| Chapter 42 Nick rolled over and groaned at the bright sunlight coming through the balcony doors. He had skipped his morning ride with Thomas, sleeping in instead. Contrary to his beliefs, his headache had not gone away. It was still there, a dull throb in back of his head. He sat up and rubbed his face, taking a deep breath. "It's stress, it has to be stress," he said out loud. He heard a beep and looked over, seeing the light on his console flashing. He got up and walked over to the desk, sitting down and hitting the button. "Morning your highness," Tom said, "Oh is this a bad time?" he asked, seeing Nick's appearance. His hair was sticking out everywhere and his t-shirt was beyond wrinkled. "No Agent Neely, it's not. I just got up," Nick laughed, "So you guys find out anything yet?" Tom nodded, "A few things. We found a name that we're looking into. Someone that was with the agency during the time you were brought here. We're trying to track him down as we speak." "Great," Nick said, "I'd be interested to hear what he has to say." "So are we. It took a lot to even find this much. Whoever covered this up, did a really good job of it," Tom said. "Yeah, makes you wonder why don't it? I mean there has to be more to it than just me, ya know?" Nick said. Tom nodded his agreement, "I think you're right about that. Which brings me to something else. Since we've started looking into this Krystal, um some strange things have been happening." Nick stared at the man's hologram, "Like what?" "Well, like we go to a business one day and ask around, then we go back the next day and it's not there anymore. We've both gotten threats, and some of the higher ups in the agency have come to us and asked us to stop snooping," Tom said. Nick sighed, nodding, "I see. Um don't put yourselves in danger for this, OK? If you have to stop looking into that, I understand." Tom shook his head, "No, we're continuing. Everything that's happening just proves that there's something out there. We'll find it, whatever it is." Nick bit his lip, "Alright, just be careful. I'd feel awful if you guys got hurt because of something I asked you to do." Tom smiled, "Thanks for your concern, but that's why we're here. We're finally doing the thing we thought we were doing all along. It should be me that's thanking you." Nick smiled, seeing the time on the display, "Listen, I've got to go, but keep me posted alright?" "Will do Nick," Tom said as the hologram disappeared. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Oh my God," Brian mumbled, pulling the pillow over his head. Marie laughed, tapping him on the shoulder, "Baby, drink this. It'll make you feel better." "Nothing's gonna make me feel better. This is the worst hangover I've ever had," he muttered from under the pillow. Marie sat on the edge of the bed, "Brian, it'll get better if you drink this." He pulled the pillow down just enough to peek over it at her. He almost wished he hadn't. The contents of the glass she was holding made his stomach churn. It was a dull grey in color and looked extremely thick. He replaced the pillow, "I can't drink that." "Yes you can," Marie countered, pulling the pillow away from his face. Brian groaned, "Baby, it's to bright in here." Just then A.J. came into the room, "Morning sunshine!" Brian grabbed his head, "Oh God don't yell." "What?" A.J. asked, laughing, "Why don't you want me to yell!" he yelled. Brian sat up glaring at his friend, "I'm gonna kill you when I feel better." A.J. snickered, "Is that a promise Rok?" "Oh yeah," Brian said, taking the glass from Marie, "You can bank on it," he said, tipping the glass and taking a drink. The look on his face was priceless. A mixture of disgust and surprise. He quickly handed the glass back to Marie and raced to the bathroom. A.J. looked at Marie, "What's in that?" She smiled, "You don't want to know." