From a Distant Star Read Online Free

his belly. The only thing we could tell for sure was that he must be part border collie. Lucas said that the border collie part was what made Mack so smart.
    I stroked Lucas’s cheek. “Hang in there, Lucas. It’s all going to be better soon.” He didn’t bear much resemblance to the boy who’d stolen my heart the very first time he smiled my way. I could still picture him leaning against his locker, talking to the head cheerleader, Madison Walinski. She was talking frenetically, flipping her hair back, and doing her fake laugh. Her usual self-absorbed routine. Lucas was nodding like he was listening, but anyone could see from the trapped look on his face that he was just being polite. When he glanced my way, we locked eyes and an understanding passed between us—sympathy from me, resignation from him. He flashed me a smile and it was like the heavens opened up and cast a beam of light my way. Such a beautiful boy. Impossibly beautiful. From that moment on, I wanted him. And then, I got him. And that, I thought, was the end of the story. My own personalhappy ending, which turned out not to be so happy when cancer interfered.
    The chemo had taken away his beautiful curls and only a bit of fuzz had grown back. The lack of hair made his face look even thinner, like skin stretched over a skull. His hands and feet were always cold now and almost bluish. It didn’t matter what he looked like, though. I loved Lucas more than I’d ever loved anyone in my life. I couldn’t live without him.
    I found the relish jar in my backpack and unscrewed the lid, then tilted it and dipped two fingers into the potion.
Please, God, let this work
. Mack whined like he knew something was up. He lifted his head to watch as I wiped the potion onto Lucas’s eyes. The movement of my fingers pushed Lucas’s eyelids up a little, and they stayed open a crack. Was I supposed to actually put the liquid
in
his eyes? I wasn’t sure. I added a little more, carefully moistening the open space below his lids. Then I dabbed the rest on his lips. Curious, Mack worked his way forward on the bed so that his muzzle was right alongside Lucas’s face.
    “Yeah, Mack,” I said. “I know this is weird. Don’t worry. I’m not hurting him.” I screwed the lid back on the jar before leaning over to kiss Lucas on the lips, then pulled back nervously to see what would happen. Lucas still laid flat on his back, his hands exactly where they’d been positioned by the nurse after she’d turned him. His breathing was still shallow and there was no expression on his face. I watched carefully and then gave him another kiss. “I love you, Lucas.” Absolutely nothing had changed.
    For some reason, I’d been thinking the potion would work immediately. It didn’t have to be a total cure. I would have settled for a twitch or a smile. Anything that told me he’d made the turn away from death and back to me. Disappointment overwhelmed me and I felt my eyes fill with tears. The kiss had left a bit of the slippery potion on my lips and I went to grab a tissue out of my backpack. Mack whined a little bit while I cleaned up my face. “It’sokay, boy,” I said. I still had some liquid left in the bottom of the jar. “We’ll try again later.”

CHAPTER THREE
    When the main ship was hit, the scout knew he was going to die if he didn’t act quickly.
    The mission had started off well enough. All of the scouts knew their jobs and followed standard protocol. His small craft was one of twenty attached to the underside of a much larger circular ship, the
Seeker
. They traveled through space that way, the scouts in their crafts, secured around the bottom rim, along for the ride.
    The mission was the same each time. Together they traveled from their galaxy to other worlds. Once they reached position over the surface of the targeted planet, the
Seeker
would give the order for them to disengage. At that point, they’d drop down and hover over the planet’s outer crust to