Burn the Night Read online

  “Come on, Daylon,” a familiar voice that made Emma cringe inside said from behind her. “You’re going to be late for our lunch date.”

  Emma turned to see Dana, one of the other first-year recruits. She was a Halyna girl who fit the bill as your typical bully. It seemed even in a floating space station in orbit, mean girls still existed.

  Dana refused to look at Emma. Instead, she craned her neck to look past Emma at Daylon.

  “Good to see you too,” Emma said to the Halyna girl.

  “Shouldn’t you be training or protecting your planet or something?” Dana rolled her eyes, looking at Emma for the first time. “Or maybe telling more lies about your purity of race.”

  “You know the really cool thing about these vambraces?” Emma constructed a drill the size of her arm in her right hand. In her left, a purple axe appeared in her palm with a wicked-looking end. “I can make anything I want, anything.”

  Dana took a step back. She opened her mouth like she was going to say something, then closed it again. She turned on her heel a moment later and stalked down the hall.

  “Oh, that’s really going to piss her off.” Daylon whistled behind Emma.

  “I know.” Emma sighed, allowing her constructs to disappear as she turned back to Daylon. “I probably shouldn’t have done that.”

  “Well, I should be going now, but…” Daylon’s voice trailed off like he was going to say something more. He looked at her with a gaze that said there was more if he could only bring himself to say it. “But good luck, Emma.”

  “Thanks,” Emma said as Daylon walked by. There was more she was going to say too. So much she wanted to tell him.

  You got to say something, you got to say something before he leaves, before it’s too late! Emma screamed at herself in her head. This is the perfect time. If not now when?

  Emma turned to say something to Daylon’s retreating figure. The hall was nearly free of recruits now as they made their way to their midday meal.

  Emma opened her mouth, not knowing what to say. The growling she heard behind her cut her off.

  9

  Emma closed her mouth slowly, turning as she said good-bye to Daylon under her breath. She recognized the low growl-type purring. It was coming from the classroom to her right where Beast Prevention was held. It was the reason she had come down here to begin with.

  Emma walked through the doorway to the inside of a classroom where chairs and desks were set up, surrounded by an alien landscape of trees, grass, and a bright never-ending sky overhead.

  At the head of the classroom, a giant Ree male stood looking down at his desk as he leafed through papers. The growling came again even louder and more manic.

  “Hush now, good boy.” The Ree instructor looked to his left past the trees at where the sound was coming from. “We’ll be along soon to get you your lunch.”

  He looked up to see Emma standing at the entrance of his class.

  “Hi, sorry,” Emma said with a wave of her hand. “I think Fang might be getting a little excited because he smells me.”

  The Ree instructor stood eight feet tall, built like a small brick building. When he saw Emma, his eyes filled with wonder. He immediately dropped to a knee, causing the ground to shudder. He bowed his head. “Arilion Knight, my classroom is yours.”

  “Oh, you can—you don’t have to bow to me.” Emma hurried into the room and grabbed the Ree’s left arm to lift him to his feet. “Please, you can get up.”

  “My name is Master Low, Instructor Low here at the Academy,” Instructor Low introduced himself. “I am forever in the service of the Arilion and what they stand for. If there is anything I can do for you, please let me know.”

  Standing this close, the Ree instructor reminded Emma of how large he actually was. The robe he wore could have easily acted as a covering for a small car. His long dark hair and beard made his face look even larger than it actually was. Emma had to crane her neck upward to look him in his eye.

  “Thank you, Instructor Low.” Emma bobbed her own head. “I’m just here to visit a friend.”

  As if on cue, the whining purr coming from just inside the wooded area sounded again.

  “Of course, please.” Instructor Low extended a massive arm to his left. “I assume you are speaking of the saberling? I was told you share a common bond with him.”

  “Yeah, at first I think he just liked me because of my scent.” Emma smiled as they made their way through the line of trees to an enclosed pen where Fang sat waiting. “But we’ve been through some trials together now that have brought us closer.”

