Background music suggestion: Basil Poledouris: 12 Orphans of Doom / The Awakening, Conan the Barbarian soundtrack
Chapter 18: Orphans
...
Jeg vil brenne med dem.
Helena had finished the note to her father with those words. It meant;
I will burn with them.
Looking at the gas oven in the kitchen made her mind wander. She knew it could actually be done; she had researched it once. The cremator worked automatically and had she done the timing correctly, she would have had time to climb on the gurney that would have sent her right inside. The night she had found this out had definitely been one of the darkest ones. Looking back now, the past two months had felt endless...And she couldn't believe the one who had kept her hanging onto life was now cooking her breakfast in the kitchen. It was so early they actually had the room all to themselves. Cosmo had insisted carrying her despite the fact she had made perfectly clear she could use the ankle now.
And now she was sitting not far him, arms wrapped around her legs, in the oversized t-shirt, just staring at him. She watched as he broke an egg against the corner of the bowl, and then, with long delicate fingers he snatched some piece of the eggshell that had accidentally fallen into the batter. She had looked at those same fingers playing the keyboard previous night. Cosmo had said he sucked but she could've watched him all night. He just looked so free when doing that. His dark eyebrows were often frowning slightly - like he was always a bit wary...But that moment last night he had been perfectly at ease.
Cosmo glanced at her and smiled, continuing then his task of making the pancake batter. It was true that their relationship hadn't began in the most conventional way. This was their third morning together. But she already knew...something she couldn't even put into words. A certainty.
"Now we wait for half an hour," Cosmo said.
Helena stood up and walked next to him. Walking truly caused her no pain anymore - luckily it had been a minor injury. He looked down at her bare ankle looking thoughtful.
"So does this mean I cannot carry you around anymore? Because I have to confess...I have enjoyed it."
She smiled.
"Well...Could you carry me to the terrace?"
"Let's go."
He scooted her into his arms.
They were soon sitting on the wooden steps, looking at the mountains bathing in the morning sun that colored them with a pink shade. The August morning was warm.
"Can I ask...What were you thinking back there, when you looked at the oven?"
Helena wasn't sure how he did it. He just seemed to sense things….And she didn't mind telling him. He wasn't afraid of the dark - she knew that by now.
"It was the note I left behind."
And so she told him everything and he listened, with his whole being, or at least that's what it felt like.
"I don't know does he even miss me...When Sigyn died, we never talked about it. Not once."
...
Cosmo was packing his gear as he heard the knock on his door. It was Helena. He already knew what she was going to say as they had discussed this.
"I'm coming with you tomorrow morning. I can be a medic...Ian just said I don't have any business in the front line."
At the same time her words somehow gave him a chill yet he was happy they didn't have to part.
"So this is probably our last night in this place, right?" she asked.
"I guess it is."
"Would you like to carry me somewhere once more?"
He smiled slightly confused.
"Sure...Where?"
"Your bed."
…
"Let me get this clear. You've had the IAC, all this time, in your backyard, in Rock Falls?"
"Yes."
"And what did you say...It was out in the open, in a forest?"
"It was camouflaged."
"Alright then."
Agent Adler took deep breath.
"I'll gladly accept your offer."
As Erik exited the room he could hear Agent Adler calling MSA's satellite team.
Someone was definitely going to get an earful.
...
Erik was flying the IAC now back. He had volunteered to retrieve it to the desert camp they were now staying at, at a safe distance from the pyramid.
The ending of a the conversation with Ian still replayed in his head.
"So we'll just blow the whole thing up. Despite the fact…she helped us. She gave us the coordinates."
"It sounded like her…But even if she's there somehow, what would she want us to do?"
They had both been quiet, obviously guessing what the answer would be.
...
The light of the laptop was reflecting from Jo's face.
"I'm just gonna write him a few lines."
They had visited Jo's father, Russ, a few times. Ian could see the process was slow but it was still happening; they were actually reconnecting. It was the most random thought - he assumed it was one of those that enter one's mind before falling asleep - but he wondered whether his parents could still be alive...But then he immediately told himself those people were not his parents. He didn't have parents. He was an orphan. And this thought didn't even make him sad. It was just a thought among other thoughts.
"Done," Jo said and climbed into bed with him.
...