Page 88 of Cultivating Caden
The words rocked Caden to his core. Ten’s reasoning was selfish, but not because the boy was. For the first time he could remember, Ten had a family, and the thought of being alone again terrified him.
“You’re not going to lose us,” Caden vowed. “Come on. We need to go.”
“You should stay here,” Ten insisted. “This is….” He bit his lip. “This is where it all ends.”
Oh.Whatever. Quade wasn’t going to die alone. “Let me tell you something, okay? It doesn’t matter if everything is going to blow up. I’d rather be with my family at the end than be scared by myself, you get it?” He reached out and touched Ten’s shoulder. “I love you, Ten. You’re my son, and I won’t let you face this alone. Now, let’s go get our boys.”
A tremulous smile lit Ten’s face. “I love you, Poppa.” He held out his hand, and a moment later, Caden put his in Ten’s. “This might be weird, so try not to barf, okay?”
At first there was nothing unusual, but then Caden was assaulted by lights and color as the room disappeared, as he and Ten were thrown into a tunnel of twisting pathways. Was this how Ten saw the world? How could he do it and not be driven mad?
A heartbeat later, Caden and Ten were deposited on what could only be the alien world he’d seen in A’kosh’s portal. Any other time Caden would love to explore, but there were important things that had to be taken care of first.
“Can you sense A’kosh?”
Ten closed his eyes and turned slowly, face lifted up toward the sky. “Yes.”
The single word held so much weight. Ten opened his eyes, and Caden took a half step back.
“Your eyes….” They’d gone dark, like A’kosh, and Ten’s face was different, less softness and more sharp angles.
“I’m tapping into A’kosh’s power to allow me to breathe here. The formic acid in the air would strangle me if I didn’t.”
“What about me?”
Ten’s face continued to morph, and it freaked Caden out to see his son changing.
“You’re the Tree of Life, Poppa. You’re filtering it out.” He scowled. “Dad’s not so lucky. This air is too thick, too heavy for him. I had no idea it was this bad.”
“What is it?”
“Insects, like ants, use formic acid to neutralize poisons. Some species have toxic acid that protects them. That’s what’s in the air here. To A’kosh, it’s a warning. Something bad happened here. I can’t sense any other life within a hundred miles, but the area should be teeming with A’kosh’s people.”
“Are they….?”
“Dead? I don’t know. Maybe, but… I don’t know.” Now that the transformation was complete, Ten’s face appeared similar to those Snapchat filters that superimpose one image over another. The core softness of Ten was still there, but the warrior that was A’kosh was also evident.
“Come on. We have to move.”
Everything about Ten was different. His manner, his bearing. He didn’t seem like Caden and Quade’s child anymore.
“Ten, what’s happening to you?”
“Don’t worry, Poppa. It’s all okay.”
But Caden didn’t believe that. Nothing about this wasokay.
“Tell me what’s going on. Now.”
“I’m… changing. Remember the day you called me an unusual kid, and I told you I wouldn’t always be? This is what I’m becoming.”
“What? No! Why?”
“Even though it wasn’t supposed to happen for several years, I’m accepting A’kosh’s half soul. When it’s complete, he and I will be one. He didn’t want this. He wanted me to stay who I was until the time was right for us to be together, but if I don’t do it now, there won’t be any time left for anyone.”
Pain tore at Caden. He’d just found Quade and Ten, and he wasn’t ready to lose them now. “You can’t. Please. Your dad and I need our son.”
“I’ll still be your son, just not a little boy. It’s time for me to grow up.”