  Emma’s grin turned into a Cheshire cat smile as she saw Fang jumping up and down in his pen. The saberling looked like a small wolf and sabertooth tiger hybrid with enormous fangs coming down from the top of his mouth. He was still an adolescent but was growing every day. Even now he was about forty pounds and came up to Emma’s thigh.

  “There he is,” Emma unlocked the gate to the fence that kept Fang in his designated area. “I missed you too buddy.”

  Fang jumped on her, licking any and every piece of her he could get his pink tongue on. Emma scratched him around his ears and played with him by ruffling his cheeks and stroking his chest and sides.

  Fang closed his eyes and smiled as if he were in heaven.

  “Amazing,” Instructor Low commented. “I’ve never seen a saberling take to anyone like this. At least not after knowing them for such a short time. Saberlings have been domesticated, of course, but never this quickly.”

  “We’ve been through an alien invasion together,” Emma said, remembering the night the Shay came to attack Earth. “Maybe that’s why we’ve bonded so quickly.”

  “Perhaps,” Instructor Low said from his spot outside Fang’s pen. “If you would like to take him with you, I could speak with Dean Extile. I’m sure for an Arilion Knight, things could be worked out.”

  Emma laughed out loud at the thought. She imagined her father’s and Miss Starling’s faces as they saw Fang for the first time.

  “Sorry, sorry, I’m not laughing at you.” Emma sank to her knees and hugged Fang. “That’s very nice of you to offer. Thank you. I don’t know if Earth is the best place for him at the moment. He wouldn’t fit in.”

  Emma heard her own words as she spoke them. It seemed neither of them were doing a great job of fitting in.

  “Ohhh… I see.” Instructor Low nodded along with his words. “I know changes can be harsh and colleagues less than understanding. You’re not the only Arilion Knight to face these problems.”

  “What do you mean?” Emma asked, looking up from her playing with Fang.

  Instructor Low didn’t say anything. Instead, he pointedly looked to his left. A jerk from his chin told Emma he wanted her to follow his gaze.

  Through the multicolored trees, Emma caught what the Ree instructor was hinting at. A dull purple glow emanated from a pair of vambraces somewhere deeper into the woods.

  Emma couldn’t make out exact details of who was wearing the vambraces, but she could tell that whoever it was, was large with dark fur covering its body. Slain’s words that another Arilion had come to the Academy for guidance tickled the back of her memory.

  You’re not as alone as you thought you were, Emma said to herself. Maybe things are finally starting to look up.

  Emma rose to her feet. She dusted off her pants, giving Fang a final scratch behind his ears.

  “When did the new knight get here?” Emma asked, approaching Instructor Low from the opposite side of the fence. “To the Academy and then to your class?”

  “He arrived late yesterday afternoon at the Academy,” Instructor Low said, opening the gate for Emma. “He came here just before my class started. He stayed hidden during my lecture. I think the landscape here reminds him of his home.”

  Emma nodded along with Instructor Low’s words. She tried to get a better look at the new Arilion Knight, but the trees where he stood were too dense, his distance too far. To get any kind of
a good look she’d have to get closer.

  “I should go talk to him,” Emma said out loud even as she thought the words. “I know how he feels.”

  “You do as you see is fit.” Instructor Low cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Emma, not every Arilion who is chosen will be so accepting of the mantle. I fear our new knight is perhaps a bit overwhelmed, even bitter at being chosen.”

  “I get it,” Emma said, already walking away from Instructor Low. She made her way deeper into the forest. “Thanks for the heads up.”

  Fang ran alongside his pen and gave off one of his growl purrs.

  “I’ll be okay, buddy.” Emma looked over to the worried saberling with a wink. “I’m tougher than I look.”

  Emma made no effort to mask her presence. In fact, she made sure to place her feet a little heavier on the ground so the new knight would know she was coming. The last thing she wanted to do was sneak up on the latest addition to her order.

