Into the Black Hole

Chapter 35: Change of Plans

I'm too restless to wait until Sunday. I knock on Felix's door, and like last time, he yanks me in. Surprisingly, the scent of alcohol is mild, and his room is uncluttered, clean. Not an empty bottle in sight. In fact, it's almost barren.

"You just can't stay away from me, can you, love?" Felix teases.

"I like what you've done with the place," I say.

"Yeah? Thought you might. You didn't seem all that comfortable the last time you were here. What do you think of my fastidious attire?" He gestures to his clothes—a navy, silk blouse and black slacks. His eyeliner is flawless, and the whites of his eyes are actually white today.

"You... look good."

"Brilliant! Because I feel like shit."

I analyze his steady posture and acute gaze. "Did you quit drinking?"

He nods. "It's been an atrocious week. I cannot wait until we're finished with all this NeuroQueue crap, and then I can go back to destroying my liver."

I hate the lackadaisical way he says that, as though he doesn't care about his own health.

"I want to give you something," he states, walking to his nightstand. He picks up a bronze necklace off the table and slowly approaches me. Keeping his eyes on the floor, he swallows. "This was my mother's."

"Your foster mom?"

"No. The one who gave birth to me." He lays the pendant in my open palm, and as he lets go, the thin chain spills over the side of my knuckles. The pendant consists of a tiny ring in the middle, a large ring encircling the smaller one, and a total of eight spokes holding the two circles together.

"A fancy automobile wheel?" I guess.

He chuckles, but it's more of an apprehensive titter. "Uh, it's a steering wheel... from a pirate ship."

I tilt my head. "I thought Cosmics didn't consider themselves pirates."

"We don't, but my mother was obsessed with those movies. She'd tell fantasies about us living during a different time period, where a pirate lord would whisk us away on a wild adventure." He laughs. "We stirred up so much trouble in those stories." The laughter dies out.

"This is beautiful..." I search for the right words, "and I appreciate the gesture, but this belongs to your mother. I can't take it."

"Well, no," Felix argues, "it belongs to me, because she's dead, and now I'm giving it to you."

Three seconds pass. His gaze is still on the floor. I ask, "Why?"

His coffee liqueur eyes finally meet mine, and a wave of sadness hits me. "A token to remember me by."

A lump forms in my throat, and suddenly I'm the one looking away while my eyelashes work overtime to beat back tears. The silence becomes stifling. I don't know why, but the idea of never seeing Felix again makes me want to disappear into the ground. "You know, Felix..." I start, "you can come with me. We'll convince the IF that you were abducted and sold—which is true—and you'll make a life for yourself in the UE. A life that doesn't involve piracy."

He smiles humorlessly. "There's absolutely no possibility of them believing us. Even if they did, perhaps they'd forgive a couple years—five years—but twenty-two years?" He snorts. "I don't think so."

"As you've pointed out, Cosmics aren't the only ones who are corrupt." I cross my arms. "Maybe I'll slip up and say it's only been two years. I'm the Admiral's daughter. I have sway."

Felix looks amused. "And your Liansan boy-toy? What will he say?"

"Timour will say whatever I want him to say."