The Aperios (Children of the Sun Book 4)

Rayni wasn’t sure what to think at the sight of the huge, huge spaceship that took up an entire warehouse. They were at the edge of some small town. She barely knew where because Relioth teleported them there. Still, she doubted the people living here would miss the spaceship flying away from here.

Rayni wondered how it was even going to get out of here. The ceiling didn’t seem to have any kind of opening mechanism. Was Relioth planning on crashing through it? Though that actually sounded kind of cool.

There weren’t a lot of people here, which made sense since Relioth wasn’t exactly going to be a missed presence, but Rayni was still very surprised that Kaleth had decided to come. Or maybe that had been Mel’s doing. The poor guy had way too much empathy for his own good.

The two were standing in the back, every so often sharing a look that was even more lovestruck than usual. Rayni would have to ask about that.

Besides them, there were also Nira and Nef, who Rayni suspected had come only because Nef thought spaceships were cool, and Nira came with to make sure he didn’t get too into it and left the planet too. And then there was Mereria who was standing right next to her.

Rayni suspected she was here only because she didn’t want to risk Relioth doing something to Rayni, or whatever. Still, it was nice that Mereria worried. Even though the reasoning behind it still made Rayni confused and unsure what her and Mereria’s relationship actually was.

“You know, you don’t have to be here if you hate Relioth so much,” Rayni whispered to Mereria, who let out a long-suffering sigh.

“He’s going to look for our long lost people. He may never return. I feel obliged to say goodbye to my only surviving relative.”

Rayni blinked at her. “Wait, what?”

“Relioth is my sibling. Has that never come up?”

Not sure how to process this, Rayni just blinked and stared off at the spaceship. Well, that certainly explained why Mereria had been so weird about Kaleth looking like Enor. Rayni had really thought they’d dated or something.

“Oh hey, you called him Relioth,” Rayni pointed out once she got over her shock enough to realize it. Mereria just shrugged, avoiding Rayni’s gaze. Rayni grinned and put her arm around Mereria’s shoulders, not even sure why. But with how flustered it made Mereria, that was enough of a reason.

Mereria cleared her throat, definitely blushing a little. Rayni tried to contain her glee. Though that quickly fizzled out when she once again felt the hint of awkwardness that followed whenever they did anything together. Rayni took her arm away, looking anywhere but at the other Eternal.

“I know the fact that I share Edras’ body unnerves you,” Mereria said out of nowhere, as if she’d read Rayni’s mind. “I would go find a new one, but Edras quite likes the situation as is. And...I suppose I do as well. I like her company.”

Rayni wasn’t sure how to react to that, given that she had no idea where Mereria was going with this. Assuming she even was going with it anywhere in the first place. But thankfully Mereria continued after a short pause, though she kept her eyes on the spaceship, which Relioth was just climbing inside of.

“I know you don’t have your memories, and that you are a different person now. It was selfish of me to blame you for that.”

Rayni was once again shocked, but she was mostly impressed too. This was all very mature for Mereria. Okay, maybe it wasn’t entirely fair to consider Mereria immature, but she didn’t tend to admit failure, much like Kaleth. Which made it fun to tease them, but it was also a bit exhausting sometimes.

“If you only want to continue working together and nothing more, that will be more than enough for me. In fact, I would be honored.”

Okay, that was officially too much. “Are you pranking me? Is that you, Edras?”

Mereria laughed quietly. “Well, we’ve talked about this a lot. But no, I’m very serious.”

“Huh.” Rayni shrugged, thinking about this more. That actually sounded pretty great. She liked Mereria—she definitely wouldn’t mind hanging out with her more than just while trying to capture unruly Eternals—but yeah, this sounded pretty great.

Rayni almost physically felt some of her built up tension flow out of her.

“Yeah, okay.” Rayni grinned, folding her arms. “Sounds great, Commander.”

Mereria sighed loudly, which almost made Rayni burst out laughing. Even though she knew Mereria was most likely exaggerating her exasperation to humor Rayni, it was still funny.

Rayni didn’t get to say anything else as Relioth waved from the inside and started the engines, which in the relatively small space created a deafening roar. Rayni clutched at her ears, grimacing as the pure white glow of the engines in the back of the ship lit up the entire warehouse. There were also small glowing bits in the front, which started to slowly lift the ship off the concrete ground, the awful noise making everything shake.

And then the spaceship simply crashed through the ceiling, making rubble fly everywhere. Thank the gods that Nef and Nira were standing in the back because they’d most likely get hit by a falling rock or girder.

As the noise of the engines grew distant, Rayni took her hands off her ears and watched the ship rise up at an incredibly fast pace, turning into a tiny glowing dot against the dark sky before finally disappearing entirely among the stars.

Rayni wondered how far Relioth would get before returning. And what he would see. Exploring space actually sounded really fun, now that she thought about it. And given that she and a lot of her pals had infinite lifespans now, maybe they would some day go out there as well.

Immediately, her mood soured. She shouldn’t think about the inevitability of death.

Behind her, Nef yelled some obscenities, which made Rayni turn around. “I need to ask Yorin how those engines work.”

“You’re not leaving this planet,” Nira grumbled next to him, making Rayni snigger. “We have a trip to the southern coast planned.”

“Aw, you know I wouldn’t leave. Especially without you,” Nef said, putting a hand around her waist. “It’s just so damned cool.”

Rayni looked away when Nira shook her head and leaned in to kiss him. She hoped things would work out for them, now that no world-ending threat was in sight. Aside from a possibly brewing revolution and economic instability, which Rayni didn’t want to think about at all.

The world would figure it all out, like it always did. She was never good at thinking about the future, nor did she like it, and she wasn’t going to start now.

“Well, I suppose this means we have to go back to handling the situation,” Mereria said, as vague as ever despite both of them knowing what she was talking about. “There is an Eternal whose mind I need you to look into.”

“Oh, do you?”

Mereria sighed as Rayni raised an eyebrow teasingly. “I would appreciate your superior telepathic abilities in this matter, yes.”

Rayni grinned. Compliments from Mereria were so funny to her. She clearly didn’t understand flattery at all, but it was still somehow effective.

“Yeah, I know.” She laughed again when Mereria shook her head. “You got it.”

Rayni wasn’t sure what she was going to do now, much like a lot of her friends, she imagined, now that Luxarx was done with, and she was essentially penniless and homeless, given that she had been renting an apartment this whole time. But she would figure it out eventually. After all, it wasn’t like she would ever run out of time.

All she really wanted to do now was to get to know her little brother more, and to help out with what she could. And the relative smallness and ease of both of those goals was refreshing. Compared to what they’d been dealing with for months, it was relaxing and inspiring.

And she was fine with that. Actually, more than fine. This was going to be a new chapter in all of their lives, and she was excited for it.