THE ALIEN LANDS

Cordelia didn’t spend any time in Chicago that summer because her parents didn’t live there anymore. Without warning and without calling and getting her advice, they sold their downtown condo for a cool three point eight million dollars and moved to Colonial Island into the new Presidential palace where they would all live. Cordelia’s condo had not been worked on yet as the technology was still dividing up the lots. Her building was two-years away from being built. She could have gone into the public housing buildings that were already full and still taking applications, but she thought it would be best to stay with her parents. The Presidential palace was designed just like the one she lived in on the colonial home world.

The shock of being separated from the only United States City she had ever known was as surprising as trying pineapple on a pizza for the first time and discovering that you liked it. Cordelia had just gotten comfortable with downtown Chicago. She knew where all the pizza shops were located, the theater, she even checked out Chicago University a couple of times, catching a game or two. She must have been shedding her old identity without noticing it. This just made the separation cleaner and neater. Really, she had only been on earth for a few years so she never really had a chance to grow too attached to the place. Not that her parents made the move out of kindness, or anything too demanding but the plan was to always go to Colonial Island where their people could rebuild something of what they left behind.

The Presidential palace was made of brick. It wasn’t blue like it was on the Colonial home world. It was blood red. The landscaping also stood out with the Earth plants that Cordelia knew had her mother’s touch, her personal signature. She had gotten good at working with the Earth plants. There were bushes all around the palace that reminded her of the Academy, neatly and perfectly trimmed and well-maintained thanks to the staff that was hired to take care of it. Huge air-conditioning and heating system ensured that the palace would never get too hot or too cold.

When Cordelia arrived home for summer vacation --- Arcadia Academy summer, September for the rest of the world --- her parents were alarmed at her new appearance, her hollow, sticker-shocked eyes, they began to question what was going on at this school she was attending, but as always their worry began to vanished as soon as she began eating again and gaining back the massive amount of weight that she had lost.

At first, it felt strange to be warm all the time, and to sleep in every day, to be free of McShane and the recreation of silent scenes and that winter light. However, after seventy-two hours Cordelia was already bored again. When she was in Antarctica, she thought about the days when she could lie in bed, thinking about what she was going to do if she got back to Chicago. She missed going to a Cubs game or going to see a Bulls game, getting a slice of Pizza which she was now craving for and wished she could have, but now those days were here, and they were getting old amazingly fast. The long silences at Arcadia Academy South had given her an appreciation of the silence. She had no patience for small talk. She didn’t even want to listen to the radio (she was a fan of talk radio at one time) she didn’t even want to know what was going on with her former favorite television show Supernatural --- she knew she was going to work in the business at some point and maybe she needed to develop an interest in television again, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to or not. So, Cordelia Alldice, being the future actress she knew she was going to be, did the only thing she was wanting to do from the moment she walked into her new room in the place, she grabbed her holo-band and loaded the Mount Arm-Joy program that was her only source of comfort.

Her new Chicago bulls bedding seemed dated as she found herself missing Arcadia South and had been tucked back from her not using it in a while. Her parents had promised to get her a new holo-band at some point and with the money she already had in the bank, she could buy it, but she loaded up the second book The Girl Who Weaponized Time in which Melios and Se’Tan are transported into Mount Arm-Joy straight out of the different planets that they lived in, the only time the Colonial children crossed over from winter into summer. They would end up back in an earlier time when they realized that the people in Mount Arm-Joy could manipulate time. With that knowledge, the children were not worried about being late. But, the underlying question remains, the various plot holes that Belgrave left out, did he leave them there on purpose?

At the end, it turns out that the Sheriff of Mount Arm-Joy would be the one trying to get the various people of the city to attack and destroy each other. It was all so very Mary Sue the way Melios found a way to stop the evil sheriff, but as her mother always taught her, Rule 38: go with what works. At the time, there was a limit to their imagination but Melios knew that every man had a weakness, even the evil Sheriff and for Melios, a good looking, beautiful woman was his weakness. When he called up the image of a hot, good-looking woman, it had worked, the Sheriff never saw the giant axe coming which cut him in half and ultimately ended his reign of terror. Once that was over and the people gave the children their celebration feast, they send them back to the real world before they missed anything. They would chuckle as they would sit in the classroom. The Golden Prison was the dullest of the books that Belgrave had written, there was hardly any action at all in the book and some cases the participants wanted to quit half way through the novel because all it was one just long as attempt of Melios to rally the prisoners together to revolt against the Black Queen.

But for all the speeches, the Golden Prison was an important installment because in the next book, uprising against the Black

Queen details the long bloody battle to free Mount Arm-Joy from the horror of this monster who plans on destroying all life within this beautiful village.

