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previously said, Samakri
was not going to be able to kill little Lionel. Yes, she could
easily--perhaps--kill the Lionel that stood before her now; the one
that had caused her so much anxiety and reluctance, but she could
never lay a hand on the small, helpless, perfect boy whose eyes she
had looked into for the first time fifteen years earlier on the day
that she had helped Blekrin commit the most unspeakable crime
against Maggie and Arthur Davidson, Lionel’s mother and father. She
was officially in a deadlock.
    Lionel did not know what to say
either. He was now sensing Samakri’s weakness. Perhaps he had been
wrong more than once; the first time when he underestimated her
dangerousness, the second time when he underestimated her uncanny
kindness. Lionel was not sure if he should defy his emotions and
use this weakness against Sam, or take advantage of the opportunity
to help her, and possibly win her heart. Either way, he was
stumped.
     

Chapter Eight
     
    Despite the fact that, for a while,
Lionel had assumed that Samakri's confusing behavior would benefit
him in some way, that was not exactly how it turned out. Shortly
after showing some sympathy for him, she sent her brother, Nelvak,
to cart him off to the prison chambers. The boy was stronger and
more skilled in the art of torture than any human his age. It
became clear to Lionel, as his battered body was swept across the
coarse Yalmax flooring that it would not be easy to rebel against
the Zebdians and still survive. One thing that he took comfort in
as he and Nelvak approached the prison chamber was that it was the
same one where they kept Loretta J. Lionel could only imagine how
scared the pop star was. And yet, she sang.
     
    Once upon a time,
    You were complete; my
all;
    And with every rhyme,
    In love with you I’d
fall
     
    I asked for a star,
    You gave me the moon;
    I asked for your heart,
    And you gave me the
truth
     
    And it wasn’t your
fault,
    You gave me your all;
    And I never forgot,
    How wrong I was
     
    Once upon a time,
    You were a charming
prince;
    I told you I was fine,
    You sealed it with a
kiss
     
    I asked for a star,
    You gave me the moon;
    I asked for your heart,
    You gave me the truth
     
    And you couldn’t have
thought,
    That I wasn’t true;
    And you couldn’t have
fought
    For me more than I for
you
     
    Once upon a time,
    We flipped a sliver
dime;
    I said I’d call you
mine,
    As long as we lived
     
    It wasn’t a crime,
    I won’t pay a fine;
    We’re frozen in time,
    And there’ nothing to
hide
     
    I asked for a star,
    You gave me the moon;
    I felt so alive;
    And it’s because of you
     
    I asked for a star, heart, time,
and the moon,
    You gave me your heart and wonder
and truth
    Once upon a time
    Nelvak, for a teenager, was not impressed and he shoved her
against a wall, knocking her unconscious. So much for entertainment, Lionel thought. As angry as he was at Sam, she was
the only one he wanted right now. He would rather endure worse
torture at the hands of the otherworldly goddess rather than at the
hands of Nelvak or an other Zebdian soldier. Yet, this made him
even more angry at Samakri, because she was apparently such a
coward that she would not actually harm Lionel
herself.
    He could hear her voice, even from
far away.
    "Have no mercy on the Earth boy,"
she said. But she was lying. He could hear her thoughts now, as she
once did his back in New York.
    Please spare the young man, she
thought. I love him with all of my being and all of my loyalty to
Zebda has been in vain; nothing in comparison to what I now
feel.
    Was Samakri playing with him? He
had thought that their minds were no longer intertwined, yet he
could hear Sam's thoughts as easily as she had heard his what
seemed like so long ago but had only been a few short days. He
wondered so deeply whether she truly loved Lionel or whether she
had more control over him than he could have possibly
imagined.
    What you hear by me is the truth,
Lionel. Wait and see.
    With