Page 17 of Theirs to Crave
I didn’t think xe’d noticed, but after a few seconds xyr hand turned, the fingers curling around mine. Yin’s shattered silver gaze didn’t shift from xyr fallen child.
“We will return, Abuele. For Ilya.” No one should have to see their child die. Over the years of longing and trying for one of my own, the fear of loss often crawled out of the night to torment me—usually in the waiting weeks before that little pink line failed, yet again, to appear. Seeing the devastation wracking Yin now, I knew my imaginings fell far short of the unbearable reality.
At Ilya’s name, Yin finally looked away, searching my gaze. Slowly, xe nodded. We leaned against each other, silently watching over Ilya.
I let the memories wash over me. Xyr sweet devotion to Yin. The charming giggle that always made xem blush. The look of peace on xyr face when xe sang, transforming the miserable dungeon into a small slice of heaven. Such a senseless loss. My soul wept.
A burst of angry hissing clicks jerked my attention to the bugs, and icy rage encased the pain. I shook with wrath as my vision darkened and my breath came in fast, uneven bursts. The bugs were having a bad day. I was going to make it worse. I didn’t know where the hell we were, what was coming next, or how we could even take the fuckers down, but we would. No way was Ilya rotting in this nasty heap. Any opportunity for escape—I was taking it. Any distraction, any opening that might give us a chance to turn the tables—I was taking it.
One way or another, we were coming back. And these assholes were going to suffer.
???
We’d crashed into a fucking jungle. In the middle of the night. During pinchemonsoon season. I blinked rapidly, but even without the torrent of rain filling my eyes, there wasn’t anything to see. Just looming shapes in the dark, hot night.
One of the bugs chittered angrily, shoving me forward.
I fell to my knees in the sucking mud and cried out as something hard found my shin, no doubt giving me yet another bruise.
“I got you.” Ria’s firm hand curved around my elbow, steadying me as I struggled to my feet.
There was a scuffle behind me. I pushed aside my dripping, overgrown bangs and squinted, finding Mariano facing off with the bug that had pushed me. Shane and Cass held him back, talking fast and low.
The bug raised the arm with the collar remote threateningly, hissing and gesturing for us to continue.
“Mariano!” I snapped, trying to sound authoritative instead of terrified. “Vamos. Ahora no es el momento.” Then, when he didn’t move, I pinched the back of his arm, twisting. “I’m fine. Don’t be a fucking idiot.”
Mariano snarled a curse and whirled to me. Ria backed up, hands raised, and let him steer me towards the rest of the group.
The Quoosalk waited, the ominous shadow of the other bug looming behind them. Salat and Therry nodded, and we continued our miserable march through the alien jungle. Yin,between them, didn’t seem to register anything, robotically following the others’ lead.
Only two bugs flanked us. I was bitterly glad that they too had suffered a loss, although I doubted I’d be satisfied until all the slaving assholes were dead. Preferably, after experiencing a lot of pain.
About five minutes later—an eternity when you were walking barefoot through a dark, stormy jungle—we broke through into a small open space. The front bug stopped, lowered itself to the ground with a grunt, and waved at us. Tentatively, we sat as well. Nobody got electrocuted, so that must’ve been the right move.
I tipped my head back and let the rain sluice over me, pretending it was a shower while I caught my breath. It hadn’t been a long walk, but the conditions plus the month of inactivity made it a struggle. Also, I suspected that gravity was stronger on this planet. I felt heavy, and after a month on the Alien Shake Diet I figured I was probably the lightest I’d been since my wedding—if not as fit.
It was a small comfort that—as miserable as we were—the bugs were more so. They’d been stumbling and grunting even more than I’d been, and some of their chittering hisses sounded a lot like curses. The ship—while filthy—had always been cold and dry, and it hadfeltlike Earth. Poor buggy babies weren’t enjoying this surprise stop.
Good. I hoped they slipped in the mud and choked on it.
A thunderous boom shook the air, and light flashed behind my closed lids. A second crash illuminated the world, searing a split-second image into my wide, shocked eyes.
Red. I didn’t see any of the familiar greens and browns of Earth: this jungle was red. I strained my eyes, hoping for another bolt, sure my imagination was running away with me.
But no, I could see the bugs where they squatted, hissing at each other and shaking strange devices with every appearance of frustration. I could see the massive, wide-leaved trees that speared into the sky on the other side of the clearing. Colors blended together in the twilight haze, but it was a blend of red, orange, and purple unlike anything I’d ever seen.
Was it dawn? I looked up, and my heart stopped. A fine trembling started in my fingertips, and I clenched them into fists to stop the spread. It wasn’t the sun that rose, brightening the sky.
The moon was full and huge, so near it felt like I could trace the unfamiliar patterns on its surface with a finger. Below it, the second, smaller moon was a mere crescent surrounded by billowing clouds.
“Aahngh.” The strangled sound that came out of my throat had no resemblance to any word I knew. But I had to say something, had to know if I’d lost it completely or if the others would see what I saw.
“You don’t see that every day,” Ria said after a long moment of silence.
“Beautiful,” Cass breathed.
“We’re a very long way from Kansas.” That was Shane, his cool tone more forced than usual.