Despite the horror and the boredom of the previous book, it was well worth the wait. The conversations, the endless planning, the endless reviews, the reader would often wonder what was the point of adding this, but the payoff came in the fifth book. Sa’tain was worried about his cousin but when he would finally get reunited with her, he would discover that Melios could take care of herself and was in command of a huge motherfucking army.

Melios was disappointed in her cousin for having been missing for so many years, but what Se’tan was doing was building an underground network of civilians who could challenge the Black Queen. Se’tan was growing frustrated because no matter what he did, the Black Queen out smarted him every step of the way. He felt horrible that he couldn’t lead this group who so wanted to be free from the Black Queen’s influence.

In the end, a magical ship picked up the family members and brings them back to the real world where they would end the program, but secretly Cordelia always felt like there was one more story to be told and it seemed like Belgrave wanted to tell some more stories. He left clues all over book five indicating that there was more to the story that was out there, but he died before he could get them all on paper.

After finishing the story again, Cordelia was left with more questions than she had answers. Knowing what she knew about acting, she was certain that this was based on something that happened to Belgrave, but how could she find out? All of Belgrave’s relatives were killed on the day the colonial homeworld was destroyed. None of them survived, not even Belgrave’s manager lived. She wanted answers, she knew there was more story out there, how could she find out?

Even if it did not turn out to be the final book in the series, Cordelia wondered where Belgrave was going with the story called Book one: The Alien Princess. For one thing, it sounded like Belgrave was going to introduce a new series of characters, the books were always about Melios and Se’tain, they carried the series from book one to book six. Who was going to be the new bad guys? The Black Queen was dead, or so Belgrave thought, somehow the Black Queen crossed over into the real world.

Cordelia was now convinced these books were based on real events. Could this have happened to Belgrave when he was younger and during his life he kept going back to Mount Arm-Joy to help them out of some terrible situation? For that matter, are the people of Mount Arm-Joy based on real people and if so, are they still under the threat of the Black Queen? They might have well built an inter-dimensional transporter.

Cordelia’s conversations with her parents were so strange and so self-defeating, they sounded like puppet theater. In the mornings, she would lay in her bed if she could sand it, to avoid breakfast with them and the staff, but they always waited her out. She couldn’t win; despite their busy schedule taking care of their people and making sure they adjusted okay, their daughter was always their number one priority. Sometimes, Cordelia wondered if this was sick game they always played with her.

She would come into the main dining hall of the Presidential Palace. She could always smell the fresh Eggs, the fresh batch of hash browns, freshly made pancakes, all her favorite foods since they arrived on Earth. As she would join them at the table, she wondered what could she talk to her parents about? Would they understand everything she’s been through at Arcadia Academy for the past four years? Would they accept that their technology had been used on her to transform her into various animals?

“I read online that you guys are going to Russia next week,” She bit into her cheesed eggs with a passion, “is that true?”

“Russia?” Her dad looked up, startled, as if he forgotten that Cordelia was there.

“The New York Post, I think that’s the name of the paper said you guys were going to meet with that Russian nut bag that is in charge.”

“His name is Vladimir Putin and it’s just a formal introduction sweet heart,” Cordelia’s mother said, “that’s all.”

A look passed between Cordelia’s parents.

“I really don’t want to go but the leader of this one country called Germany suggested that we go on this world tour to meet all of Earth’s leaders.”

“Oh right,” Cordelia said and she was surprised, “A world tour eh? You sure you up for that guys?”

“Well, I would rather us go to Cuba, the Virgin Islands. It’s for your mother, but as leaders of our people we need to establish great relations with the other leaders of earth.”

“It’s sort of a thank you tour sweet heart.” Cordelia’s mother said, with her famous I-married-an-idiot laugh. “But if you want to really show your love for me, you’ll take us to Hawaii also.”

She bit into a piece of French Toast with her large straight teeth and dipped it in a bowl of syrup.

“Well, so much for this being a vacation. I’ll be working most of the time. Most of the time, I will be making sure your mother is entertained and that’s a full-time job in itself.” Cordelia’s father laughed out loud, he knew he was right but when his wife shot him the look that said, I’m so going to punish you in the bedroom, he stopped, “You know I love you but life wouldn’t be worth living if I didn’t have a little bit of fun with you, you know that right?”

They were in memory lane mode, then they entered a period of long silence that Cordelia figured was their way of flirting with each other. They are going to fuck each other when she wasn’t looking she thought. It was enough to make her envy the Mount Arm-Joy children, with their dad in the military and their mother recently passed away. McShane would know what to do with this conversation. He would have gotten their technology and silenced them, forever. She wondered if that old technology was still around and if she could bribe one of the guards to get it for her.

