Devon frowned at the mirror, twisting his body so he could see the scar more clearly. Pale pink tissue bubbled up in a three inch, jagged line just under his ribcage. He stared at it, wondering again how he’d survived. The shrapnel had just missed anything important, which was a miracle in itself. Added to the lengthy escape, the sheer amount of blood he’d lost, and his own stubborn decision to get out of bed, and Devon was certain he had no right to be alive.

“Don’t worry,” Seach said from his bedroom door. “Girls like scars.”

Devon chuckled and reached for his shirt, dragging it over his head. “Charpay, was it?”

Seach leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms. “Well, it wasn’t just the scars for Charpay. As much as I’d like to say it was my wit and my charm, she was only after the uniform.”

“That’s nice, Dad,” Devon said, wrinkling his nose.

Seach shrugged. “It was typical. Girls saw a uniform and immediately thought of life insurance and pension plans.”

“Gross.”

“Hey, they were no worse than me for leading them on.”

Devon walked to the door and smirked. “Then you were all gross.”

“Yeah but at least I grew up.” Seach slung an arm around his shoulders and they started walking toward the central chamber.

“Well, mostly,” Devon said, earning himself a laugh.

Seach continued to chuckle and squeezed his shoulders. The solid, reassuring presence of his father put Devon at ease, dissipating some of the shell shock of the last few weeks. He felt tension leak out of him and relaxed, too happy for words.

They were all safe and out of the Consulate’s reach.

For now anyway, his mind corrected.

Zephyr felt empty with their passengers gone. He kept expecting to run into Paul or Kenzie. Zoe had always been good about keeping out of the way but Paul in particular would hum songs everywhere he went. Jorry called him an impossibly cheerful man and Devon had to agree. He actually missed the sound of his tuneful voice drifting through the corridors.

Devon wondered what the man was doing now. He had whisked Kenzie and Zoe away only an hour after they’d landed on Earth. He’d barely had time to say goodbye and he hoped they were all safe.

Seach led him out of Zephyr and into a bright pink sunrise. They’d landed in an old shipyard. Piles of abandoned metal scraps made mountains around the ship and Devon sighed, resigning himself to another day of repair work. Jorry insisted they rebuild Zephyr to look like a hauler again, which seemed crazy but he had no room to judge. They could haul goods between Mars and Earth, after all. It wouldn’t pay as great but at least it would be work.

“Your mother wants to talk to you,” Seach said, releasing his shoulders.

Devon nodded and started for the front gate, his boots making a satisfying crunch over pebbly ground. He found her in nearly the same place she’d been yesterday, half on top of a mountain of scrap, pulling long bits of steel and tossing them to the ground below. She’d already been working for several hours. Her jacket was off and sweat stained the back of her undershirt, and he could see the muscles in her arms straining as she worked.

Her taps glinted pink light at him, reflecting the sunrise, and Devon smiled. It was normal to see her like this now; unhidden and unashamed. There were no more secrets and the openness was a welcome one.

She spotted his approach and half slid down the pile of scrap, landing neatly just beside him. She swiped the back of her wrist across her forehead, streaking dirt and grease over her face. He thought about warning her but decided against it. She was only going to get more dirty before the day was done, no need to fuss over it now.

“Dad said you wanted to see me?”

She panted and nodded. “Yeah.”

At her gesture he began to follow her, watching as she scooped up a canteen of water and took a healthy swig. She led them out of the shipyard gate and onto a wide plateau. Long stretches of craggy desert surrounded them, interrupted here and there by step-like outcroppings in the landscape and short, dry bushes. The air still clung to the chill of night but he knew it would be hot soon.

He stopped short, spotting two forms standing near a small vehicle in the distance. Jorry stopped with him and cocked an eyebrow in question.

“What’s going on, Mom?”

Devon tried to fight his suspicions down. They weren’t trying to send him away, were they? He’d already decided to attend school remotely so he could continue to help with Zephyr. He knew it was dangerous, knew the Consulate would send people hunting for them, and that was precisely why he couldn’t leave.

They needed him now more than ever.

Jorry looked at him for a moment and then sighed. “The choice is yours, Devon, alright? Just … it’s all up to you and what you want.”

Devon frowned, suddenly more confused than ever.

“I asked Mr. Kelly to find your mother, Dev,” Jorry said, nodding out at the two figures. “It’s up to you whether or not you want to talk to her but … she’s here.”

His mouth went dry. “What?”

“It’s not going to hurt my feelings either way, Devon.” Jorry said, reinforcing the words by clasping his shoulder in one hand. “I love you. You are my son and nothing is ever going to change that.”

A tight ball of emotion crammed hard in his throat and Devon tried to swallow it down. He glanced between his mother and the two distant figures.

Yes, he could see now that one of them was female.

His heart lurched and for a second he was too terrified to move. He looked to Jorry, who gave him a compassionate smile. Seach was just behind her and Devon realized his father must have followed them.

He met Seach’s eyes and held them. Seach nodded once, confirming all of Jorry’s words with that one single gesture.

Jorry released his shoulder, distracting him again. A hundred news articles flashed through his mind, articles that told the tragedy of Peter and Melanie Kissinger and he felt familiar anger boil through his center. But it was distant now, and it wasn’t focused on Melanie or Peter, not anymore.

All they’d done was try to get him to safety, and in that aspect they had succeeded. He couldn’t blame them for that.

He almost took a step forward but then he stopped. Instead, he turned to Jorry and grabbed her into a tight embrace. She’d been expecting it. Her arms closed firmly around him, squeezing hard. He squeezed back, praying she could hear his unspoken statement.

I love you too, he thought, burying his face in her neck the way he’d done when he was a child.

“It’ll be alright, Devon,” she whispered to him. “We’ll be here when you’re done.”

He pulled back and nodded, not fully trusting his voice. Giving them both a wobbly smile he turned to face his birth mother.

The End