Page 31

Chapter thirty

Why Bother Fighting

“No!” Evie gasps.

A tear slips from the corner of my eye, and I brush it away with my fist. “I was right when I said that romance is overrated. What’s the point of chasing after your dream if it’s just gonna end in heartbreak?”

She pulls me into her arms, rubbing my back as I break down in tears. “It’s not the end, carnal . You and Josh will figure out something. Maybe he’ll decide to stay and study Aerospace Engineering.”

“I can’t ask him to do that. He hates AE!” I sob. “Someone as smart as Josh shouldn’t waste his life doing a job he doesn’t love. It would be like asking Einstein to mop floors for a living.”

Evie leans back against the couch cushions, lifting an eyebrow as she looks at me. “Someone like Josh… or someone like you?”

Ouch.

Evie has been my best friend since my second year at Spartacus. She’s my outlet—the one I vent to about my classes in corporate financing, marketing strategies, and other bullshit I care nothing about. She knows how hard I’ve been struggling to get my business degree.

“I don’t want to think about my MBA right now. I don’t want to think about anything . You got a joint hiding anywhere?’ I sniffle as I gaze around the living room, looking for something to take the edge off. When I see a plant on our end table, I do a double-take. Since when does my roommate have a green thumb?

Evie follows my line of sight. “Oh, that. I found it on our doorstep. I’ll go put it somewhere else.” She starts to get up off the couch.

“Wait. Who’s it from?” I pick up the ceramic pot, admiring the soft purple succulent nestled inside it. “Was there a note?”

“Yeah.” She makes a gagging sound. “It was signed ‘From: Typhoon Jones’ .”

Huh. What a strangely thoughtful gift. I probably should try to talk up Josh’s buddy, but I’m too goddamn depressed. Just the thought of my boyfriend leaving makes me want to start crying again.

As I set down the plant, my phone rings and Sara’s name pops up on the screen. God, I’m so tired. Talking to my crazy Big Sis—who I love—feels almost too hard right now. “Swati’s calling from India,” I mumble, wiping a hand across my eyes. “I guess I should take this.”

“Let me talk to her for a second while you blow your nose.” Evie gives me a little wink before grabbing my phone and swiping up. “ ?Ay hermana! ?Qué pasa? ”

“Yo, ‘Rosa!” Sara grins into the screen, her wild curls look even more untamed than usual. “Sup, girl? Still driving all those Midwest boys crazy?

“Someone’s gotta do it.” My roommate snorts. “What about you? I’ll bet all of those Indian hotties are beating down your door.”

My sister pans her phone so we can see the ancient village behind her. “Not much action in Rusirani, I’m afraid. Besides, Indian men don’t find me attractive. Isn’t that right, Sidd?”

In the background, Siddharth stumbles as he crosses a small courtyard. He glances at her with wide eyes before hurrying the opposite way.

A smile reluctantly tugs at the corners of my mouth. Sara’s such a goof. “Be nice to Josh’s brother,” I call out to her. “Who knows? Someday, we might be related.”

“Yo, Baby Bro!” Her face fills the screen. “Got a minute?”

I take a deep breath, then hold out my hand.

My best friend passes me the phone, kissing my cheek before she excuses herself from the conversation.

“I’m here,” I tell Sara. I wish that I wasn’t. Feeling the way that I do at this moment, I wish I was anywhere else.

“I heard the news,” she says, giving me a crooked half-smile.

Already? That didn’t take long. “Sucks, right? But what can I do? It’s not like I have any control over the situation. Maybe Josh will stay and we’ll have a Happily Ever After. Maybe he’ll leave. It’s up to him.”

Sara rolls her eyes, then flicks her finger against the phone’s screen.

“Hey!” I rub my forehead. When we were kids, she used to flick me right there whenever she thought I was being stupid. “It’s true. Not that I blame him if he decides to leave. He’s gotta think about his future, his dream job at NASA. I’m not gonna hold him back from that. Besides, he was always out of my league. I’ve been kidding myself all along.”

“Are you done yet?” my sister asks while holding her fingers menacingly close to the screen. “Because I didn’t call to hear you whine, y’know.”

God, she’s such a brat. “Why did you call, then?” I pout.

“I’ve got an idea.” Her eyes sparkle. “Come to India.”

I blink, then shake my head. “Now? I can’t drop everything and fly halfway around the world, like you. I’ve got business school to finish, remember?”

“C’mon, Karma,” Sara pleads. “Ditch that boring MBA! You can stay with me in Rusirani. It’s crazy here, I’m telling ya.”

Way to rub it in. Big sisters are the worst. “Don’t tempt me. I’m not sure how I’m gonna make it through the next year without Josh. I can’t imagine being at Spartacus without him.”

“Then don’t,” she says. “If your boyfriend is gonna be in India for a semester or two, then why don’t you join him? You can stay in Jaipur, if you want. His family won’t mind, seeing how you’re engaged and everything.”

Pfft. “Engaged? I know you’re there to prepare for a wedding, but you don’t actually believe we’re getting married, do you?”

Sara raises an eyebrow. “All I know is that someone is getting married. Mata Darshanaji sees things, Bro.”

