Laksri again made that stiff imitation of a smile.
“They check him before he goes,” the Nirreth added. “Make sure you are clean. They know he is not clean, but they not care. Care only about you.”
Jet felt her posture stiffen.
She only understood about half of that.
Still watching the Nirreth’s tail, she adjusted her feet backwards slightly, still balancing with her legs tensed, in case she needed to move quickly.
“Clean how?” she said. “What do you mean by clean? Like… physically?”
“No,” Laksri said, giving her another stiff smile. “No. This is other. They need to know you not a spy.
“A spy?” she snorted, still watching his tail. “A spy for who?”
“For Richter.”
Jet didn’t answer at first, taking in the Nirreth’s face warily. “Why would Richter need spies inside the Royals?”
Laksri made a strange, blowing sound, one that reminded Jet of the baby T-Rex. The baby T-Rex that hadn’t been real, her mind reminded her tautly.
On Laksri, the noise sounded disparaging.
“Am I supposed to know why Richter would need spies?” Jet said, her voice carrying more of an edge. “Should this be obvious to me?”
“Yes,” Laksri said, his tail flicking behind him.
The tail moved more like a predator’s now.
Jet continued to try to read the face of the tall Nirreth. She couldn’t get anything that made sense to her. She was about to turn around, maybe lock herself back inside the shower cubicle, when something made her ask,
“So am I?” Jet said. “Am I Richter’s spy?”
Laksri smiled. That time, he didn’t show teeth, and she got the sense it was a real one… a real smile, that is. As close as a Nirreth could get to a smile, anyway. In any case, she distinctly got the impression she’d finally asked the right question.
“Yes,” he said.
“Yes?”
“Correct,” Laksri said.
Jet frowned, gripping the robe she wore even tighter.
Laksri didn’t change expression, or seem to react to the pointedness of her stare. If anything, he grew even more still. All but the sensual back and forth of his snake-like tail, which coiled through the air in odd patterns behind him.
“So what am I supposed to be spying on, exactly?” Jet said, folding her arms tighter. “Or am I not allowed to know that?”
Laksri made that dismissive sound.
“We will let you know,” he said.
“What does that mean?” she said, feeling her face grow hot.
“We will be watching you.”
That last part sounded almost like a threat.
Without another word, Laksri turned on his broad feet, and padded soundlessly out of the room.
Jet just stood there, staring after him.
She considered trying to call him back, but couldn’t make herself do it, not right then. She wasn’t up to dealing with whatever that had been about, not right then.
She was completely exhausted, she realized.
After two days of being kidnapped, stung, forced to deal with Richter, strapped to a table, stripped naked, chained, forced to battle virtual dinosaurs… not to mention being lied to, manipulated, and treated like an animal, pretty much non-stop… she was struggling to keep her eyes open, practically swaying on her feet.
She felt about a hundred times better after soaking in the hot shower––her first in as long as she could remember––but it only made her more tired. She was ready to crash out, at least for a few hours, even if it meant sleeping on the bare floor.
At this point, Jet could barely make sense of the meaning of Laksri’s words, much less decide if she believed them.
Still, some part of her tried.
If it was the truth, why tell her? And if it wasn’t the truth, what was the point in telling her something like that? Were they testing her still?
Was this just another security measure for the Royals'?
It was too late to ask. The tall, midnight-blue Nirreth had already gone.
She was still standing there, motionless, when the door to her suite opened again.
That time, it wasn’t open for long.
Someone was shoved through the opening.
Whoever it was, they stumbled, nearly falling on the shag carpet before they caught their weight by grabbing the heavier table. Jet saw Laksri’s face briefly on the other side of the door. He was staring at her, as if taking in her reaction to this new development.
Jet saw his stare intensify, right before it flickered down, staring at her body through the robe.
Before she could react, or tell him off, Laksri looked away. She heard him give an order in a gutteral voice. The instant he did, another Nirreth shut the door, blocking both of them from view.
Fighting anger, Jet’s eyes shifted to the person they’d shoved into her room.
She’d gotten so used to looking at Nirreth, she almost thought it was another teenager, or a kid, like Ogli. Then she realized it was a human being.
When he straightened, her throat abruptly tightened.
“Anaze!” she managed.
She ran for him, and enveloped him in a hug.
Anaze didn’t move, or hug her back.
He stood where she held him, arms loose at his sides. He stood so utterly still, so silent, Jet felt her heart sink. He must be pumped full of Nirreth poison still. When she looked up, however, meeting his gaze, she could see him in his face again, especially his eyes.
That wary, feral look was back.
He looked on-edge and tense again too, like he might burst out of his skin.
The lean muscles in his bare arms seemed to be his once more, despite how still he’d been when she held him. The swelling remained on his left cheek, now darkening to a deeper bruise, but other than that, and the red marks on his arms and neck from being stung, Jet couldn’t see anything wrong with him.
Still, he didn’t look exactly normal, either.
When Jet stepped back, she saw him clenching one hand into a fist, over and over again, without seeming to know he did it.
“Anaze?” she said, hesitant. “Do you know me?”
