Phoenix13: Redemption (Phoenix13 Book 2)

Part #12: The Thirteenth Hour: Chapter Four

Chapter Four

"Don't worry. Out here you're about three-hundred-thousand two-hundred times more likely to die of hypothermia than a lightning strike."

Kalligan flinched as a particularly loud clap of thunder split the air. "Great," he said miserably, "now I'm gonna worry about hypothermia."

"Strange." Neveah looked up. A forked bolt of lightning lit up her bright blue eyes in a flash of blinding white.

"What?"

"This storm. It's unnatural."

Kalligan shivered. He huddled closer to the Nexus, folding his arms across his chest and tucking his chin into the collar of his jacket. Reaching up, he pulled his hood up over his snow-dusted hair. "You think it has to do with the portal?"

"Yes," Neveah said. "I know it does. The End is close now. I can feel it in everything that I am. The two halves are coming together. The merge is imminent."

"I love riddles," Kalligan said, laying down sarcasm like icing on a five-tier cake.

"I know the answer to every riddle that's ever been told."

Kalligan fought back the urge to say "good for you." There was a slightly uncomfortable pause.

"Do you think Adam and Eve were supposed to have belly buttons?" Neveah asked. Her hands were clasped under her chin. Her expression was pensive.

"Who?" Kalligan replied blankly.

"Oh, you know. Adam and Eve. From the Bible."

Kalligan thought for a moment. "I don't think I ever read the Bible."

"Oh," Neveah said. "That's too bad. Everyone should read the pre-War religious stories. You know, before the Amaranth and Àmandinians fell to earth, you humans came up with thousands upon thousands of beautiful stories. Stories about life and death, justice and cruelty. Stories about what it means to be human." She paused. Tilted her head to look at Kalligan. "There's a lot to be learned in those old texts, you know. It's too bad no one believes in the old myths these days. There's something hopeful about not knowing, I think. About believing in something without proof. About letting your heart lead. Don't you agree?"

Kalligan didn't know how to respond. Instead, he just nodded mutely.

"Who do you love?" Neveah asked. It was a casual question, asked without the usual intensity that might be associated with such a personal and deeply inquiry.

"I... what?" Kalligan stumbled over his response. "Why?"

Neveah fixed him with her robin's-egg-blue gaze. She shrugged. "I'm curious. I'm just trying to, as you humans put it, 'pass the time.'"

"Uh, okay. Define 'love.'"

Neveah tilted her head. Her light eyebrows contracted slightly, forming a little crease between her eyes. "You know. People you care about."

"So not just lovers, then. Not that kind of love."

"No, no. I've always thought of it this way: a lover is someone you live with. A soulmate is someone you can't live without. So who are your soulmates, Zephyr? Who can't you live without?"

At that moment, Roxanne turned over and mumbled something in her sleep. Grateful for the excuse to change the subject, Kalligan said, "So when's she gonna wake up, Neveah?"

"When the time's right," Neveah replied. She returned her gaze to the distant horizon.

"And when's that?"