By about eleven every morning, Cordelia would hit her limit and flee the President Palace for the relative safety of Colonial Island, which to her disappointment refused to reveal even the slightest hint of mystery or anything that would cure her of the boredom she was experiencing. She had never learned to drive since arriving on Earth and although the city had a large transportation system, she took advantage of it. She knew that one day soon she may need to get her own mode of transportation, but she liked being Independent of her parents. She ditched the Palace security for her freedom to move about without the fuss and glare that she knew her parents would make.

Knowing no one, caring about nothing, Cordelia took a tour of the city. She discovered the mall, which was quickly becoming her favorite place to hang out at. The mall even had a theater which she took advantage of every day. The food court was not half bad either. The entertainment district was their place to hang out to meet and make new friends. She went down by the section where her building would eventually be built. She saw that construction on it was beginning. She told the foreman that she had purchased a unit in that building, Unit 9J. He told her that by next summer that will be finished. The building was going to have eight hundred units in it.

She found a second mall on her tour of the city one day. She was certain she was going to like it here. They had all kinds of interesting shops and stores for her to explore. She always had her purse on her in case she spotted something she would like to buy. One day after she had lunch, something compelled her to walk into the local park that was nearby. The buses in the city ran twenty-four hours a day, so she wasn’t worried about not having a ride back to the palace.

One day, a woman walked over to talk to Cordelia.

“Cordelia?”

She straightened up. Cordelia noticed that the man was about her age.

“Hi?” she said cautiously. How does she know her name?

“I guess you didn’t think I would find you,” she said unsteadily. “You never think about those things, do you?”

She walked right up to her. This was one of those moments that Cordelia wished she had taken some palace security with her. Without breaking his motion, he grabbed the front of her jacket that she was wearing and marched her backwards tripping over another bench. His face, pushed right up on his, dangerously closed. It was raining on the island earlier in the day.

Cordelia didn’t want to fight the woman for some reason. She looked around hoping security was near-by and was hoping that someone would notice something and stop to maybe offer help.

“Woah, woah, woah!” she said. “Stop, please, just stop.”

“Now, I’m here,” she said, examining every inch of her, “now I’m here, and we are going to talk. You are going to deal with me.

It had been so many years since Cordelia had last saw her. She didn’t recognize her.

“I was there and you were there,” Lisa said, locking eyes with her, “Weren’t you in that place? That school, or whatever it was. You got in, didn’t you?”

She got it. She had been at the Audition after all, she was not wrong about it, but Lisa did not make the cut. They had cut her in the first round, during the first set of Auditions.

However, this was all wrong. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way, there were barriers in place. Anybody who did not make it to the audition was supposed to have their memories altered, that was thanks to Colonial technology and given lame ass excuses as to where they were for the missing period. In Lisa’s Case, it had not worked. The reality sat in.

“Lisa,” she said. Their faces were very close together. Lisa’s breath smelled of tobacco. “Lisa, what the hell are you doing here on Colonial island?”

“Don’t you pretend with me, don’t you fucking pretend! You go to that school, don’t you? That acting school?”

Cordelia kept her face blank. It was a basic rule at Arcadia not to discuss the school with outsiders. She could get expelled. But in this case, Ashman screwed up the technology. It really wasn’t Cordelia’s problem. This was Lisa, her friend for so many years. Her red pimple face, so close to her, so much older. But what was up with her skin. She was in pain.

“All right,” Cordelia said, “Yes, I go there.”

“I fucking knew it!” She stamped her foot on the ground and became to dance on the grass. From her reaction, something unkind must have happened to her to get a reaction like this. “I know it was real. No one would believe me, but I knew deep down it was real.” She fell to the ground, bent over and kissed the grass. People were looking at her like she lost her mind.

Cordelia took a deep breath. She readjusted her coat.

“Listen,” she said gently. Lisa was still doubled over. Cordelia bent down, putting a hand on her back. “Lisa, you’re not supposed to remember any of this. They are supposed to make you forget if you don’t get in.”

“But, I should have!” Lisa straightened up with her flashing red eyes and cold anger coming from her body. “I was supposed to get in. I know I was good. It was a mistake to bench me.” She tried to connect with Cordelia. “I’m like you, I can act by tapping into my emotions. I’m like you see? That’s why I couldn’t forget. I am destined to become a great actress too.”

Cordelia saw. She could see everything. No wonder Lisa had changed so much the last time that Cordelia had saw her. She did not pay attention back then, but the signs were there, she was just too distracted to pick up on it. She had saw the top secret, world famous at least in the A-lister actor’s world of Arcadia Academy. She had been touched by Arcadia Academy and she wanted more. Arcadia had ruined her life.

There was a time where Cordelia would have done anything for Lisa. They only had each other to depend on while they were on her father’s ship. Even today, Cordelia would do anything for her best friend, in this situation though, Cordelia did not know what to do. On top of that, she questioned why she was feeling guilty? She sighed trying to come up with an explanation to tell her.

