Hale struggled to avoid letting his imagination run wild about Pandora. But it wasn’t in a good way. His mind tortured him by imagining every scenario in which Pandora might be harmed by the procedure and his multiple attempts of stopping her death. But he knew he was waisting his energy. He was helpless. He couldn’t protect her, which hurt worse than dying. He knew from experience because he had died once already. He was lucky because he didn’t fear death, especially not after that experience. But he did fear having to live in this galaxy without her in it. That was a thought he refused to entertain.

Hale squeezed her hand again. They were finally being honest about the way they felt about each other. He couldn’t let her go that easily.

The old man and Pandora were discussing the procedure in the book. He listened carefully to what they said. Hale tried to keep his face expressionless so that he would seem supportive. He was supportive of her, just not this one decision. How could he be? He didn’t trust the old man. Pandora was too trusting, and he didn’t want that to be her downfall. He knew from experience that trusting anyone was the first mistake.

The man turned the page, and his face turned noticeably solemn. “Perhaps we should go over the risks in more detail.”

Pandora shook her head. “I don’t know. I don’t care about the risks. I have to do this regardless.”

Hale grimaced. She wasn’t being smart. Her emotions were overcoming her sense of reason. He could see it in her eyes. Hale didn’t speak though.

He looked to Hale. “It’s not only for you. I thought he might want to hear.”

Hale felt her tense up at the old man’s suggestion. Pandora was already frustrated that Hale had so much against this procedure. Describing the possible side effects that were written down in the book would make him more worried. It would remind him of everything that could go wrong for her, only described in greater detail.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Pandora said. “He’s already freaking out about this. No need to make it worse.”

“Actually, I’d like to know. That way I can know what to tell the doctors when I rush you to the nearest hospital,” Hale responded through clenched teeth.

“You’re not going to have to do that, Hale,” she said. “But fine. Go ahead. Hale wants you to.”

The old man scanned over the pages quickly. “There is a high chance she will be completely fine.”

“What are the chances things won’t go ‘fine’?” Hale asked.

“High enough to be concerned about. The issue is that we have no record of other people who have tried this. She could have trouble with her balance for a few days. She could have a stroke. She could die.”

“So basically, you have no idea,” Hale stated.

“If you want to be negative, then I suppose you could say that. I only mean that my understanding is very limited. All I have is what is in this book.”

“I prefer to be realistic. I hate false hope.”

Pandora sighed. “Hale, this is the best he can do. I can accept it. Can you?”

“You know my answer to that. But all that really matters is that you do. I’ve told you what I think. But it’s your life, and therefore, your decision.”

Pandora looked into his eyes sorrowfully, which made him shudder. She smiled out of sympathy, as if that would lessen the impact of what she was about to say. “And you know my decision. I’m not changing my mind.”

Hale sighed. He looked away. He wasn’t surprised because he knew that’s what she was going to say. But her saying it aloud again made it realer to him. He didn’t say a word though; his distress was enough for her to know what he thought.

“So you are ready to do this, right?” The old man asked, getting the conversation back on track.

“Of course. The sooner the better,” Pandora replied eagerly. “I don’t have the crystals to melt with me. Hale and I could make a trip to Elani and then come back so that you could help me with the procedure.”

The old man rose from his chair. “No, you don’t have to go through all that trouble.”

Without saying anything more, he walked over to a cupboard and opened one of the small doors. He pulled out a sack and walked back over towards them. Once he sat back down, he set the sack on the table.

Hale noticed how curiously Pandora stared at the bag. He himself was rather curious of what was inside. The sack had several ridges and protrusions from its contents. After a minute of both of them staring at the bag, Hale was as restless as Pandora. He wanted to know what was inside almost as much as she did.

“What are we waiting for, exactly?” Hale asked.

“Oh, right.” The man picked up the drawstring and pulled the bag open. “With these, you don’t have to worry about going to back to Elani.”

Inside the bag were large, glowing crystals of iridescent colors. The energy he saw in them was the same of what he saw in Pandora’s eyes.

“Elani crystals!” Pandora said happily. “This is perfect. That is if you don’t mind using them on me.”

“That’s why I brought them out here,” the man replied.

Hale’s stomach twisted. There would be no more stalling. They had the means to do the procedure. Nothing would stop her. Nothing would before they had the crystals, which only reminded him of what little time he might have left with her.

He shouldn’t have thought like that. But he couldn’t help it.

He might lose her forever. What would he do if that happened? She was the only good thing in his life. Life wouldn’t be life without her. It would be such a waste of time without her. He wasn’t ready to let go.