“Of course I know you,” he snapped. “Jesus, Jet.”
His voice was cold, angry.
At his tone, Jet felt her muscles stiffen.
Stepping away from him, she measured his face a second time––that time, as warily as he looked at her. It occurred to her that she’d rebalanced her weight, almost as if some part of her expected she’d have to fight him.
“Why did you do it?” he said. “Why the hell did you do it, Jet?”
His voice trembled with rage.
His green eyes bored into hers from his dark-skinned and bruised face.
Refusing to lower her gaze, Jet felt her jaw harden.
Her mind whirled around his words, how he must mean them, even as she felt a flush of guilt. He was angry at her. Of course he was. She was the reason he was in this mess.
She’d gone to the Gaslamp District alone, without him.
She’d gotten both of them caught by the culler ship, and by Richter.
Not to mention, Anaze just spent over twenty-four hours being stung and who knew what else by probably a half-dozen bored Nirreth. In comparison, she’d had it relatively easy.
Well… not easy, but no one had touched her like that. Not yet, anyway.
“Anaze,” she said, feeling her jaw tighten. “Anaze, I’m so sorry. I know this is all my fault. I should have brought you with me, when I––”
When she tried to touch him, he jerked away from her hand.
“Not that,” he snapped, still sounding furious to the point of forcing out words. “Jet, I’m not talking about that.”
Now she really was confused.
Seeing it in her eyes, Anaze looked away, scowling before he clenched his jaw. When he turned, facing her again, he nearly shouted.
“Why di
d you protect him? Why didn’t you skewer that little Nirreth afterbirth when you had the chance? Don’t you know he’s going to be the future king over all humanity? Our one-day slave owner? Or is that your new thing? Kissing lizard-skin ass? Playing warrior nursemaid to future tyrants in the hopes it will keep you alive?”
Jet’s jaw dropped.
At first she couldn’t even make sense of his words.
Then she shut her mouth with a snap.
“He wasn’t even real,” she began angrily. “What difference does it––”
“You thought it was real, Jet!” Anaze snarled. “You believed it! I saw the look on your face when that simulation ended. You thought you were saving its life! You thought you were giving your damned life for that little lizard-skin! And you weren’t even drugged!”
Jet folded her arms, glaring at him.
Anaze’s eyes only sharpened, glaring at hers.
“You thought it was real,” he said accusingly.
Feeling her expression close, Jet took a step away from him, this time fighting her own anger. She didn’t stay silent to spare his feelings. She wasn’t about to defend herself for not killing a helpless child. She wasn’t about to act like a Nirreth herself… or like Richter, for that matter.
But then, Richter probably would have figured out it was all fake, and done something to manipulate the situation to his benefit.
She’d gotten into the Nirreth’s good graces on accident.
Jet did it because she was a gullible, trusting fool.
Without meeting Anaze’s gaze, she walked to the wardrobe-like box the human servant pointed out to her earlier. They’d been explaining how things worked in the room, laying out all the details in English. The box stood just on the other side of a partition made up of translucent blocks. On the same side of that partition, there was a low bed.
On the other side of the partition, the side of the room she’d just left, there was a low couch, and a table with cushion seats that was positioned just under a long window with a view to a garden.
Squatting down in front of the wardrobe box, Jet activated the latch, flipping open the lid to peer inside. Seeing underclothes approximately her size, along with more of those leggings and long shirts, she grabbed one of each.
“Jet!” Anaze said, still sounding angry. “Are you going to answer me?”
Holding the clothes against her chest, Jet rose to her feet. She didn’t speak until she was inside the dressing cubicle, holding the handle of the curved door.
“No,” she said.
Before he could answer, she slid the door shut, barely taking in the angry look on his face before she removed him from view.
17
Part Of Something
When she came out, Anaze still seemed angry, but he no longer wanted to talk about the demonstration, or why Jet hadn’t gutted Ogli as soon as Black was back in her hand.
Jet still didn’t even know how he’d seen the demonstration.
She hadn’t noticed him anywhere in the crowd, and she’d looked.
She didn’t ask him about that, though.
She didn’t ask him anything.
They sat on cushions on the floor, eating together at the low table under the window.
Neither spoke, but just ate, pulling bits of food from various-sized bowls using spear-like utensils. The bowls covered a colorful tray that had been waiting on the table when Jet emerged. One of the servants had brought it, presumably while she’d been getting dressed.
Anaze seemed even hungrier than her.
As for Jet herself, she was ravenous.
She didn’t even hesitate that time. She just dug in.
Even so, they ended up having more food than they could eat between the two of them. Jet spent most of the meal thinking about which of the dishes she liked best so she could ask the Nirreth for more, but everything they’d been given ended up being not only extremely good-tasting, but also surprisingly filling.
Jet finally leaned back on her arms, sighing the sigh of the exhausted and stuffed.
Anaze continued to eat for a few minutes longer.
Then he moved away from the table altogether, leaning against the side of a low couch and frowning down at his feet.
“Do you want a shower?” she offered. “The hot water is decent. More than decent, if you want the truth.”