“Lisa, you know that’s not how this works. Even if you could do the type of acting that I’m learning, the type of acting that we do at Arcadia wasn’t for you. I wish I could change that for you girl, I really do.”

Lisa was staring at her hungrily. She had that look on her face that screamed hostile intent. Cordelia’s reaction confirmed everything she thought about the situation. Arcadia Academy was the top of the crop. Cordelia was only saying what Lisa had wanted to believe: the academy had the connections that Lisa wanted. Cordelia had backed away, just to putt a little distance between them, but she wouldn’t let her go.

“Oh, no-no-no-no-no,” she said displaying her signature don’t run from me smile. “C. Please. Wait. No. You’re going to help me. That’s why I saved to come and find you.”

Lisa had completely changed her hair. It used to be blonde, but now is was jet black. She had not been taking loving care of it.

“Lisa. I would love to. Believe me. But I don’t know what I can do to help you.

“I can prove to you the kind of acting that you learn at that school, just watch.”

Lisa let go of her arm, as if she feared that Cordelia was going to beam herself away. Incredibly, Lisa launched into the basic emotional exercises that Cordelia learned in her First-Year Practical Acting classes. Cordelia only assumed that maybe someone had posted it on some web-site online. She had heard that some folks who got dismissed did put some of the lessons online but never believed it, not once.

Lisa proclaimed the scene she had picked up on and while she did a excellent job tapping into emotions of the scene she performed, even if she somehow was able to get a job on a television show somewhere she may never become an A-List actress, not like Cordelia was destined for.

“See.” Lisa was out of breath when she finished the scene that she was performing and while any one critic could be impressed with what she did, Cordelia wondered what price did she pay mentally to learn how to tap into that level of acting without getting the training she got at Arcadia.

“Does Ingle know you can do this?”

She shook her head tightly. “Ingle doesn’t understand. Besides, we broke up with each other. Ingle’s become this big wall-street banker now.”

Cordelia wanted to help her, but there was no way to. It was far too late. Cordelia was going to lay the truth smack down on her. In some way though, Cordelia understood what she was going through. That could have easily been her.

“Lisa,” she took a deep breath, “I don’t think there is anything I can do to help you,” Cordelia Said. “It’s not up to me. I have never heard of them changing their minds --- no one gets a second Audition.”

But Christina got an Audition, she thought, even though technically she forced her way into the school.

“You have to tell them.” Lisa demanded. “It’s not up to you to decide, but you can tell them that I’m here. That I’m still out there. You can at least do that for me.”

Cordelia could see how desperate Lisa was as she grabbed her arm, Lisa was angry, she wanted her shot. “You don’t know how hard it’s been for me to get my big break. I been doing commercials, B-list stuff, I want what you have Cordelia.” By this time her face turned red, “Do you understand?”

“Lisa.” Cordelia didn’t know what to say.

“I’ll be your apprentice. I’ll do whatever you need. I have an Aunt that lives in Atlanta, I can go live with her.”

Cordelia pondered the situation she was in. Part of her wanted to help her, but part of her knew the rules had to be followed. She was between a rock and a hard place.

“Lisa, please listen to me,” she said, “If I tell them, they are just going to find you and wipe your memory. This time they will be through.”

“They can try,” she countered, suddenly determined. “They tried once already. But, I have protection against mind-wipes now.”

Her face then became dry, almost devoid of human emotion.

“Just tell me where it is.” Lisa demanded. “Where were we. I’ve been looking for it. Tell me where it is and I will leave you alone.”

Cordelia could only imagine the shit trouble she be in if Lisa showed up at the House hell-bent on manipulating and dropped her name.

“It’s in Eastern Georgia. On one of the rivers somewhere. I don’t know exactly where. They make it invisible. Even I don’t know how to find it. But, I will tell them about you. Just don’t be surprised if they try to wipe your memory.”

Cordelia was just making it worse. Maybe she should have tried to lied to her again, but it was too late. The damage was done.

Lisa had put her arms around her, as if she was too tired by happiness and pleasure to stand anymore, and Cordelia held her. There was a time when this was everything she wanted.

“They will not make me forget,” she whispered into Cordelia’s chest, “Thanks to some new friends, no one will ever make me forget anything.”

Cordelia could hear her heart beating, and at the same time she kept hearing the word, trouble, trouble, trouble. She did wonder why the Academy didn’t take her in the first place. If anyone should have gone to Arcadia Academy, it should have been her, not him. Lisa had the talent for acting. She participated every theater production on the way to Earth. As she was holding her, Cordelia thought Ashman is going to make sure this time. She could move on with whatever her life was going to be on Earth, go back to college. Hopefully, Ashman could take care of that.

By the next morning, Cordelia was back at Arcadia Academy. The others were already there; many of them were surprised that Cordelia stayed away as long as she did. The most any of them spent at home was forty-eight hours. Damien didn’t go home at all.