Hale had to stop himself. He looked over to his left, and she was still sitting beside him. She was breathing. She was alive. If this was their last time together, he wasn’t going to spend it worrying about losing her. He needed to hold her and tell her how he felt about her.

She needed to know that he loved her. He had to tell her. She would be the very first he’d said that to and likely the very last.

* * * *

Pandora’s hands were shaking. She couldn’t decide whether it was from nervousness or from excitement. Her mind was overflowing with strong emotions and thoughts of the future. It had to be excitement, right? She now had the means to go through with the procedure, thanks to the old man. He had a stockpile of crystals that he had given her permission to use. Which meant that she could go through with the experiment sooner than she had ever imagined. This was a blessing, right? She couldn’t allow herself to have second thoughts about anything. Her whole world was counting on her.

She looked over to the side. Hale was sitting in the chair next to her and clutched her hand in both of his underneath the table. The way he looked at her made her feel sorry for him. He was afraid. The only other time she had seen such a look on his face was before their crash landing on Vanuu when he realized he couldn’t prevent the crash no matter what he did. She was about to risk her life yet again, and he was quite helpless. He probably felt worse about this situation. With the crash, he was the reason they survived. With this experiment, he had no way to protect her. He was at the mercy of whoever wrote the book, and she knew that left him deeply disturbed. She brought Hale’s hand onto her own lap.

She smiled slightly, an action that he reciprocated. But his eyes revealed the opposite of happiness. They showed his fear and desperation. He looked as though he was barely hanging on, which made her feel guilty. Her actions were destroying his will. But Pandora didn’t have another choice at this moment. Elani had to come first. Hale had only recently come into her life. Her people were more important. Wouldn’t it be wrong for her to think otherwise? Elani was her whole world, not a man, not Hale. It didn’t matter how much she wanted Hale to be.

He was the one hurting, but his pain was only a fraction of the pain she had experienced while waiting for an opportunity to save her home. Besides, Hale wouldn’t be the one dying if this experiment went wrong.

Pandora let go of Hale’s hand and stood up from her chair. She removed a crystal out from the bag and held it up in the center of her palm. “I’m ready to start.”

Hale said nothing and didn’t look up to face her either.

The old man was surprised. “Are you absolutely sure?”

“I’m sure.”

He stood up and walked over to his makeshift kitchen. From one of the large cabinets on the floor, he pulled out a medium sized cauldron and hung it over his fireplace.

“Once the pot heats up enough, we can start melting the crystals,” he said.

Pandora returned to sitting beside Hale at the table. He continually made meaningful glances at her as though he needed to say something important to her. He would open his mouth to speak, but then would close it just as soon. That made her uneasy. She wanted to know what was going on inside his head. If they didn’t have an audience, she would have sat in his lap. But Hale probably wouldn’t be comfortable with that. Refraining from him was painful because she had a sudden urge to be held by him. She just wanted his love in this moment. It might have been the last time she could find herself in his arms. But instead, they simply sat in silence, occasionally making eye contact with each other. Neither really knew what to say.

“It’s ready,” the man announced.

Pandora picked up the bag of crystals and walked over to the hot cauldron.

“Go ahead,” he prompted.

Carefully, she poured the crystals into the cauldron and stood over it to watch them melt. After about two minutes, the crystals finally began to turn to liquid. The liquid glittered at the bottom of the pot in several iridescent colors. She couldn’t look away it was quite a beautiful sight to watch the glorious crystals slowly melt into a liquid.

“Hale, come here!” Pandora said enthusiastically.

He stood and went to her quite reluctantly. “What?”

She pointed in the cauldron. “Look! Isn’t it beautiful?”

Hale nodded and stared at the bottom of the pot. His eyes sparkled with curiosity at the glimmering liquid. His irritated attitude couldn’t hide his amazement. Hale eventually left his moodiness behind and joined Pandora in admiring the melting crystals. He slipped his arm around her lower back, and she snuggled up to his chest and admired his warmth.

It took ten minutes for the crystals to completely melt. Once that happened, the old man moved the cauldron off of the fire and set it beside the fireplace.

“After it cools, we can pour the liquid into the syringes.” The man pulled out a modern first aid kit from his kitchen cabinets. “I believe there are three in here.” He opened the box to confirm.

Hale held tightly onto Pandora still. He kissed the top of her head and then rested the side of his face against her head. His heart was beating abnormally fast. Was it because of her or his fear?

Pandora reached her hand up and rubbed the back of his neck. “Hey, it’s going to be fine.”

“You don’t know that,” he whispered back.

