Planet B

Ch.19

They were to set out for Minneapolis the next day. William explained to Katherine the connection between the wizards and his father's work and that the wizards were confident that if they found more of his father's research they could find a way to go back to their world and try and stop the invasion from there. It didn't take much convincing for her to agree.

That evening William went about recruiting volunteers for the mission. Some were more than happy to join, others felt it was more important to stay behind and keep up the work they were doing. William couldn't fault them for that. When he got to Luke's tent he was surprised to find the man reading.

"Luke?" William asked, trying to hide a smile. "Are you reading? Like, from a book?"

Luke looked up and William saw tears in his eyes. He'd never seen any emotion from Luke save for anger, mirth and relief.

"It-it's stupid," Luke said, slamming the book shut and tossing it to the floor.

"Well then don't read it." William stole a glance at the title. Romance in Paris. There was a scantily clad couple on the front in a very warm embrace. Not Luke's cup of tea.

"No, not the book," Luke said, "not the whole thing anyway. Just one word." He frowned, seeming to struggle to speak it aloud. "Sashay. It's stupid."

William frowned. Sashay? Luke was not one to get upset over diction. Not with his usual word choices of 'dude' and, well, 'dude'.

"I don't know, seems like a perfectly normal word to me. I imagine in, uh, literature like that there's bound to be some sashaying going on," William said, shrugging his shoulders, trying to tease out what had Luke all worked up.

Luke shook his head violently.

"No, not the word itself. The use. People always use that word wrong. Sashaying is a very specific word for a very specific action. It's always just thrown out there because someone didn't want to use the word "walked" for the third time that page. It's dumb. People don't just sashay to and fro. We don't live in a '40s musical."

William was at a loss. He had no idea why Luke would be this upset. He hadn't even realized the man read that much. Luke was more of the drink things and hit things kind of guy. Nice, well-meaning, but simple.

"They use it and use it and use it," he continued, waving his arms about wildly, "completely taking it for granted. Only when it's gone do you finally realize how important a word it is."

Gone? That didn't make any sense, he'd said he just read it... oh. William had half a moment of confusion before things clicked into place. He bent over, grabbed the book, and gingerly sat down next to Luke, still hurting all over from the bearded man's torture. He set the book in Luke's now stationary hands and gave a soft punch to the leg.

"I miss him too," William said. Luke gave a harrumph as if that wasn't what he was actually upset about. "It'll probably get harder before it gets easier. I mean I know it will. For both of us." Luke said nothing in response, but nodded slowly. "I think what's best to do now is honor him in a way he'd appreciate. Say by, oh, destroying the Crytons in their home, stopping them from ever coming here."

Luke looked up at him, eyes excited.

"You know where they come from?" Luke asked.

William smiled.

"The wizards do. Tomorrow we're going to go into the city, find my dad's lab. There's a chance it'll have information about how to get back to their world so we can stop them at the source. I'm looking for-"

"I'm in," Luke said.

"Are you sure?" William asked.

"If it means killing Crytons, if it means getting justice for Chaim, I am most definitely in."

William rose and placed a hand on Luke's shoulder.

"Good," he said. "We leave first thing in the morning." William turned to leave, but paused, looking back at the book. "You know, there's much better reading material around the camp. I think Jenny's got a Shakespeare anthology and Mike's got a bunch of Hemingway."

Luke grabbed the book, a slightly hurt expression on his face.

"I, uh, I kind of like these. Yeah they're cheesy, but they're fun cheesy." He paused and frowned slightly. "And it's the closest to action I can get around here."

William burst out laughing, then quickly cut it off.

"Sorry. I wasn't laughing at the book. If you like it have at it. Just try to keep the pages clean, alright?"

He left Luke with his book and tried push the freshly dredged up thoughts of Chaim out of his mind. He had one more stop for the evening. Not to recruit, but to say a farewell. Joel.

William stopped outside her tent, the flap was down.

"Knock, knock," he said.

"Just a minute," came the voice from inside. There was a brief barrage of noise as she hurriedly put things away, and then the flap whipped open, Joel standing before him.

"Hey William," she said. "What's up?"

"I was just coming to let you know I'm heading out in the morning," he said. "We're going to the city. I don't know when I'll be back."

Immediately her hands went to her hips.

"You're leaving? Again? You just got back, and only barely at that. You're all fucked up and probably shouldn't even be standing. What's so important that you want to march right into the hornet's nest?"

William inwardly grimaced. This was not how he'd wanted the conversation to go, and not the language she normally used. He wasn't surprised all that much, but it still wasn't ideal.

"We think there's a chance we can stop the Crytons once and for all with the wizard's help. If there's even a small chance of that, we can't not take it."

She gave him a cold stare. He was about to say something when he noticed a change in her eyes. She reached forward and grabbed him by his shirt.

"Okay," she said. "But I'm not letting you go, not just yet."

Joel pulled him into the tent and pushed him down on her cot. He tried his best to ease his landing. She turned around, zipping the tent flap up and when she looked back at him he saw a look that was completely new and completely welcome. William felt himself flush and grunted as she jumped on him, laughing and pressing herself close. He tried to hide a wince as pain shot up his side. She seemed to have forgotten all about those aforementioned bruises. He felt her hands slide up the back of his shirt and was completely okay with the stupid grin that appeared on his face. It was a good thing they didn't have to leave until the morning.