It was cool and quiet in the Cottage. Cordelia felt safe again. She was back where she belonged. Damien had gone shopping the day before so they had a house full of food and was cooking breakfast. He was making omelets for everyone and doing an outstanding job of it too. Billy and Janet was on the playstation four playing a new computer game that just came out. Cordelia noticed a new computer sitting in the corner that she got on to play world of Warcraft.

While they all played, Sandy told the story of Raleigh’s Antarctic ordeal, despite the fact that everyone had heard it except Cordelia, and Raleigh was sitting next to Christina playing a game of chess. Cordelia didn’t know how she would feel about seeing Raleigh again, after she had completely dropped the ball during the last conversation they had, but to her relief, and despite every probable reason to say no, it wasn’t awkward at all. It was perfect. Cordelia was happy as hell to see her and secretly Raleigh was happy to see her too.

“And then when McShane tried to give him the bag of pig feet, he threw it back in his face saying it smelled like ass.”

Everyone started laughing.

“I told the professor that I did not like pig feet,” Raleigh said quietly from the window. “My mother thinks that the greatest food since the invention of slice bread.”

“Why didn’t you just take it?” asked Damien, “The least you could have done was come find me. I’ll eat pig feet any day of the week.”

“I don’t know.” He said making his next move. “I’d make all these plans but never can get them to completion. He made it his mission all semester to get me to try to eat pig feet. I wanted him to stop, that is just one food I refuse to eat.”

That was a white lie of course. Raleigh wasn’t being truthful when he said he didn’t eat it because three days before he left Arcadia South, he finally tried one.

“He finally let you eat them?” Cordelia said giggling.

“He said and mocking him as best I can in that aggravating Irish accent of his. If you try this pig feet just once, I will not bother you about it the rest of your stay here. I surrendered and tried it.”

“Do you have some kind of fear against pig feet?” Billy asked.

“It’s just plain nasty.” Raleigh said, “Though the way he made it, it was actually half way decent. I have a new appreciation for it now.

“Do you now?” Sandy said raising her head up not paying attention, “Let’s make a bet, how about for dinner tonight I made my famous pig feet.”

When Sandy said that, everyone in the Cottage stopped what they were doing and all looked at her. They each had these expressions on their faces. They knew Sandy had skills in the kitchen, well everyone knew except Cordelia who had not had the pleasure of trying Sandy’s cooking yet.

“You can cook?” asked Cordelia in shock.

“Yes,” Sandy laughed but she was still fixed on Raleigh who had not answered her, “Raleigh, I’m still waiting.”

“Waiting for what?” he asked innocently.

“Come on” Sandy was being totally serious now, “you are going to love my pig feet.” She pressed paused. Billy had turned where Raleigh was sitting, playing chess with Christina. “Picture this, I prepare a nice big pot of pig feet. Let it boil for half a day, get it all nice and tender. Then when they finish boiling, I transfer the pig feet to a pan where I will drown them in Barbeque sauce plus a few other spices and place them in the oven where I bake them at three hundred and twenty-five degrees for forty-five minutes. They will then transform into a nice crisp harden skin that will taste so good you will want more.”

Raleigh had to confess that the way Sandy was describing the pig feet that they were sounding good even to Cordelia who had never tried any pig feet herself.

“I have to admit,” Raleigh said looking up at Sandy, “they do sound good.”

“Tell you what, on Sunday, I will go out shopping, buy what I need and cook those for dinner. It’s our official taste of summer bash. Would you be willing to try one?”

“I will be willing to do that.” Raleigh said.

“Trust me,” Sandy said jumping up and down like someone who just won the lottery, “you are going to love these.”

Damien came in with a plate full of his cheese omelets, all fresh off the grill. He placed them all on plates for all of them to dig in.

“I’m bringing some hash brown patties over.” Damien called, rushing back into the kitchen.

Cordelia didn’t hang on. She followed Raleigh.

At first Cordelia thought everything would be different between the two of them. Then she thought, no maybe things are back to normal now. Now, there was a part of her that didn’t want things to be normal, there was a part of her that wanted things to go to the next level. He looked at her and she looked at him, it wasn’t a mutual type of look, this was the look of two people growing in love with each other. It was the type of spark that could only be mentioned when two people who were born millions of miles apart would make a connection only two people in love could find. Even as animals, Cordelia could sense him from two miles away in the way a moth is attracted to a flame. Maybe McShane did not filter out all the animal instincts out of her.

Cordelia found Raleigh in one of the upstairs bedrooms. He was living on one of the pair of twin beds, he had his brand new Ipad. It was dim and hot. The roof needed some serious repair which was scheduled to begin later that summer. Raleigh did not put that much furniture in the room, an old chair that needed to be strong scent of old piss on it. Cordelia pulled up the window that was in serious need of being replaced. She joined him on the other twin bed.

