Star-Crossed by Melissa Pollard (ebook reader for surface pro TXT) 📕

Something about his eyes bugged me.
"I honestly don't know what we're going to do here, but it'll give us time to think without being found," he said. He faced me, his face inches apart from mine. His brown eyes with the golden slivers were exploring my face. They had an enchanting effect on me, his face getting closer to mine, closer and closer.
I jumped back. His eyes were wide with bewilderment. "You ninnyhammer!" I screamed at him, "Siobhan, oh Siobhan!"
Skyler threw his arms up, shielding himself. "Easy Calla, calm down!"
"Calm down?" I stamped my foot, "Calm down? You expect me to calm down, when I have no idea where my daughter is? Calm down!" I laughed.
Skyler's face grew with dread. I probably looked like a mad woman; all I was missing was some sort of weapon to rid Skyler's face from existence. He tried shushing me, but kept his distance.
"Oh don't shush me," tears began racing down my cheeks. My knees collapsed beneath me. I curled up into a ball, rocking back and forth. Skyler raced over to me, wrapping his arms around me. He continued shushing me in a soothing voice.
My body relaxed, but my mind was racing all over the place, even I couldn't follow it. "Can we talk about Siobhan?" Skyler asked, "bring happy thoughts?"
I smiled, "She has brown eyes, but I don't know where she got them. Neither mine nor her her father's eyes were brown."
"Maybe that makes her all the more special," Skyler suggested, "it's just the beginning of her many surprises."
"Maybe," I said.
"So, was Hanaya your only boyfriend?" he inquired.
I lifted my head, looking into his brown eyes, the golden slivers radiating. "How do you know his name?"
Skyler paused, "Uh, you mentioned his name when you told me about his death."
I recalled the conversation, "I never said his name though." My eyes grew wide. Those eyes, I know those eyes! "Hanaya?" I asked. Was he really alive and cradling me in his arms?
"Yes?" he said, with a glint in his eye.
"But how?"
"Vaccines, they helped protect me. When a doctor found me, he was able to bring me back."
"But you were shot," I said, recalling the moment.
"Not exactly." I looked into his eyes, "Calla, I'm so sorry. I tried finding you as soon as I could."
Now it was me shushing him. I cupped my hand behind his head, and pressed my lips against his. I never thought I'd have another moment like this, and I certainly didn't want it to end.
After a few seconds, I pulled away. I looked at him, his brown eyes staring back at me. "How did your eyes change?"
He chuckled, "have you forgotten the power of contacts?"
I giggled, "oh yeah," I continued looking into his eyes. Something didn't seem right, "Wait. Why are you with the Earthlings? Why not the Novians?"
He looked away, "Well, I'm not exactly of Novian blood," he admitted. "The captain of The Jefferson

is my father."
"You're a spy?" His eyes grew grave. "For how long?"
He stuttered, "Always," He reached for my hands, his own shaking, but I pulled away.
"So you used me?" I stammered. I quickly rose to my feet, Skyler following. He began uttering useless sounds, trying to find something to say, but I couldn't take it. "No!" I screamed at him, "get out. Get out!"
Skyler protested, but I pulled his hand gun out of its holster and aimed it at him. His arms raised above his head, "Calla," he said, his voice cracking.
"I said, get out!" I shot at his feet, causing him to jump back.
"Can we talk about this," he protested, still backing up.
"Talk about what? You used me, you're a spy!" I got to the vessel and managed to keep him outside. I hit the close button, and the doors to the small vessel closed.
I made my way to the front of the vessel and turned on the engine, and struggled to get out of the atmosphere. As I was leaving, I saw Skyler standing there, looking up at me. A tear trickled down my cheek.
When I got into the atmosphere, I drove the vessel aimlessly around the universe. After a few hours of leaving the planet with Skyler, I felt a pull on my engines. They were no longer moving the ship. Something had latched the ship into a gravitational pull and was pulling it to it. When I could see what was pulling it, my heart froze. Along the side of the ship read The Jefferson

. I was captured.
The pull locked me into the ship's bay, and the door was forced open. A red beam aimed at me before I fell onto the ground unconscious.
When I awoke, I was in a glass tube. At the top was a shower head; however, I had my clothes on. They weren't showering me. I looked around, and across the room was another glass shower with a young man inside that one too. The brown eyes meeting mine. Skyler.
I opened my mouth to protest, but an older man's voice boomed through the glass. It was the captain of the ship I was captured on earlier. "Calla, captain of the Lilium

