The Invisible Planet

Part 8: Fading

The surviving passengers were all talking at once — yelling over each other, cursing at the woman beneath the green hood. The pregnant woman was crying, and the only others besides Angeline who weren't shouting were Marita and Mikal.

Marita was tucked into Mikal's arms, softly weeping against his chest.

"Are you alright?" Angeline asked quietly.

"It's our daughter," said Mikal. She could tell he was trying to appear stoic, but there were tears in his eyes. "She's very sick. We were told she only has weeks left. We were going to stay with her at the Station until—" his voice broke and he trailed off.

Guilt washed over her and she looked away. "I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault, mila. When I get my hands on the bastard responsible for this—"

"Please!" the green hood cried over the shouting. "I know you're upset, but shouting at me won't help. I am as trapped here as you are."

A blue flash of light appeared beside her, growing into another large circle. The red hood stepped through and the crowd turned their vitriol on him immediately, spewing profanities and accusations.

"You did this on purpose! We're not going to be your prisoners!" one shouted.

With an annoyed scoff, Red held out his hand. A translucent crimson bubble appeared around the passengers and all at once they froze in place. "That's better," he muttered. "I'm gone for five seconds. Stars above, Kita. How did you piss them off so terribly?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, Shay. They were asking about fixing the ship to leave. I didn't want to lie to them."

He sighed. "I'll take care of it when you're done."

Angeline was still staring in shock at the side of the bubble, only a foot away from where she was standing. She reached to touch it and it gave her a slight shock. "What the hell did you do to them?" she demanded, circling around it toward the hoods.

"Would you like to join them?" Shay responded.

"If you're going to kill me—"

"Oh, for Star's sake, love. They're not dead. I've just put them on hold until we can deal with them. There's a more pressing matter at the moment." He gestured to the pregnant woman, whose face had gone white.

From the portal stepped a woman who made Angeline gasp in shock. She wore dark purple boots laced up to her knees, with a lavender split skirt made of a light material that touched the ground and showed off the entire sides of her legs. A thick leather belt held the skirt just above her hips, and her center-laced shirt showed off the tan skin on her toned abdomen. Wispy sleeves trailed off her arms.

Lavender colored hair fell to her shoulders, and her face was almost ethereally beautiful, but what drew Angeline's attention were her eyes. The iris around her vertical pupils was like a galaxy, purple and violet and nearly glowing. No, definitely glowing. The way the color shifted slowly about was unsettling to look at, but Angeline couldn't look away.

"Thalia, why the fuck are you not wearing your cloak?" Shay demanded. "I specifically asked you to put it on."

"And I specifically didn't want to," she answered. Her tone was annoyed, and she spoke almost as though she were from Midelian.

"What if they had all seen you?"

"What are they gonna do, tell on me? Relax, dad," she said in a mocking voice.

"You've frightened her half to death," he replied, gesturing at Angeline.

"She'll get used to it," Thalia shrugged dismissively at her. "What did you need me for again?"