“I still can’t get over the fact that they have two beds up here. They were just over here in a book case, not being used.” Raleigh said as he exited the reading program. To Cordelia’s surprise, it was the first edition of the World Beyond the walls.

“It’s weird seeing those in print. I participated in the actual program when it was released.”

“They used to show that kind of technology on Battle Star Galatica.”

“I’ve heard about that show, haven’t seen it yet.”

“Maybe we should binge watch it here if we’re going to be here all summer.”

“I am reading the books for the first-time Cordelia. I can understand why you like them so much. Have you ever actually read the print version?”

Cordelia was not sure how much she wanted to tell him about how obsessed she was.

“I’ve been known to participate in the novel on occasion.”

Raleigh started to laugh, “You think your pretty brown ass can keep secrets from me?’

Cordelia folded her hands behind her head and lied back on the pillow and looked up at the popcorn ceiling. This wasn’t right. Raleigh was more like a family member than a potential lovel.

“Here, let me show you something.”

Cordelia switched beds and laid down next to Raleigh, her hip checking against his right leg on the very narrow bed. She got together with him. They were going to read in silence.

Raleigh held up the paperback, and they read together for a few pages. Despite the bed being so narrow, they found a way to lay beside each other, but then, Cordelia got an idea. She decided to go get the bed she was laying on and brought it closer to Raleigh bed. Two beds suddenly became one. They remembered their breathing exercises being careful not to exert themselves.

“Maybe it’s me,” Raleigh said, “I’m only four chapters into the first novel, but the writing suggest that this was based on actual events.”

Cordelia whacked his head with her right hand, not completely but gently.

“Have you forgotten the attack by the Black Queen?”

“No,” Raleigh said, “I didn’t. But it’s because of the attack and the fact that I heard you mention these books that I wanted to go and check out these books for the first time.”

“The fact that this Black Queen appeared on our planet, appeared in our classroom and killed Olivia Southerland made me think that maybe Belgrave was on to something when he wrote these books.”

Sandy stuck her head in. Apparently, the exodus was beginning to be noticed.

“Someone slap me with pancakes.” Sandy bellowed. “You are seriously reading those books.”

“Get real,” Raleigh countered, “are you going to seriously come up here and say you did not read these books when they freaking first came out. Girl who the hell do you think you are fooling?”

“Of course I read it. Do you honestly think I’m about to sit here and lose my science fiction creds?” she asked.

She vanished as quickly as she appeared, leaving behind a comfortable, enjoyable level of silence. The room was now finally starting to cool down thanks to the half-open window. Cordelia imagined it as a purple plume of mist designed to relax anyone’s tense nerves.

“The question that is on my mind, if the Black Queen is real, could this Cal person that is clearly to me the antagonist in the book, could he be real too?”

“I don’t know,” Cordelia said, “but, I’m not going to lie, last year, I went back and I participated in the novels again, this time with the knowledge that knowing the Black Queen was real. It gave me a new perspective on the novel.”

“It makes me wonder how much of this is real, and how much of this is embellished.”

“It’s a shame none of Belgrave’s relatives are alive to help answer some questions. We nearly did not get the last book because he died just months after turning this into his publishers.”

“It’s a shame though.”

“I will not spoil what happens but you are reading this for the first time, you are in for one hell of a ride.”

“Did you ever get a chance to meet him?” Raleigh asked.

“Celeron Belgrave?” Cordelia answered back, “No, I’m afraid he died thirty-five years before the Colonial home world exploded. They say and this is rumor, they say he just vanished one night. The police were called to his house, there was nothing except the notes for another sequel.”

“I wish we could get some answers.”

“Me too, babe.” Cordelia said as she lied down on her back.

At this point, she knew that Raleigh was connecting with her. He looked back. She looked at him as they sat up on the bed. Was he really developing feelings for her? She had to get over this barrier that was preventing her from getting into the meat and potatoes about her feelings for Raleigh.

“I’m really enjoying the story so far. It seems as though the children are having problems with their family.” Raleigh let out a depressing sigh, “I can identify with that those children are going through in that story.”

“I know, I get it.” Cordelia said she put a restraining hand on his arm. Raleigh was feeling sad for some reason and she could sense it. “Cordelia, I’m going to tell you something painful about me that I haven’t told anyone else and you got to promise that you won’t tell anyone about it.”

“Not even Billy?” she teased.

“Lord Jesus, please don’t tell Billy. He’ll blab it to the entire Academy.”

“I promise.” Cordelia playfully said

He put his i-pad down and looked at her. This was going to be the first time he had ever told anyone this story. She knew whatever he was going to say was not going to be easy. She looked him straight in the eyes and saw how he was struggling against even thinking about this.