. It's good to see you again."
My gaze met his before it trailed to a man behind him. The man wasn't an American. He was my father. "Dad?" I asked.
"Hello Calla," he said. His voice wasn't too pleased.
"What's going on?" I asked him.
"Well, it seems as if you've been socializing with an agent of the American government," he responded. He pointed at Skyler, whom his father disregarded. My father spoke again, "It seems as if we've reached a stalemate. Neither I, nor this Americans father wants to give up their child, but you know the penalty for socializing with Americans is death." My heart dropped. My own father was going to sentence me to death? "So we've decided that one will live, and we're letting you two decide who survives, and who dies. Inside your prison is a red button. That button will trigger poisonous gas killing the one in the other prison. The blue one, will release the gas in your own prison. You two can communicate with the green button. I do hope you choose wisely, Calla," his eyes rested on mine for a second, before he turned and left the room. The American Captain followed him.
I looked at Skyler, he was looking back. He pressed the green button and spoke to me. "Hey," he said.
"Hey? Hey, that's all you have to say?" I responded.
"Yes," he paused, "I've been awake longer then you, and I've already decided. Let me die."
"What?"
"You have a future, Calla," he said, "and my father found out about me, about us."
"What, you weren't spying on me on that vessel?"
"No, I was running away, and I couldn't leave you there."
"And what about 6 years ago? When you 'died'?"
Skyler sucked in a deep breath, "That's complicated."
My eyes narrowed, "I believe we have time. Neither of our fathers want to lose us, they'll give us time."
Skyler's eyes met mine. From a distance, all I could see were brown spheres, but I knew those golden slivers were there. "I did orginially go there to spy on Novan. My father thought, 'they'll never suspect a young boy,' and he was right. I became a crew member on The Phantom

, and with my unique skills, I was promoted to its medical officer. I got information from wounded or sick patients, and when I had the time, I sent the information to my father. Then one day you walked in, your long, blonde tresses were up in their usual pony tail. When you looked at me, I knew I had to get to know you. I began talking to you, but you had better things to do. However, your visits did become more frequent and I wished it was to see me. Our connection grew, and as it did, my reports to my father began dwindling. He began noticing and ordered that I come back. He informed me that he'll have people invade the ship and take me back, and that's what he did. Arria then took my position as medical officer on The Phantom

, and you became captain of the Lilium

," he chuckled, "I saw your face talking to my father. My was I in for a shock that you became a captain. You never struck me as one. I remember you used to complain about your father's orders," he paused, sighing, "I never knew you had a daughter."
I blinked. I did go back to visit him. I often feigned sicknesses or would prick my finger. Just a prick to get a band-aid from him. "So, it was real?"
"Yes, it was real," he said. He hit the blue button, and before I could reach the green button and stop him, he released the gas in his own prison.
"Why?" I asked.
Gas began pouring into his prison. "Because," he began, "because I love you. I've never known a woman as dynamic and enthralling as yourself, and I'd rather end it with you then some space wench," My jaw dropped. My heart pounded, echoing in the prisons container. "I love you," I reached for the green button, but his container was filled now, and I couldn't see him. He was gone.
My prison unlatched itself, and the glass rose into the ceiling. My father came in and hugged me, squeezing me tight. "I knew it'd be you," he said. A tear fell down his face. I stood up, a tear falling down my own. Shelby, the nurse, came into the room and Skyler's own prison rose up, his body falling flat onto the floor. Shelby injected a needle into his arm, and had him carried off. His body was lifeless.
I looked at my father, and slapped him in the face. Another tear trickled down my face. He just looked back at me, placing a hand on his reddening cheek. After a brief moment, he left the room.
I looked around. I remember seeing it when Skyler walked me handcuffed through the ship. Taking a deep breath, I left the room, and recalled the directions to the ship. I escaped through the halls, until I found a small vessel I could escape on.
When I got in, I started it up. An alarm sounded in the distance, but I took off anyway. I put the ship in full speed, and soared away from the ship.
For a few hours, I just sailed through space, thinking of what to do. So far I was at the conclusion that I'll find the Lilium

and go blow up the Jefferson, and then I'd go and blow up my father's ship. I contemplated Earth and Novan too, but I couldn't figure out how to do that, not with this ship. With nowhere to go, I'd just drift through space, eventually starving to death. The human race would be near extinct.
But then I pondered my dilemma. What about Siobhan? She must be screaming her lungs out crying for me. Okay fine. I'll invade each and every ship, just me, and I'll get my Siobhan back, if it's the last thing I do!
I punched in some coordinates, "Coordinates received. Destination: Novan," whispered a female voice. It was the vessel. If I remembered correctly, the damage the Lilium

received was enough that it needed to go back to Novan to get repairs.
The ship traveled for a while. I sat back, trying to calm my mind. Coming into view was a reddish pink planet.
Novan.
I should have no problem getting in there, I am Novian after all.