Chapter 05

Mark went into James's room and called his father right away. Anger boiled as he waited for him to answer. Finally, after a minute, he picked up.

"Mark. What's up?"

"Are you alone right now?"

"Give me a second."

Another minute with voices until there were only footsteps and he came back on.

"Okay. What's up?"

"You didn't tell me their Command Ship was here, too."

He didn't miss a beat. "I didn't want to worry you."

"Worry me? What I'm concerned about is that my father is holding back even more secrets from me. This isn't something to hide, Dad. This is serious."

"Dom told you?"

"I'm glad he did. I wouldn't have found out from you," he spat.

"Mark, please don't be like this," he begged.

"No. I want the truth. I'm tired of the lies and finding everything out from someone else. You're the only person I have in my family. You never even told me what mom was like or how she even died."

"You know that's a hard topic to talk about, Mark," his dad said.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. O'Connor. I wouldn't know since I never knew her, and my dad won't even talk about her. I'm tired of the secrecy, Dad. I'm almost a full-grown adult, and you won't even tell me what my mother was like. I'm tired of living like this. I can see where the criminals are getting at. They're tired of being lied to, and so am I."

This time, Mark could hear his voice crack.

"Mark, I—"

"Didn't know? How do you think I've felt basically living and sleeping alone all my life while you went on to do work? You've never spent quality time with me or do anything with me besides training. It's always work, fight, experiment, and more work."

"You're amazing in combat."

"But it's not my outside I want you to see. If I could show you what I looked like on the inside, you would never recognize me. You have no idea who I really am, and you never cared enough to find out."

There was a pause.

"I'm sorry, okay?"

"Save it. Go back to work. I'm sure it's more important than I am, anyway."

He ended the call, now overcome with emotion. He sat on the floor and pulled his knees to his chest like a little girl and started to cry. He wasn't strong on the inside like he made everyone else think. He was weak. He was alone.

Blaez sat by him the whole time he was on the communicator and nuzzled up to him. He seemed to always be able to tell how he felt and tried to fix it. He licked his salty tears, but more fell in their place. He wrapped his arms around him and took in his warmth.

"At least you can't keep secrets from me, Blaez."

~~~

Mrs. Tanner kept his food out when he finally returned to finish, but he wasn't hungry anymore. He dumped the contents into the bin on the wall that sent all uneaten portions of food to the composting teams. James was in the living room on the couch watching television on the giant flat screen with Juno. Even after all of these years, flat screens were still used. They hadn't made projections with rainbows of color yet, but that was hopefully coming soon.

Mark sat down on the other end and looked at the movie playing.

"I remember this one," he said.

"Please don't spoil it this time," James begged.

He didn't. They watched through the entire movie until the credits started rolling, naming people and companies that only existed long into the past.

"What'd he tell you?"

"What did who tell me?"

"Mark, you know I know when you get upset. We were on the subject of your father when you left the room, and you came out upset. What did he tell you?"

"He said nothing like he does every day. He's always keeping secrets from me, secrets that shouldn't be secrets."

"Have you ever thought maybe he was going to tell you only when he thought you were ready?"

Mark stared at the credits rolling down.

"I never thought of it like that. But I'm nearly seventeen."

"Which explains more about how important the information he's holding back from you is. Has he even told you her name?"

He shook his head. "Nothing."

"Then her name must be important or significant. It means something special to him that he hasn't told you or anyone else yet."

"I don't see how a name can be that important."

"You named Blaez, didn't you?"

"Yeah, like everyone does."

"Why did you?"

"Because I thought the name was cool and fit him."

"When you saw it and heard it, you knew it was his."

"Yeah. What about it?"

"Names can be significant to people. They can trigger things that we don't expect."

"Like what? How does that trigger my father?"

"Now, that is the question to ask your father."

"Not that he'll answer it," he said.

"You never know. If you need to know, he'll tell you."

"James, when I turn eighteen, I'm going to have a big responsibility on my hands. He wants to assign me to the security team as his second-in-command. If there's something he needs to tell me in the future, he needs to tell me now if it's as important as you think it is."

"I know he doesn't really spend any personal time with you like he used to, but he's got a lot of responsibility on his hands besides taking care of you. He's trying to be a good father. Not trying to hurt your feelings, but I think your father may be hurt more than you think."

"I know I should apologize, but I don't know what to say. I barely know him anymore. He's changed."

"Maybe he hasn't changed, Mark. Maybe this is his true self, and you never knew it."

"Huh?"

"Just wait a while. You'll figure out what to say."

"I just feel so stressed right now. It feels like a Drax just decided to hack my insides out of my body. I want to throw up."

"You need to relax."

He grunted. "Does it seem like I'm in the mood to relax?"

"Well... I know a way," James said.

"Really? How?"

"Timmy's Tavern."

"Timmy's Tavern? You've got to be kidding me."

"You need to exercise your power a little bit, my dude. You're the son of the leader of the human race. They can't say 'no' just because you're a minor, and with me there with you, no one will want to tussle with us."

"But I've never drank before..."

"Me neither, but there's a first time for everything," James said.

He got up and opened the door to his parents' bedroom. Only his mom was in there. Mr. Tanner had to return to work.

"Mom, Mark and I are going to the Observatory. We'll be back late."

"Okay, honey. Have fun."

When James closed the door, Mark gave him a funny look.

"Timmy's Tavern is on the way there. We're just making a small pit-stop before we reach the observatory. Come on!"

He tugged on Mark's arm out the door.

Going to a bar? Oh, boy...

He already knew this was going to be trouble.