“Your people came to our planet about what six years ago?”

“That sounds about right,” Cordelia said, “why?” she asked.

“My family, the Fosters are a very religious family. We were very active in the Catholic Church.”

“Catholic, what is that?”

“It’s one of the major religions that’s prominent on Earth. Different races on our planet study God differently.”

“Right,” Cordelia said realizing what she had forgotten when they briefed her about Earth Culture, “You only believe in one God here. You’re not like us, we believe in multiple Gods but that’s another story.”

“Anyway, when I was eight years old, we had a family member who was very well-liked, trusted. My family loved him to death. When I was nine years old, my parents would often leave me with him. One day, he came into my room and he did something to me that made me feel uncomfortable. I didn’t feel right about it. He touched me on my privates. I didn’t say anything, he demanded that I not say anything. Years later, I told my uncle who is a high-ranking FBI agent. I told him what he did and how often he did it and when we talked to my parents about it, they didn’t believe me at first but when they saw how much I was hurting, they signed off on a warrant for him. He’s in jail today, serving thirty years in prison.”

Cordelia couldn’t believe that someone would want to do that to a child, especially to a child who couldn’t fight back and defend himself. All she could do was lean over and hug him.

“I am so sorry about this.”

“It’s okay, it’s taken me years to even get to the point where I can even talk about this around anyone who doesn’t wear a badge, a black robe, a member of my family. For the first time in my life I’m free.”

“I feel honored that you told me this story.”

“I feel better that you told me this story too.”

He kissed her, softly at first. Cordelia wanted to make sure no one disturbed them. She locked the door.

Then, it happened, this had been building for a long time. At first, she felt like she was a criminal, doing something she knew she had no business doing. Breaking into the most secure bank on the colonial home world and getting away with it. She wanted to make sure that the next time she had a sexual act with him that it wasn’t going to be in public where hundreds of eyes could watch and laugh at them. When nothing happened, and there was no consequences, they lost control and they did not care, they pulled each other’s clothes off, they did not care if the passion of lust took over them. This had been building for the last nine months, like a science fiction novel. A page by page build-up of emotional agony finally exploding in feelings of love, lust and god knows what else they had buried at the surface. They didn’t give a damn about the breathing exercises they learned during the First-Year at the academy. If there was anyone downstairs still, they were going to get a show today. Cordelia did not care if she was in control for once, she surrendered her soul, her heart to Raleigh and allowed him to lead her in whatever ecstasy of pleasure he wanted from her. He pushed her further. Raleigh knew how to make love to a woman, and Cordelia was not the first woman he ever made love to, but this was different for the two of them. This was real, honest to god, human sex, and it was so much better than when they were animals—because they acted professionally. They knew that they had to behave in such a manner that didn’t allow the beast to come out.

They knew they needed to be discreet about it --- they barely even discussed it between themselves --- but the others knew and they didn’t mind that they had crazy sex both in human form and out of human form, and that was a big comfort to Cordelia and Raleigh. Nobody was more relieved than they were finally free to express themselves properly.

Raleigh was so happy that Cordelia had the same feelings for him that he had for her and that she wanted him as badly as he wanted her. This was a miracle at least according to the general rumors and coconscious at Arcadia Academy. There were some days that Cordelia had a tough time believing that this was her life now. Her friendship with Lisa though was starting to become a liability, a dangerous weapon that slapped at her cold and impacted with her face, an empty reminder of the life she left behind when she left Chicago. Raleigh’s love for her was so real and it connected to her in the same way that her parents love connected for each other, her real life, at Arcadia Academy, it healed her, brought her peace and made her appreciate the unimportant things in life.

Raleigh and Cordelia had a rule about their friendship and now their growing relationship --- never discuss it between themselves--- but the others knew and despite the others knowing that Cordelia had an understanding. She had finally penetrated the last line of shields that Raleigh had raised ever since she met him nine months ago. Now, thanks to some understanding friends, they rudely colonized the upstairs area of the Cottage only running back to the main house to get personal items that they needed, toothpaste, mouthwash, deodorant that sort of thing.

That wasn’t the only thing of noteworthy news that happened that summer. A happy occasion occurred when the three of the oldest Comedy Clique kids had graduated from Arcadia Academy. Cordelia couldn’t believe it when Billy received word that he would be graduating and as he put it, even with his bull shit grades. It didn’t seem real until Director Ashman put that diploma in his hand and Billy got the job offer to officially go to work for Disney working in development, his dream job. Everything he ever wanted to come true. The official ceremony would happen the second week in June; it was a private affair to which the rest of the school was not invited. After graduation, they would be allowed to stay at Arcadia Academy for the rest of the summer, but after that, the real world would come calling and you had no choice but to go out into it, ready or not.

