Page 9 of Riv's Sanctuary

Lauren turned her attention back to her surroundings.

Being outside the zoo, not separated from the world by a transparent barrier, felt strange.

There was so much…life.

She was just looking at a group of short identical aliens walking together when the alien carrying her stopped suddenly in front of an empty stall.

“Xid!” he called harshly and, a second later, a long, gray neck popped up from underneath the stall. Atop the neck was a head that she could only say was shaped like binoculars.

“You need?” the alien asked, his uninterested eyes on the alien holding her.

“A language upload. The language of this poor, ugly thing.”

Lauren’s eyes turned to slits as she regarded the alien holding her. He wasn’t light on the compliments at all, was he?

“Language code?” the alien inside the stall asked and she realized only then that his mouth was in his neck.

She tried not to stare but couldn’t help it. He didn’t seem to mind anyway. His uninterested gaze was now on her but he said nothing.

“Ah, the code. I have it. That thieving zookeeper almost wanted me to pay extra for it.” The alien holding her braced her box on his leg as he reached across the counter to punch in a code on a device sitting there.

“Downloading,” the alien behind the counter said. “Done,” he said in the next second, and Lauren’s brows shot up.

Did he download the entire English language so quickly?

Next, the alien holding her leaned forward as another device like the ones doctors use to look into your ear was placed by the side of his head.

He let out a sound of discomfort before his four eyes squeezed shut for a second then opened.

“Done,” the alien behind the counter said.

The alien holding her looked at her. “Can you understand me now…thing?”

“I could always understand you. And my name is Lauren, not thing.”

The alien’s face lightened a little and he leaned forward.

“I am Geblit.”

“Nice to meet you, Geblit.” She still had her arms crossed as her eyes narrowed a little. “Now, mind telling me what you bought me for?”

He leaned back then, all four eyes darting to the side.

“You are a surprise.”

A surprise?

That’s what she’d thought her name was as a child.

It’s what her dad had called her till he’d packed his bags and left in the dead of the night one day.

Safe to say, she hadn’t been a wanted surprise.

She could only hope that wasn’t the case this time.

3

"Get. That. Thing. Out of here!" The screech was so high-pitched, Lauren covered her ears and ducked a little into her box.