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mason watched as Devon paced in front of his desk. He smiled, liking making the young man wait to address him. "Alright, what's so important that you had to risk being seen here?" Mason asked. Devon turned on his heel and faced him, "Did you know the half-breed was engaged to my sister? ENGAGED!! I can't believe she's going to marry that .... that freak!" Mason raised an eyebrow, "Engaged huh? Very interesting." "Yeah, interesting," Devon muttered sarcastically. "This changes nothing, other than your personal feelings," Mason noted. Devon stared at the man, "This changes everything. I want to kill that freak for even laying a hand on my sister, and I don't even like her that much." Mason sighed, "You will do things according to plan, understand? When you get him, I don't care what you do to him as long as you don't kill him. We need him alive, don't forget that." Devon bit his lip, casting his eyes to the floor, "I won't forget. But I'm not sure I can do this.... be friends with him," he said, cringing in disgust. Mason glared at him, "I'm not paying you to bond with him, I'm paying you to gain his trust so he doesn't suspect anything." Devon nodded, "Just tell me when you need him." "Not yet, but I want you ready. That means buddy-ing up to him. I want him to go with you in a moments notice, so get him used to it. Now leave before someone sees you," Mason instructed, watching the younger man storm out. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Howie and Kevin wondered through the enormous library. "Wow, look at all these old books," Howie said, pulling one from a shelf. Kevin nodded, engrossed in the one he was holding. Even though he couldn't read the words, the artwork was astounding. He flipped though page after page, admiring the work it took for someone to hand draw all the boarders and illustrations. Ana walked in with her arms full of papers, "Hey guys." They both looked up, walking over to help her. "What are you doing?" Kevin asked, setting the papers on one of the large tables. "I'm helping the queen with a few things," Ana replied, spreading her work out, "What are you two doing?" "Admiring the books," Kevin said. "Yeah, we didn't have anything to do, so we thought we'd come down here for a while," Howie added. Ana nodded, "You want to read any?" Kevin laughed, "Don't know the language, remember?" Ana chuckled, taking the book from his hands and walking over to a workstation. She sat the book into the recess in the table, attaching a small chip to it, "Milky Way, Earth, English," she said. Kevin's mouth dropped open as the words changed to English before his eyes. "Cool," Howie said, taking his own book to another station and repeating the words Ana had used. "Thanks," Kevin said, sitting down. "No problem," Ana smiled, walking back over to her work. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nick squinted his eyes, trying to focus on the papers in front of him. Everything was blurry and his head was now pounding. He rested his elbow on the table and held his head, blinking several times. "Your highness," Tunk said, looking at him. Nick looked up, "Huh?" "I asked what your opinion of paragraph four was," Tunk repeated. Nick looked down at the paper, still not able to make his eyes focus on the words. A searing pain shot through his head, and he tensed, stifling a cry. Anthony leaned over, "Nick, are you alright." Nick shook his head, looking over at his cousin. Anthony could see the pain in his face. "Please, have someone go find Kevin, and get me out of here," Nick said. Anthony nodded, looking to the ambassadors, "I'm sorry gentleman, the king is not feeling well. We will continue in the morning." Kelah sighed heavily and left the room with his assistant. Tunk looked at Nick, "Is there anything I can do to help?" Nick managed to shake his head no, "I'm sorry," he said, his voice strained. Tunk held his hand up to dismiss the apology, "Don't worry about it." Anthony sent Rowland to find Kevin, while he stayed with Nick. Nick had laid his head on the table, shielding his eyes from the light in the room. The council walked over with Ambassador James, looking on, and wondering what was wrong. A few minutes passed, then Rowland returned with Kevin, Howie and Ana in tow. Kevin knelt down next to Nick, trying to look at his face, "Nicky what is it?" "Migraine," Nick managed, his own words echoing in his head. "OK, let's get you to your room," Kevin said, helping Nick stand up. "What is it?" Ana asked, trying to maintain her �place' but needing know what was wrong. "He's got a migraine," Kevin answered, "He hasn't had one in a long time. I actually thought he'd grown out of them." Nathaniel looked at them, "What is wrong?" Ana proceeded to explain the problem to the group, seeing the sympathetic looks on all their faces save one. Guess who. Mason rolled his eyes and turned to leave the room, when the commotion caused him to turn back around. "Shit," Kevin said, as Nick collapsed and he and Rowland quickly caught him. Rowland looked to the other men in the room, "My lords, a little help