Peyton's Light: The Cambria Code, #3

By S. M. Schmitz

Zoe never thought she’d be returning to Earth, yet only a few months after reaching Cambria, she and a small team are doing just that. Everyone who volunteers for her expedition knows Earth is likely swarming with the invaders, and it will take a miracle for their operation to be successful.

In the final book of The Cambria Code trilogy, Zoe comes full circle: she has returned to her home planet with the man who pursued her and convinced her to leave, and despite her initial reservations, she has loved him more deeply and fully than any man before. 

Now, they are on a mission: they sent the Cambria code, and Zoe won’t abandon any survivors, even if nobody else believes she and Peyton can survive their final confrontation with the thieves of peace. But after landing on Earth, Zoe is forced to acknowledge they may be right after all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: S. M. Schmitz
• Release date: Oct 7, 2016
• ISBN: 9781536538021

Book preview

Chapter 1

Zoe knocked on Adrian’s door and waited impatiently as another arctic gust blew past her. She stuffed her gloved hands farther inside her coat pockets and stamped her feet on the doorstep to keep moving so she could try to stay warm. If he still refused to talk to her, she wouldn’t have another chance to apologize for a long time. They were leaving today and even assuming everything went perfectly, it would be at least ten months before they returned.

She was met with silence from the ecru door just as she had been the previous three times she’d come by to talk to him. She turned to leave and heard movement inside. The door slid open and Adrian stood on the other side, beautiful even in his anger.

Come inside before you freeze to death, he sighed.

Zoe hurried inside before he changed his mind. The warm air of his home was surprisingly painful against her frozen skin. She grimaced as she removed her hat and shook the snow from her hair.

Adrian shook his head at her. What the hell do you think you’re doing, Zoe?

Zoe looked down at the floor and grinned sheepishly at him. Sorry. I’ll clean it up.

Adrian groaned and muttered something in Cambrian. I don’t care about my damn floor. What the hell are you doing getting back on Jenna’s ship and returning to Earth? The trip here almost drove you crazy, and now you’re going back to a planet where there are likely still thousands of these murderers!

"I have to. Adrian, there are survivors. Human survivors, and if we can just land and…"

Fine, Adrian interrupted, "then let Peyton and his soldiers go. He felt responsible for leading them to Earth anyway. You don’t need to be a part of this. You’re going to get yourself killed."

Zoe swallowed and studied the small pool of melted snow near her boots. Adrian, I didn’t come here to argue with you about my decision. That’s not why I’ve been coming for the past two days. I had to tell you I’m sorry. For… you know, ruining your wedding. I’m sure once we take off and everyone calms down, Jeffrey will officiate again and…

Adrian interrupted her by mumbling in his own language again. Zoe glanced up at him but she only recognized two of the words he’d mumbled, and they weren’t words she would have repeated around children. "You really think Bryn and I don’t understand? I get that part. I don’t get why you weren’t there in the first place."

Zoe shook her head. Adrian… I don’t have time to do this now. We’re leaving in a few hours. If you’d talked to me two days ago…

And what? he demanded. "Just to hear you say you wouldn’t support me as my friend because you’re still in love with me even though you’re more in love with Peyton, and that will always be the problem, won’t it?"

Zoe blinked at him and whispered, Yes.

Adrian sighed and stepped closer to her and Zoe’s heart either stopped or burst from her chest; she wasn’t even sure. He tucked a damp piece of her dark brown hair behind her ear and murmured, "And you’re the love of my life. You want me to go watch you take off on a ship that’s likely going to bring you to your death and I won’t."

Adrian, she breathed.

Don’t, he said. I will never forgive him for agreeing to this. Even if none of you return, I’ll go to my own grave hating him.

Adrian, you can’t, Zoe begged. This was my idea! Peyton didn’t even want to go. Jenna was the one who agreed with me and forced his hand.

