you wait.”
Azura was too exhausted to fight. Of course, she didn’t want her brother in jail, but she sometimes wondered if that was the medicine that would cure his insatiable need to act out. She didn’t know.
Azura nodded, still gazing at Martin.
“Fine,” she said, her voice breaking. “That is a good plan for now.”
Martin said nothing, which was beginning to irritate her.
“Martin?” Onyx spoke before she had her chance.
He looked up, eyes somewhat glassy in the dual luminous suns.
“There are two suns. Wow.” he groaned. “My stomach hurts,” he said. “Is that what normally happens when you’re shot through a wormhole?”
Onyx let out a loud guffaw which slightly lightened the mood.
“If you’ve never been through one, then yes, it can move a few things around in there,” Onyx replied.
Martin nodded, then began to loosen his tie. Azura didn’t have any energy left to scold him, so she stood, with Onyx helping her balance on the sinking sand.