would be appreciated." Howie, Nathaniel, Joseph and Tunk all came over to help carry Nick. They got him situated and headed to his room. Ana and Anthony following them. "Go find Marie and tell her what's going on. Have her meet us in his quarters," Ana told him. Anthony nodded, running ahead. The group got Nick to his room and into bed. He woke up a few seconds later, tears streaming down his cheeks, holding his head. His breathing was shallow, as the pain increased. Ana quickly shut the balcony doors and pulled the heavy drapes, then dimmed the lights to the point it was hard for her to see. She went into his bathroom and came out with a wet cloth, going to the side of the bed and holding it to Nick's forehead, applying pressure as she did. Nick kept his eyes closed tightly against the pain. Every sound echoed louder and louder in his head. Even the small amount of light in the room was enough to make him cringe, and he felt like his head was going to explode any second. He moaned, reaching up and placing his hands over Ana's, trying to press the cool material down harder. Ana glanced up, seeing the eyes of the council and the ambassador on her. She turned back to Nick, "Your highness, Marie will be here in a moment with some medicine." Nick nodded, letting her know he heard her. She tried to pull her hands free, but Nick was pressing on them to hard. "You must let my hands go, my king," she said softly. Nick opened his eyes and looked at her for a moment before letting her hands go, taking the cloth from her and pressing it back to his forehead. Brian and A.J. came into the room with Anthony. A.J. walked over to Kevin, "Damn, he hasn't had one of these in years." Kevin nodded. "Where is Marie?" Ana asked. "She's coming," Brian said, "She ran down to Medical to get a few things." Brian walked over to the bed and gently sat down next to Nick, placing his hands over the younger mans eyes, helping him press the cloth into his forehead, "Nick, just take steady breaths alright. The medicine's on it's way," he whispered. "Hurry up," Nick said through clenched teeth, "I feel like I'm gonna die." "I know," Brian said, "Just try and relax." Nick moaned, wanting nothing more than for someone to cut his head off so he wouldn't have to feel the pain he was in any longer. Finally Marie came in, going straight to the bed. Brian moved out of the way as she gently turned Nick's head to the side. "This will sting for a moment," she said, placing the shot gun to his neck and pulling the trigger. Nick winced as the drug entered his body, stinging like a mother, as promised. After a few moments the stinging subsided, as well as some of the pain. Nick opened his eyes, staring at Marie, "Thank you." She smiled, "You're welcome. The drug will make you sleep for a while," she said, seeing it start to take affect. Nick nodded, relaxing a little and closing his eyes. Marie looked at the room full of people, "My lords, I must ask that everyone leave. He needs a quiet, dark environment until he is feeling better." The members of the council and ambassador James nodded, turning and exiting the room, followed by the guys. Ana turned to go, but Marie called her back. "I'll need someone to help me monitor him. This drug generally does very well, but it has been known to cause bad reactions in a few," she said, loud enough for the men to hear. Ana nodded, going back into the room and shutting the door. Kevin glanced at the men, wondering if they thought anything about Ana going back in. No one seemed to think anything was wrong with it. Tunk approached him, pulling a translator from his pocket and placing it in his ear, "Excuse me, we haven't met. I'm Tunk." Kevin smiled, shaking the man's hand, "Kevin Richardson." "I don't wish to be noisy, but who was the young woman with you?" Tunk asked. "Um, that's Ana. She's Nick's teacher, and friend," Kevin answered, rather hesitantly. "His teacher? They are the same age, are they not?" Tunk asked, confused. Kevin put his hand on the man's shoulder, "Well, it's a long story. See Nick grew up somewhere else, and when he was brought here, he had to be taught everything. Ana was on the team that found him, and it is her job to teach him." Tunk looked very interested, "Ohh, you must tell me this story." Kevin smiled as the two walked down the hall. He wasn't sure why, but he felt he could trust this man. His instincts had never let him down, why would they now? "Alright, it all started when we were on tour.............." Chapter 43 |