Adrian shook his head slowly and let his fingers slip along her jaw. Zoe held her breath. She was surprised by how much she missed his touch. If I lose you forever, what difference does it make? He could have stopped this. He has more power than you know.

"I want to save them. I’m willing to die for them. And if I live, by the time I get back, you’ll be married and maybe even about to become a father, and I’ll be better about my jealousy this time. I promise."

Adrian smiled sadly at her as his fingers traced lightly over her lips. Zoe swallowed and her mind felt so thick and heavy, so incapable of rational or irrational thought.

Will you? he asked quietly.

I have to be, she whispered. We both have to be better. I belong with Peyton, but he’s stubbornly refusing to share me.

Adrian snickered and kissed her forehead. Zoe closed her eyes and breathed in his clean, sweet scent. She wanted to throw her arms around him and hug him closely; she wanted to kiss him; she wanted to make love to him again. And that was exactly why she needed to leave.

Zoe opened her eyes and forced her own sad smile on her lips. I need to go now.

I’m begging you to stay. I know you won’t, but I have to try, Adrian sighed.

Zoe shook her head and backed away from him. I love you, Adrian.

Adrian inhaled slowly and closed his eyes, and Zoe absorbed his beautiful features one last time, immortalizing his memory within her. I thought nothing could be worse than watching you with another man. I was wrong. Watching you walk into your own death is far worse.

"And if I come back, I’m never going to let you forget how wrong you were and how little faith you had in me," Zoe teased.

Adrian shrugged and the corners of his lips pulled a little higher. If you come back, it will be an actual miracle, Zoe. And we don’t believe in miracles.

"I know. That’s the problem with you Cambrians. But if there are a thousand humans still alive, then maybe we didn’t murder our god after all, and maybe you shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss Him. There’s no reason throwing a goddamn stone at an invader should have worked. If you’re not willing to admit that’s a miracle, then you’re every bit as stubborn as me."

Adrian’s lips pulled into a genuine smile and he pushed the control panel near his door. If you believe that, Zoe, then I’ll be praying with your fellow humans here every day until you return.

Zoe pulled her hat on and smiled back at him. Good. Because we all know this is going to take the biggest miracle in the history of the universe to actually work.

Adrian rolled his eyes and muttered something in his native language again as Zoe stepped into the cold, Cambrian winter air. At the edge of the field where they’d first landed three months ago, she could see the small crew finishing their preparations for a flight back to Earth. She immediately recognized one of the bodies and her smile widened as she picked up her pace to meet him.

Peyton noticed her approaching and met her eyes, and Zoe’s heart leapt into her throat. She’d never wanted to step foot aboard one of these ships again, and now, only a few months after being freed from it, she was willingly boarding it again, confining herself to the dark spaces of the universe that had nearly driven her crazy before. And if their plan worked, they’d be turning around and coming back to Cambria, which meant ten months trapped between the waves of the universe where nothing existed, where she shouldn’t exist but somehow did.

But this time, the darkness wouldn’t be complete. The nothingness that had eaten away at her until she was nothing herself wouldn’t be able to reach her, because this time, she had a light. She would never fall into the total darkness again because now, she had Peyton’s light.

Chapter 2

Zoe reached Peyton’s side and looked uncertainly at the looming ship before them. Several men pulled a sled through the snow and stopped at the foot of the gangplank, handing off the boxes that were then brought inside. Zoe dug her hands deeper into the pockets of her coat and shivered.

Want to go inside? Peyton asked.

She shook her head. Not unless you mean inside our house. We’ll be spending enough time on there soon.

Hey! She heard the high pitch of Mia’s voice carrying over the snowy wind and turned to look for her friend. Mia’s bundled body was directed toward the sled and the men unloading the boxes. "Be careful with those. We have an extremely limited supply of antibiotics left from Earth, and we have no reason to think your drugs will work on Earth bacteria."

Zoe sighed and pressed her body against Peyton’s to try to block the wind. I’m not sure if I’m glad she’s coming to help take care of any survivors or if that only worries me more.