Cordelia could not believe what had happened. She was taken completely by surprise. They all were. It was going to be hard to imagine life at the Academy without them; it was like separating oil from water, sugar from cereal it just did not look right and it was going to be boring as hell sitting at the dining room table and not see Billy there goofing off.

It wasn’t necessary an end of the world type of situation. The passage from Arcadia to the outside world was well known to the graduates. Graduates were always giving each other first dibs on any important roles, important positions in the industry first dibs. They were in no danger of starving, they never had to worry about money or paying their bills and many of them compared to other students in the world did not have to worry about student debt. If they didn’t disrespect each other and ruin Arcadia’s reputation, they could do what they wanted. The real problem was figuring out what they wanted out of life and how to execute that plan. Some students went into public service, some ran for office and much to our surprise won, some became elevated level studio executives overseeing organizations that had been around for eighty years. Those that liked Arcadia’s atmosphere went into teaching doing research into acting.

“I was thinking about going to talk to the Oracle about what my destiny is,” Damien said one afternoon. They were all sitting on the floor in the library watching Lord of the Rings. It was too hot for chairs and the air conditioner broke down, again.

“I’m sorry, who?” Cordelia asked.

“You think he would see you?” Billy asked.

“You never know until you ask.”

“Wait a second,” Cordelia said, “Who or what is the Oracle?”

“The Oracle,” Damien said. “The Oracle has the ability to see into the past and to see the future. Only the worthiest of people can go and see the Oracle.”

“What are you saying?” Cordelia looked around not buying what Damien was saying. “Someone on this planet can actually predict the future? I’m sorry Damien but I am having a tough time buying this.” Cordelia still haven’t reached the point where she was trying to determine if she was being made fun of.

“Come on Cordelia,” Sandy rebuffed. They were all sitting around playing a good game of chess for the last time.

“I’m being serious here Sandy.”

“You really don’t know?” Raleigh was surprised when he joined them handing them all bags from Sonic. “Branch talked about him in Practical Acting class. It’s from the Garrett’s Book of Acting.”

“No one told me about the Garrett book of Acting,” Cordelia said. She didn’t know if she should be happy or angry at missing out on this. “I knew the people of Earth was using our technology but I didn’t know there were people who could predict the future.”

Sandy sneezed. “It never came up.”

Apparently, there were such people who did have the ability to see the future and when they are born, they look for the rarest of places where they could escape from prying eyes. Arcadia Academy was the only place on Earth that allowed anyone with that gift to work and work in solitude away from people. The Oracle but if the Oracle had some information to give, the Oracle would make their appearance. The Oracle had a house less than a mile from the main campus. Deep in the woods that he could still get high speed internet, cable television and a secret stream that he would still be able to access the most current in movies.

“Damien,” Billy was now in his comical mood now, “come on, let’s get serious here. Do you honestly think the Oracle is going to give you free career advice?”

“Honestly,” Damien sighed, “I don’t know,” Damien said. “The Oracle can be so weird about these things. I know from the reading that you need to ask them deep, thought provoking questions like, why was acting created and are their alien life forms,” he then looked directly at Cordelia, smiled and said, “no offense.’

Cordelia smiled back, “None taken although I am human, just like you. I just happen to come from another planet.”

“Well I love holographic chess.” Sandy said.

“Well, okay, maybe you should go and talk to the Oracle,” Damien said with some irritability.

“Maybe I will, in fact, maybe we should all come. The Oracle may give us all some insights.”

There was something in the air at Arcadia Academy. Cordelia could sense it. She wasn’t sure if there was good or not. She felt like all the kids in her class were falling in love. It wasn’t just Cordelia and Raleigh, as interesting as they have been as a couple, people are starting to pair off and that did not go unnoticed by Cordelia. They all slept late in the mornings. In the afternoons, they played on the play station, they played holographic chess, they went out on the river and talked about the dreams they had of what they were going to do for the rest of their lives now that a couple of them have graduated. In fact, the only person who did not have anyone special was Christina.

Cordelia though was surprised that Billy was as musically talented as he was. He was really into the playing the piano and Raleigh much to her surprised displayed his vocal talents by singing next to him. Billy had some talent on the piano and Raleigh’s beautiful voice seemed to put everyone in a good mood.

By this point in their academy careers, the school’s head cook was thoroughly in their pocket, when he would go into town, he would always stop by Sonic and get everyone’s favorite burgers from sonic. He would also get them extra sodas, fruit drinks whatever they needed to help them get through their days. The head cook even was kind enough to raid the overflowing wine cellar and helped them with getting rid of that so they can refresh it with new wine for the upcoming school year. Damien was the only one who really enjoyed drinking wine as well as some of the other Third-Years and some of the Second-Year students. Every morning when Damien woke up, it seemed impossible for him to get stone cold drunk but Damien would always prove people wrong.