“What’s wrong?” Riann pulls his gun.
“I was wrong. Kissu isn’t wild. His previous Sisan was a freight hauler… and he likes fast cars.”
Kilo takes a step closer, clutching his drone bag and looking at the zurgle, and says, “If Kissu is old enough and he’s talking to you in your head,youare taking him home.”
“He’s,” I look down at the zurgle and ask, “really?” And then I look back to Kilo. “Can Bowie get in your head?”
“Yeah. Bowie’s ninety-two. He’s the oldest zurgle I’ve ever heard of. If you can hear Kissu calling you his Sisan, he owns you. Good luck explaining that to the others.”
“Is that true?”
Kissu looks at me, purple eyes seemingly piercing through me.Yes and no. Sisan understand Kissu before choose to claim.He tips his head to the side.How?
“That is something else we can talk about later.”
RISK
Shock was called out into the Zone by Breaker about twenty minutes ago, and even though I probably shouldn’t have, I left Chrys alone.
I wanted to finish my project, and I knew I could do it if I took the extra time.AndI knew that she would be okay without me.
Setting the pieces that had to be brought up separately on the floor in the hall, I go out into the room, glad to see she is cozied up by the now ever-burning fire.
Her eyes slowly trace lines on the tablet Arc got her. She’s reading.
When she smiles, I smile too.
I don’t interrupt her. Yet.
Swiping the screen, she snorts and then closes her eyes, shaking her head. “Ivy, girl. What are you doing?”
She looks up like she’s forgotten something. “Oh! You’re back.”
Dipping my head, I lean on the counter and pretend I wasn’t just watching her. “Good book?”
She uncurls herself, stretching like she’s been in that position for too long and then rolls off the couch, dancing her way to me. “It is.”
“What’s it about?”
Embarrassment flushes her cheeks and she sets the tablet down, turning it toward me. “Um… it’s about a woman whose ship crash lands on a planet and she falls in love with an alien. Basically. That is a gross oversimplification, and there are some hiccups in-between.”
“That’s embarrassing?”
“When you have to explain it to one of the aliens who rescued you from your own crash landing? Kinda.”
I look at the cover. I can’t read the title. It’s beautifully illustrated, and the alien drawn there is vaguely arachnid.
“We don’t have those here,” I tell her with a soft smile.
“I know.” She turns the tablet around, holding it tight to her chest as she laughs. “If there were Vrix on this planet, I’d have already done the marketing campaign to lure that specific demographic.”
“Will you do me a favor?”
She blinks at me and I know it was too abrupt of a subject change. “Sure.”
“Will you go read that in your bedroom for a little bit and not come out again until I get you, no matter what you hear?”
Her brows fly high, and she glances toward the front door.