She looked back down at the melted crystals to distract her because she couldn’t look into his eyes any more. His dejected face made her feel guilty, though she wasn’t doing anything wrong. But all this pain was worth it. This procedure would make her powers stronger so that she could heal her planet before all the light had left its core. If she didn’t survive, it was still worth it. Sitting by watching her world fall apart was worth than death. What scared her the most was failing in her plan to save Elani.

Eventually, the crystals cooled down completely and remained in liquid form. Hale appeared very confused, but he didn’t bother to ask any questions.

“I’ll start filling the syringes now,” the man stated, walking over towards the cauldron. “You can sit in that chair. It will only take me a few minutes.”

Hale followed Pandora towards the chair. He kneeled down beside her once she sat down.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” Hale whispered.

She ran a hair through his thick hair. “Go ahead, I’m listening.”

He drew a long breath. “This is something I’ve wanted to tell you for a while.” He gazed into her eyes intently. “I don’t think you know exactly how I feel about you.”

She was unsure what he meant by that. There was more than one interpretation. She didn’t say anything so that he would have an easier time staying on track. The last thing he needed was a distraction.

He took another deep breath. “I… I love—” Hale paused and closed his eyes for a few seconds. When he opened them, his determination to speak his mind had wavered. “I really love… the way… you have treated me. You’ve really shown me love that I don’t deserve. And I just wanted to say thank you.” He frowned slightly after he finished. He seemed unsatisfied with what he had said, but he stopped there.

“That really means a lot to me, Hale,” Pandora said, hugging his shoulders. His words did mean a great deal to her, but she expected him to say something else, a three word sentence that she longed for someone to say to her. But he didn’t.

Looking over Hale’s shoulders, Pandora saw that the old man had finished filling up two syringes. She and Hale didn’t have much more time to talk.

“Did you need to say anything else?” Pandora asked.

Hale stared at her for a few seconds. “Um… no. I think that was it.”

She reassured him with a smile. “Sorry, I just had to ask.”

“Are you two ready?” The old man asked, walking towards them.

Hale stood to his feet. “Yeah, she’s ready.”

“Take off your jacket and roll up your sleeves,” the old man said. “And Hale, can you hold these?” He handed Hale the syringes.

“Sure,” Hale answered.

The man opened the first aid kit on the table and cleaned both of her inner elbows with alcohol, which made her shiver from the coldness touching her. After he was finished cleaning, the man turned to Hale and asked for the syringes. Hale reluctantly handed one to him.

The man held up the needle to the inner elbow of her right arm. Once the placement was correct, he pushed the needle in and began releasing the liquid crystal to her bloodstream. Pandora didn’t notice any immediate effects, which was a relief. Hale stood close to her and held her left hand but looked away, clenching his jaw. As soon as the right arm was done, the old man moved to the left arm. Having the needle stuck in her arm was the most painful part of the injection process. She couldn’t feel the liquid in her bloodstream. At least not at first.

After both injections were finished, the man stared into her eyes. “I can tell it’s already starting to take effect.”

Hale pushed him aside aggressively. But Hale only did that so he could look directly at her eyes. “What are you feeling right now?” His voice trembled. And he looked as though he saw some kind of monster as he inspected her face.

“What’s wrong, Hale? What do you see? Do I look bad?”

“No. But your eyes, there’s like gold streaks in them.”

“Does it look bad?”

The man brought her a small mirror. “Here.”

Pandora didn’t waste one second. When she saw her reflection, she gasped. But not because she saw something troubling. The golden specks now present in her eyes was magical and… beautiful. She smiled. “Wow.”

Hale was less than impressed. “That book didn’t mention this happening.”

“You don’t like it?” Pandora asked.

“You look beautiful, as always. But it scares me that it’s changing you. I just wonder what else it’s doing to you,” Hale said.

She reached for his hands to comfort him. “I feel surprisingly normal. I don’t feel different.”

It was painfully ironic. As she said that last sentence, she could feel her heart beating faster. The nerves all throughout her body began burning. She was starting to feel this new energy.

Hale must have noticed her wincing. “What’s wrong?”

By the time he asked, the burning sensation started to make her body ache. She was sure it would soon go away. “I’m burning up,” she said as calmly as possible.

Hale put his hand to her forehead. “You have a very high fever already.” He turned to the man. “Should I try to lower her temperature?”

Pandora saw the frost building up on Hale’s hands and winced. She hated the cold.

“Most certainly not,” the old man stated. “We don’t want to cause any issues. We should do nothing. The air is cold enough.”

Hale growled but listened to him. “How do you feel now?”

She held out her hands, which were shaking. “I can’t stop them. I just noticed it. I can hardly feel my hands.”