He didn’t answer. He wouldn’t even shake his head.
Anaze’s frown deepened as he stared down at his feet, and again, Jet felt her own jaw harden. She’d almost forgotten what a complete jerk he’d been earlier. She’d forgotten his self-righteous rant about how she must be a race-traitor since she refused to kill a kid.
Surely he wasn’t going to give her crap for appreciating a hot shower now, too?
Anaze, of all people, knew the price of that shower all too well.
When he didn’t look up, Jet sighed.
“What are we going to do?” she said.
As she said it, the tiredness washed back over her again, leaving her with nothing but a deadened feeling in her chest.
“Really,” she said. “What are we going to do, Anaze? Is there any way out of here?”
Anaze’s sharp eyes flickered up.
He stared at her, and that time, his eyes held an open warning. He motioned subtly towards the walls and ceiling.
Realizing what he meant, Jet nodded, feeling even more tired.
Surveillance. Of course.
The fact that Laksri had spoken to her almost openly in here had thrown her. She’d thought of surveillance then, but dismissed it when the Nirreth acted like it wasn’t an issue. He’d almost convinced Jet the room might be clean.
Almost.
So had Laksri said all of that for the benefit of the surveillance?
Or was he really a spy for the Royals, like she’d wondered before?
Maybe he’d been trying to trip her up in a confession. Maybe he’d been trying to ferret out if Jet was in some kind of conspiracy with Richter. After all, why would Laksri agree to help Richter plot against his own kind?
Jet was still thinking about this, when it occurred to her that Anaze was staring at her once more. His eyes held information now, but Jet was too confused and tired to read it for what it was. All it did was frustrate her.
She remembered he warned her they couldn’t talk in here.
Where, then? she mouthed at him. Where can we talk?
He smiled. That time, she saw more of her friend in the look.
Later, he mouthed after a beat. Tonight.
Confused, Jet only nodded.
It confused her even more when Anaze rose slowly to his feet, standing over the couch where he’d been leaning. He crawled over the top of it, sprawling out on the pale blue fabric and letting out a tired-sounding sigh. He was already pulling a thick, fuzzy blanket over his back and closing his eyes when Jet realized what he was doing.
Watching him sink deeper into velvet upholstery, already appearing to be dozing off, she let out a frustrated sigh of her own.
Then she realized Anaze was right.
Without sleep, she was useless.
This day was over. This day had to end.
Climbing shakily to her feet, she gave Anaze a last, fleeting glance before heading for the room beyond the partition and the bed that sat on the floor.
She noticed Anaze looking at her then, and paused.
She paused mostly at the apology she saw in his eyes.
“About before––” he began.
“Forget it.” Jet waved him off, frowning. “I got us into this. You have a right to be mad. You have a right to hate my guts, given everything.”
He didn’t answer.
She could see a look in his eyes, though, as if there was something he badly wanted to say, but couldn’t… or didn’t know how to say, maybe.
Or couldn’t say in here, most likely.
“You’re right to hate him,” he said finally. “Whatever Laksri said to you before… be careful,
Jet.”
Jet froze.
Staring down at her oldest friend’s face, she tried to make sense of his words, but couldn’t. Well, she could, but not enough to satisfy the parts of her that needed more, that wanted to understand what the hell was going on here.
It struck her that she did know a few things.
Things Richter hadn’t told her, at least not in so many words.
Richter definitely had his own agenda with the Nirreth. Whatever that agenda was, it resonated with what Laksri said about her being Richter’s spy. As much as she wanted to pretend that hadn’t been true, it certainly felt true.
Something about what Richter said and didn’t say, something about what lived in his eyes with the odd questions he asked, the things he wanted to know about her, had her radar going off long before they got to the Green Zone. Richter hid it well, but she suspected a lot of what he prodded her for had nothing to do with her sale to the Nirreth.
She was part of something.
Richter had drawn her in, and now he wanted her for something.
Whatever that something was, it was bigger than her being pet bodyguard to the Nirreth’s favorite Royal son.
Right then, Jet was too tired to think about what that might be.
Nodding to Anaze, she gave him a narrow smile before walking to the bed on the other side of the partition.
She landed on the strangely soft, spongey mattress…
And promptly fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
18
One Of Us
Jet didn’t sleep long.
It felt like she’d barely closed her eyes when someone was shaking her roughly by the shoulder, shaking her deliberately awake.
In pure habit and instinct, Jet groped in the dark for her sword, thinking she was back in the settlement, that Black would be in its usual place under her lumpy, grass-filled mattress…
But this mattress was thick and soft, and her fingers found nothing but empty air.
“Jet!” Anaze shook her, whispering. “Get up! We don’t have much time.”
Her eyes clicked into focus, making out his face in the dark.
It looked like Anaze was frowning, but the anger she’d seen in his eyes before, when he’d first been shoved into her room, hadn’t returned.
The Complete Alien Apocalypse Series (Parts I-IV Plus Bonus Novella): An Apocalyptic, Romantic, Science Fiction, Alien Invasion Adventure Page 16