  Emma’s heart rate picked up in tempo as she neared the creature. With every step, more details became visible. All of these details told Emma to run the other way.

  He was in a small clearing on a large rock. His head was down, eyes closed as if he were sleeping or meditating. Black fur ran over his body. A long bushy tail and pointed ears made him look like an animal. His body was in the shape of a man. He sat like he could walk on two feet. His mouth and nose protruded from his face in a muzzle.

  On his forearms, dark brown leather-looking vambraces so different from her own metal ones glowed with a vivid purple. He wore the uniform of the Academy, black with purple outlined trim. The only exception to his uniform was that he had torn off his sleeves. He wasn’t quite as large as Layga, but he was muscular and much taller than Emma.

  “Are you just going to stand there and stare at me?” the new knight asked, opening his eyes to reveal a pair of yellow orbs. “They send you to tell me everything’s going to be all right?”

  “What?—no,” Emma said, shaking her head. “No one sent me. I’m here on my own. My name is Emma Jackson. I was just chosen as Earth’s knight two months ago.”

  “Lucky you.”

  “What’s your name?”

  “Is this the part where we become best friends and you reassure me I’m not alone?”

  Emma was starting to get annoyed with the knight’s bad temper. His voice was deep but didn’t sound like an adult in her ears. If she had to guess, she’d put him in his late teens.

  “We don’t have to be friends,” Emma said, moving forward to take up a standing position in front of him. “But even acquaintances know each other’s names.”

  “I’m Jace Hunter from the planet Raze in the Milky Way Galaxy,” Jace said, looking up at her and fixing her with a predatory glare. “What else do you want to know, or can you leave me alone now?”

  “You have a really bad attitude about this,” Emma said, unable to keep a lid on her own frustration. “You’re an Arilion Knight. The road is about to get a lot tougher from here. You’re going to have to deal with it.”

  Jace stood from his seat. His muscular frame towered over Emma. His biceps were nearly the size of her leg. He stared down at her, baring his teeth.

  “I am dealing with it,” Jace growled at her. “I’m here, aren’t I? I’ve come to the Academy to learn how to use these powers.”

  “How did your vambraces choose you?” Emma asked. “I mean, what were you doing?”

  “I—it doesn’t matter,” Jace said, catching himself before he was about to open up to Emma. “What matters now is that I learn how to use these things whether I want to or not. Are you going to teach me or what?”

  “Sure, they have instructors at the Academy that will help you as well, but I can tell you what I know,” Emma said, extending her own vambraces to show Jace. “I know that the vambraces feed off our warrior spirit. We were chosen because we have the very strongest will amongst those who live on our planets. With our minds, we channel our will into energy. We can create anything from weapons to defensive construct to armor, you name it.”

  As Emma said the words, she constructed a sword, then a shield, and then a purple helmet over her face.

  Wonder washed over Jace’s wolfish features for the briefest moment before he bottled his awe. A look of contempt spread over his face once more.

  “It’s probably easy for you to be so in love with the idea of protecting your planet because it was kind to you.” Jace spat the words, looking Emma up and down with disdain. “Not all of us have had the same privileged upbringing as you.”

  “You don’t know anything about me.” Emma raised her right eyebrow, refusing to back down. “You think life’s been easy for me? Listen, you don’t know a thing about high school. Especially for a tall, pointy-eared human who has a stuttering problem. Let’s also throw in the fact that I grew up without a mother.”

  Emma was practically seething.

  Who the heck does this furball think he is? Emma thought to herself. He comes in here like he’s owed something, throwing out judgment on me like I’m some kind of one percent elitist.

  “Emma? Excuse me, Emma?”

  Emma turned to see Instructor Low a respectful distance from the two Arilion. He nodded to them both before continuing. “I don’t mean to intrude on official Arilion business, but Dean Extile is requesting your presence in his office. He says it’s urgent.”