She definitely worries me, Peyton said.

Mia crossed the field and stood in front of Peyton, her hands on her hips, looking both genuinely pissed and genuinely mischievous. I just thought of something. What if there are infants and toddlers in Antarctica? We have no liquid medications for them.

Um… Peyton responded.

Zoe shrugged. Can’t you just… smash a pill like our moms used to and throw some sugar on it?

Peyton groaned and shook his head at her. Zoe smiled up at him and would have given him her signature hair toss and shrug, but her hair was pulled beneath her hat and she didn’t want to move away from his body in order to shrug.

Mia just blinked at her. Thank God you’re a genius when it comes to this security shit.

Zoe laughed then shivered when another cold gust of wind hit her.

Get on the ship, Peyton begged. You aren’t missing anything out here except snow.

And fresh air and not being stuck on a ship in between the waves of the universe for five months, Zoe muttered.

"This was your idea," Peyton reminded her.

Zoe would have flipped him off but she didn’t want to unbury her hands from deep inside her coat pockets either. I’m fine, she insisted stubbornly. She shivered again as another icy blast of wind slapped against her.

Peyton stepped back from her and fixed her with a stern expression. Get on the ship or I will carry you on there.

Zoe scowled at him, but he didn’t look like he was bluffing. A familiar face appeared in the open hatch and called down to the men loading her ship. Zoe smiled and walked briskly to board the spacecraft that still terrified and excited her. Jenna noticed her approaching and waved for her to hurry.

I could use your help. With so few of us going, I need someone to double check the power gauges for me.

Zoe stopped in the middle of the doorway and one of the men carrying a large box bumped into her. She glanced at him and mumbled an apology, but Jenna wanted her to help make sure this damn spaceship didn’t just fall out of the sky? Admittedly, she had no idea how it flew or what powered it or if it could fall out of the sky once in space. She didn’t think so, but given her luck, she wasn’t counting that possibility out entirely.

Jenna laughed and grabbed her arm and pulled her inside. The warm air bit into her frozen skin again and Zoe cringed as she removed her hat. She was adding, Why is warm air so painful when my skin is a block of ice? to her list of cosmic mysteries to solve, assuming she lived through this expedition.

There are sixteen gauges on the ship, Jenna explained. It’s powered the same way everything else is here. All I need you to do is check to make sure each one is red. If it’s not, then it’s losing power when it shouldn’t be. Peyton and several others have been monitoring them all morning and I’ll check myself before we lift off.

Zoe looked around the ship then licked her chapped lips. Why is the outside of your ship gray then?

Jenna tilted her head at her and gave her the this-is-a-stupid-human-thing-isn’t-it? look.

Zoe sighed and tried again. "All of the buildings here are the same color as the interior of your ship. If it’s being powered the same way as we get electricity on the planet, then why isn’t the outside ecru? And who the hell came up with that name anyway? It’s the dumbest name ever for a color."

Maybe it’s Latin, Jenna responded with a shrug. "And the outside of the ship has to be a metal capable of withstanding higher temperatures for entering and leaving planets’ atmospheres. The molecules aren’t quite as excitable as in the ecru metal, which is a dumb name, but given the size and how long we normally have between trips, it’s plenty of time to conserve enough energy to power the ship. Here’s a map that shows you where the gauges are."

Jenna put a diagram of the interior of the spacecraft in Zoe’s hands and she turned it over a few times, wondering how anything so sophisticated could be condensed onto a two-dimensional card. Jenna had already marked the location of the fuel gauges with little red tick marks and she patted Zoe’s back and thanked her then walked away, calling out to one of the men on the ground in Cambrian.

Stupid Cambrians, Zoe mumbled. "Don’t they know red means danger?"

No, we obviously missed the memo that told us we had to live by Earth’s rules even though our culture is thousands of years older, Peyton teased.

Zoe jumped at the sound of his voice