Little Lightning

Chapter 16

Kirtash walked down the halls, shoulders back and chin up, muscles tense and ready for action.

"Hey, tough guy!" A voice called. Kirtash held in a groan. Zyan walked up next to him. "Where ya goin'?"He asked.

Kirtash glanced at him sideways. This guy was annoying, and he didn't like that Zyan was able to annoy him. Very few people were able to do that, and even fewer were able to do it so easily.

"I don't know." Kirtash finally answered.

"Oh right, you don't know your way around the ship yet!" Kirtash resisted the urge to remind Zyan that he hadn't been on this ship for more than half an hour. "Let me show you around!" Kirtash opened his mouth to decline, then realized that he would need to know his way around if they had to make a quick getaway.

"Ok." He agreed stonily.

"Hey man, lighten up! Just because I spent several hours in a room alone with your girlfriend and saved your lives doesn't mean we can't be friends!" Zyan said cheerfully, a bright smile on his face. Oh yeah.

He really didn't like this guy.

Kirtash grit his teeth as Zyan began to show him around. 

"Over here is the sleeping area." He pointed to a door on the right. "And over there are the garden/kitchens." He pointed to a door opposite from the one he just showed. "The bathrooms are connected to the sleeping area, but there are some scattered throughout the ship. And over here is--" 

"Zyan." Kirtash turned. Zyan did the same. "Who is this?" 

It was a girl who spoke. She had brown hair that was styled as a long buzzcut, her almond-shaped eyes were the same color brown, her skin a rich toffee color. She wore a pair of baggy grey overalls with one strap hanging loose, a dirty olive t-shirt underneath. Grease stained her clothes, and her hands were practically black with it. Some sort of tool belt hung from her hips, tools that Kirtash had never seen before populating the deep pockets. She had a greasy wrench held loosely in her left hand. 

"Kalypso!" Zyan exclaimed. "This is Kirtash. He's an accomplice of the girl I was telling you about." 

"I see." She spoke skeptically, her eyes narrowed and suspicious. Kirtash smiled internally. He liked this girl. "Well, just make sure not to cause any trouble." 

"Will do!" He fake saluted. "Oh, wheres Kace? You two are practically joined at the hip." Kalypso bristled. 

"He went to the bridge to see our new... guest." Her upper lip curled with a sneer as she said the last bit. 

"Well, we were just going to go see her. Would you like to join us?" Zyan said, his eyebrows raised. 

"No thanks," Kalypso said. She turned to Kirtash. "Sorry, I don't think I introduced myself." She stuck out a hand, and he stared at it for a second before realizing she wanted him to shake it. He shook her hand. "I'm Kalypso. I'm this ship's mechanic." 

"Kirtash." He responded. 

"Are you sure Kalypso? I think you might want to meet her. I think you'd like her." Zyan pressed. Kalypso stared at him blankly. After a moment, she shook her head. 

"Idiot. I guess I'd better come along to make sure you don't accidentally lose the guest or something like that." She folded her arms. 

"Hey!" He whined. "Zaylee said that too!" 

"Well, she was right!" She smacked him on the backside of the head. Kirtash stared at her, eyes narrowed and calculating. He saw something in her eyes that he had seen only twice in himself. It took him a moment to recognize it, but after some thought, he realized what it was.

Love. This girl was in love with Zyan. 

Kirtash trailed behind them, silently mapping where they turned while watching them with an amused smile. The girl tried to hide it, but Kirtash had spent too long learning how to observe people for him not to notice. She would yell at Zyan a lot, but there was always a joy in her eyes, even when he was whining. This girl must really love him if she was willing to put up with his loud whining.

Dragging his eyes away from the two, he looked around, taking in what the ship looked like for the first time. The ship's interior was a deep purple-gray metal, pale yellow lines snaking across the floor and illuminating the path. Yellow lanterns were carved into the ceiling and walls, casting a warm glow around him. This place felt less like a ship, and more like a home. 

Kirtash snapped out of his observing when he realized that they had stopped. He looked forward but saw nothing was there. Looking at Kalypso and Zyan, he realized that their mouths were open mid-word. They looked as if they were frozen. Looking ahead again, he sucked in a breath. 

Ivana stood there. 

Her fiery red hair was down, her blue eyes cold and unforgiving, nothing like the Ivana he had known. 

You failed me. She seemed to whisper. You let me die. Why did you let me die? We could have done great things together.

He took a step forward. 

"Ivana?" He whispered. He blinked, and she was gone. As if she had never been there in the first place. 

"Who?" Zayn's voice asked. Kirtash turned to look at Zyan and Kalypso. They were unfrozen, and they were looking at him like he was crazy. "All of a sudden you walked past us, and then you were staring off into space and saying some weird name. Irva or something." Kirtash opened his mouth to say that they were the ones that were frozen and that he saw Ivana... but he changed his mind last minute. 

"Nothing." He muttered. "I just thought I saw someone."

"Well, dreamer boy, we're almost to the pilot room. I gotta admit, I'm curious why you think I would like this girl." Kalypso said. 

"You'll see," Zyan said smugly. As Kirtash walked down the hall, he could've sworn that he had smelled a whiff of Ivana's scent, lavender, and lemon, but he dismissed it. What was that? He was sure that it wasn't a dream. He had seen Ivana. She had been right there. But that was impossible. He was sure she had died. Heck, he had felt her pulse fade. A hallucination maybe? But with sound too? 

"Well, here we are," Kalypso said. "Let's go see this guest." The door slid open and they walked in. 

Azalea stood next to the pilot's chair, holding Lucas to her. He seemed to be better, bandages covering half of his face and his entire left arm. Kirtash remembered with a grimace how he had slid across the stone floor, no doubt getting a nasty rug burn on his side and face. He looked as if he was sleeping. Another girl stood next to the pilot's chair. She bore a striking resemblance to Zyan, and Kirtash immediately guess that they were siblings. 

The pilot's chair swiveled. Lyrical sat there, looking completely comfortable and at home, as if at ease in control of a ship. But that familiarity disappeared from her body when she spotted Kalypso. She stiffened, her eyes widening. Kalypso's own eyes were wide enough he could see the white of her eyes. 

"What are you doing here?"