  10

  “The good news is that the Alliance sees the benefit of including Earth into the coalition,” Slain explained to Emma as she once again sat in his office. “Honestly, they were voting to include Earth even before General Fox showed up at your doorstep. They see the advantage of allying with the Arilion Knights and thus their planets as well.”

  “Why am I sensing a big ‘but’ coming up?” Emma asked. She sat rigid in one of the overstuffed chairs in the dean’s office. Truth be told, she was still heated from her conversation with Jace. Only second to bullies, she hated those who were so quick to pass judgment on others. “This is way too much good news. What else is coming?”

  “Emma, for one so young, you are developing at an astonishing rate.” Slain leaned against his desk. He folded both arms over his chest. “Not only your fighting ability but your discernment. You should consider a position in politics.”

  “Yeah, well there’s this whole Arilion Knight thing I’m kind of destined to do.” Emma wagged her brows. “But you were saying?”

  “Right. The Alliance has agreed to meet with General Fox here at the Academy to discuss the Earth joining the coalition. However, your little teleportation trick away from the general didn’t sit well with him.” Slain winced as he brought up a holo image on his desk of Emma’s house and a black sedan parked outside. “He’s waiting at your house. With your father arriving any minute, I can only imagine he plans to tell him of your identity as an alien hybrid, Arilion Knight, and protector of your planet.”

  Emma’s eyes went wide as she scanned the holo display. The holographic images popped up and hovered over Slain’s desk in light blue pictures. There was no mistaking her two-story home and the black sedan sitting outside.

  Her heart dropped to her stomach. If she had to tell her father what was going on, this is not how she wanted to have to do it.

  As she watched, the passenger side of the black sedan opened. Out walked General Fox. He made his way methodically to her front porch, where he sat on one of the two rocking chairs as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

  “He’s obviously waiting for your father,” Slain said, drumming the fingers of his right hand on the desk. “I would offer to have him removed, but now that we are about to extend the offer for Earth to join the Alliance, perhaps it’s better if we deal politically with our new alliance member.”

  “He can’t—” Emma stopped. She felt sick to her stomach at the thought of her father hearing the truth from anyone but herself. “I need to get there right now. I have to be the one to tell my dad the truth.”

  �
�I agree.” Slain straightened from his position leaning over the holo display. “You should be the one to tell your father. You can also tell the general we are granting his request for a meeting. Good luck, Emma Jackson.”

  “Thanks,” Emma said, rising from her seat and maneuvering her right pointer finger around the teleportation band on her wrist. “I’m going to need it. See you soon.”

  A moment later, Emma felt a tingling sensation race across her body. One second she was in Slain’s office, the next she was standing in her kitchen, the door to her house to her immediate left.

  Emma glanced at the clock that blinked green in the display portion of their kitchen stove. The time read four forty-five. Her father would be home from his job as a college history professor at the local community college any minute now. There was no time to try to come up with a plan.

  Emma raced to her front door and flung it open. To her right, General Fox sat in his uniform, slowly rocking in his seat. He ignored her presence, keeping his eyes resting on the street where her father would pull up at any time.

  “Listen, I know we should have waited for you,” Emma said so fast it sounded like one word coming from her mouth. “We just thought it was best to teleport there ahead of you and take on the Vilmar before you or any Marines could get hurt. I’m sorry, but you can’t do this. My father isn’t a part of this.”

  “I accept your apology, Emma,” General Fox said as he slowly rocked in his chair. He even gave her a smile. “But your place isn’t to tell the United States Marine Corps our job. Putting ourselves in harm’s way is what we’ve signed up for. It’s what we’ve been trained to do.”

  General Fox paused for a moment, still slowly rocking back and forth in his chair. The sun was just going down now behind the tops of the roofs, painting the general in a golden light.

  Emma could tell he wasn’t happy with her, but there was still no anger in his voice. A hint of disappointment and blunt speech was the most he was willing to show at the moment.