Whatever. Prophetic visions might not be real, but try telling that to Saraswati.

“Besides,” she adds, “you hate business school. You’d suck at running a shop. I’ve never understood why you’d tie yourself down like that. What about your dream of being a novelist?”

“The Wake and Bakery is a side project,” I grumble. “It doesn’t hurt to have a safety net while I write.”

Sara throws her arms wide, pointing to the foreign landscape surrounding her. “Take a leap of faith, Little Brother! Jump and let the Universe catch you!”

“But what about Hank and Em?” I ask. “They’re counting on me to run the café. I can’t change my mind now. We’ve got a plan .”

“Since when does life go according to plan?” she fires back. “Listen, just think about my idea. I know that you’re sad about Josh and you’re worried about your future, but the two of you might have possibilities that you’ve never even considered.”

I stare at her for a long moment, then give a grudging nod. “I’ll think about it. Love you, Sis. Thanks for the kick in the pants.”

“Anytime,” Sara says. “I love you, too, knucklehead.”

“Why even bother trying?” I mutter under my breath.

Patterson glances up from his work, his brow furrowed. “You’re giving up already?”

“No, I’m just thinking out loud.” The Ceranic Continuum has got me stumped. “The Cerans are a peace-loving people. They’re not warriors. How—or, better yet, why —would they try to fight off their invaders?”

“What choice do they have?” The professor scowls.

As I lean back in my chair, I tap the end of a pencil against the manuscript in front of me. “Maybe they should just leave. They could abandon the planet, let the Jhorvands have it. Ride off into the sunset in their spaceships. Their lives are more important than their homeland, right? So, why bother fighting for it?”

My mentor purses his lips. “What do you think would happen if T?rlig found the Cerathyst cavern under Lilania? He wouldn’t rest until he discovered how the crystals work. There’s a reason Jeanrire is willing to sacrifice himself to guard the Ceranian Secret. In the wrong hands, the Cerathyst crystals could become the ultimate weapon of mass destruction.”

“But what if they could get away, Professor P?“ I ask. “Just take off and leave the war behind them… Travel to new galaxies and meet other life-forms…”

“That sounds like the start of a new series, not the conclusion to this one.” He returns to grading his papers, shaking his head at me in disgust.

He’s got a point. “I know it doesn’t solve the novel’s dilemma, but it sure sounds like fun. Haven’t you ever wished that you could go on an epic adventure? Not just in your imagination, but in real life?”

“We have work to do,” Patterson reminds me, his eyes focused on the papers in front of him.

I stand up and stretch, walking around the small office while I continue to think out loud. “I mean, just one of the Cerathyst crystals holds enough energy to power a spacecraft into the next galaxy—and they’re sitting on top of the universal mother lode! Can you imagine having those kinds of resources? If you could travel anywhere, Professor, where would you go?”

“To the corner drug store for some aspirin,” he grumbles. “Your pointless meanderings are giving me a headache.”

I stop in my tracks as a thought occurs to me. “Actually, what are you doing here, sir? With the success of The Ceranian Saga , there’s no reason for you to stay at Spartacus University.”

Patterson glances up at me with a blank stare. “What do you mean? I have tenure.”

He’s gotta be kidding. “So? The royalties from your book sales must add up to a pretty decent retirement.”

A line creases the professor’s forehead. “But I’m the head of the English department. I have responsibilities. Besides, where would I go?”

“Where would you want to go?“ I ask him. “C’mon, Professor P—there must be some place on Planet Earth that you’d like to see. If you could ditch your responsibilities and go on an epic adventure, where would you go?”

He takes off his glasses and frowns. “If we must digress, I suppose that the ‘Rodrick Domingo’ side of me would like to visit South America. Brazil… Argentina…”

“Dude, Peru . And Chile,“ I add.

“I’ve always wanted to see Iguazú Falls.” He peers into the distance.

“What about Machu Picchu?” I ask.

“Or Patagonia?” He smiles wistfully. “Of course, Easter Island is a must, not to mention—“

”—the Galapagos!“ we say in unison, then grin at each other like kids. The marine wildlife reserve off the coast of Ecuador would be a dream-come-true to visit.

Patterson puts back on his glasses. “As enjoyable as this mental holiday has been, we have work to do, Mr. Wilson.”

It was fun while it lasted, I guess. “You work too much, sir. When was the last time you took a vacation?”

“I’m busy,” he mumbles, focusing back on the papers he’s grading. “In addition to my teaching duties, I have the works of my pen names to attend to.”

Holy shit. “Did you say pen names ?”

“Indeed. I’m much too busy to go wandering the globe.” Patterson scribbles a note in the margins of an essay. “Maybe I’ll find the time someday.”

As I stare across the desk at my mentor, I picture myself in forty years. Tied down by responsibilities. Writing novels in my spare scraps of time. Dreaming of the places I’ll visit ‘someday’.

I’m trapped—just like the people of Ceran—with no way out in sight. Even if I wanted to escape my future, how can I run away from my promise to Hank and Em?

But without Josh by my side at Spartacus, what am I fighting for?