22 A Lead and The SYFY Pilot is Out
The Expiration Date pilot is out on SYFY! I'll post the link on my wall and attach it to this chapter for those of you on a desktop. This couldn't have happened without all of you, and I love you so much. If you want Expiration Date to become a series for SYFY, please, please, please watch the pilot if you are able to. It's free! It isn't geo locked so most everyone should be able to access it in their country! If you Tweet or Instagram or anything about it, be sure to use the hashtag #ItsAFanThing so SYFY sees it!
I'll also be taking over the Wattpad Instagram account tomorrow! I'm in New York City right now and hope to show some of the city on Wattpad's Instagram story.
Iris~~
With a jolt I sit up in bed.
The darkness and coldness creep toward me. I pull the covers up farther. They're warm and slick. Erik. He was there, before my eyes a moment ago. Dead. On the ground. A gun in my hands.
I'm still haunted from that moment in the rebels' bunker when he advanced on me, telling me to shoot him.
I take deep breaths that scratch at my throat. Erik is still alive. His Expiration Date isn't for a long time.
I shove the covers away, pushing myself out of bed to turn on the lights. After slipping into a robe, I pull back the curtains. A sky full of stars greets me, each constellation as beautiful as a diamond necklace. I try to find all the constellations Jonas has shown me: Libra, Orion, Auriga and so many more. Not all are visible, but the stars remind me of him. They take my mind off the green door that Erik always hides behind in my dreams. I twist the engagement ring, running my finger over each diamond. If I could just talk to Jonas for a moment, I know he'd calm me down.
I let the drapes fall back in place. My fiancé is headed to a different planet. We're not a normal couple and that somehow means I have to deal with bad dreams on my own.
I take a seat at the desk and pull out a piece of stationary paper and a pen. If I can't talk to him, I might as well fake it.
Jonas,
What do you think about getting a hamster—
Someone raps on the door. "Iris. It's me, Vienna."
I abandon the paper for the door, and I don't even manage to open it all the way because she slips in the moment the crack is wide enough. She flips the lock for me.
"What's—"
"They almost have him."
My heart lurches up my throat. "Erik?"
She clenches her fist, her fingers rubbing at her palm. "They'll have him before tomorrow evening." She grabs hold of my hand and presses her hand into mine. I feel a thin and slightly damp piece of paper passed into my palm. I glance from her to my hand, peering down at the slip of paper. An address, its print hastily scrawled.
"Thank you."
"I assume you know what you have to do."
I purse my lips and nod once.
She turns and reaches for the door handle, but I wrap my hand around her arm.
"What's wrong?" I ask.
She stares a few seconds more at the door and then drops her hand. Her shoulders sag. "Some part of me cares for Erik even after all the pain he caused everyone. I don't want to see him interrogated by France. But Abella is my friend. I've already betrayed most everyone in my life and don't want to do it again." She runs her hand through her hair, messing up her center part. "That's the thing with betrayal; I don't think most people mean to do it. I think they're doing what they think is best in a situation with no right answer." She hesitates. "Do you see me as a traitor?"
"No. No, I don't."
She closes her eyes, shoulders relaxing. "I was trying to leave the rebels, but I got pulled in for what was supposed to be the last time, and that was the time I got caught."
"You did it for me. You took my place."
She rubs her arm. "It was wrong of them to go after you."
I take her hand. "Thank you, Vienna. I don't think I can ever repay you."
"Just keep what I've given you from all but Colton and Bently. If Abella finds out, she'll never trust me again."
Erik always said everyone could be trusted in some capacity. I don't know how much of that I can believe.
******
I make it to Colton's room without incident even after prowling the halls of the palace at four in the morning. I have to knock harder than I'd like, but eventually comes to the door. His hair is a bit all over the place, and his t-shirt is disheveled from sleep.
I take a page from Vienna's book and, before he can say anything, shove my way inside. Once the door is closed, I hold out the paper to him. "Vienna gave this to me."
He snatches the paper.
"It's Erik's address."
He shoves the into a pocket of his jeans. Tell me he doesn't wear jeans to bed.
"We can't trust that this isn't a trap."
"Vienna wouldn't, and you know that."
"Still we have to be careful."
I drop my bag at his feet. "I'll get Bently while you pack."
I slip back into the hall and make my way a few doors down to Bently's room. As I get closer, I hear a feminine voice shouting. I duck into a separate hall running alongside his room.
The voice is coming from inside, and it's Abella's.
Bently? A female visitor? In the middle of the night? I'm standing here, and I'm still more likely to believe someone if they told me Colton sneaks out to disco clubs in his spare time.
Abella's words are muffled and Bently's are too low to be able to make out what is being said. Something crashes and Bently shouts.
A quick glance of the halls shows no guards running to the rescue.
A door clicks and slams, followed by hurried footsteps.
Once I can no longer hear them, I creep around the corner and knock on Bently's door.
After only a few seconds, the door is thrown open and Bently stands there, his face contorted in a scowl. His eyes focus on me and his expression actually softens. That's a first.
"You didn't hear anything."
"Hear what?"
He ushers me inside to his room that is a mess. The four chairs of his table are on their sides. The table itself is overturned. Shards of something ceramic lie at the base of the fireplace.
Those two cannot be allowed in the same room together.
"Why are you here?" he asks once the door is shut.
I give him the run down and before I even finish, he heads for his wardrobe. "When do we leave?" he asks, pulling clothes off the rack.
"Now."
Bently begins packing stuff into a bag. putting stuff in my bag. Asking him of Abella is at the tip of my tongue, but everyone is pretty sure Bently tried to kill me at least once. We have a good thing going now. Bringing up the French princess will only ruin that.
There's a knock at the door, and Bently answers it.
Colton strolls in, my bag and his slung over one shoulder. "Hey, losers. Ready to save our delinquent cousins?"
******
Getting out of the palace is surprisingly easy when Colton storms out of it muttering about Vienna. He provides enough of a distraction that Bently and I are able to follow him without being seen by keeping in the shadows.
Getting a car is even easier. Before Colton's dramatic exit, Bently, being the only one of us who speaks French, called for a taxi.
We pile into the back of the car, our sides pressed up against each other. I'm stuck in the middle. Bently gives the man directions and settles back in the seat, letting his head arch over the too-low headrest.
The clock on the driver's dashboard lets me know it's after five. I drum my hand on my knee.
I'm going to see Erik. I haven't seen him since he boarded the plane to come here.
Colton covers my hand with his own. When I glance up at him, he rolls his eyes. "You were making me jittery."
He doesn't remove his hand. The warmth of it is actually comforting when it's not around my neck.
He squeezes my hand and that's oddly comforting too.
Don't forget to check out the pilot to see Jonas, Colton, Iris, and Erik in real life!
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