I frown at him. I should kill him for the disrespect as soon as I’m able to move a finger.
He walks toward me with a metal box and sits at my side, unaware of my murderous thoughts. He pulls out a pair of scissors, and my mind focuses on the possibilities. If I can overpower him now and steal them, I could get a chance at stabbing Jude in the eye.
“Don’t move. I need to cut your clothes to assess your wounds,” Perri says.
My dark fantasies dissipate like smoke. I can only stare as he gently cuts my clothes to free my chest and arms. I shiver under his touch. The recent days have left me starved for kindness and human touch. Especially after Helios broke my heart irremediably.
Perri grimaces as he sees my wounds.
“Gods… How are you still alive?” he says.
“I’ve been wondering the same thing.”
He goes to the kitchen and comes back with a bowl of clear water and a cloth. He starts washing away the dried blood on my chest, neck, and arms. I tense, knowing where this is going. Knowing what he’s about to realize.
Perri’s hand stops, and his eyes widen as he notices the dark veins all over my body reaching to my neck. They were hidden under all the blood.
“You’re a mutant,” he says after a few seconds.
I’m just glad he didn’t say monster.
I nod. “I am.”
My blood is still red, but it’s thicker, which turns my biggest veins a darker shade than normal humans.
He searches my face, putting the pieces together. I’m half Korean, half American. And very tall. Easily recognizable.
“You’re that mutant from the South. The one who’s at the origin of the slave trade.”
I keep my mouth shut.
His eyes harden. It looks strange on such a kind face. But surprisingly, he starts cleaning my wounds again, in silence this time. He helps me into an old Hawaiian shirt. It’s yellow with pink and blue flowers. I balk at the style, but beggars can’t be choosers. At least, it’s cleaner than the rest of me.
He leaves without a second glance, but says, before disappearing into the other room, “You deserve to be in chains for what you did.”
I certainly do. The fact that I’m a monster has never been refuted, even by me.
A few minutes later, Stellan walks into the room with some kind of tool in hand. He does a double take when he sees my shirt and sighs. He walks hurriedly to the other room, and his voice rises over the ruckus of the waking market as he berates Perri for his ‘reckless behaviors and stupidly kind heart’.
When he comes back into the room, he points the tool at me and says, “You touch him, or even look at him wrong, and I’ll kill you right here and throw your corpse to the coyotes.”
I nod. This is the kind of protective streak I can relate to. If Stellan loves Perri as much as I loved Helios, I understand.
He disappears again into the hangar where he started working on vehicles an hour ago. I heard them talk about covering theFireflywith a tarp during the day and working on it at night, so no customer sees it and starts asking unwanted questions.
The day goes by, and I sleep. My rest is plagued by nightmares. The jellyfish are not the only ones to visit my dreams. Helios, too. I see him when he was a teenager, so open and sweet.
But his face morphs into the grown-up man I met five days ago. A man who hates me and wants me dead.
When I wake up some time later, night has fallen. There are no sign of my captors except for the bottle of water and a sandwich on my lap. Made with corn flour, if the color is any indication. Something tells me that it’s courtesy of Perri. Jude would have just choked me with it. I manage to bring it to my mouth and take a small bite. Against all odds, it looks like I’m regaining strength. I knew I was resilient, but I didn’t expect to survive two swords in the gut. But there is still no trace of my electricity. I don’t feel a spark.
My hand drops back on my lap. It’s already too much effort.
I chew and make a face. It’s a peanut butter sandwich. I fucking hate peanut butter.
It must have been written all over my face because Jude says as he walks in, “Not so fond of peanuts? Good. That’s all I’ll feed you from now on.”
“Fuck you,” I say, my voice rough from spending too much time sleeping.
