by Lea Linnett
“I’m not—”
“For fuck’s sake!” Devis threw up her hands, throwing herself back onto the sofa. Taking advantage of Helik’s bug-eyed silence, she turned to Ellie. “You looking for Scott?”
Ellie nodded, mute.
“He’s down there in his room.”
Ellie ducked her head, mumbling a small, “Thank you,” as she fled down the corridor. She didn’t wait to see what Roia did. If the xylidian wanted to watch the thunderstorm brewing between the two levekk, she could do it alone.
There were no lights on in the short corridor, but Ellie could see a thin, yellow-ish border shining around the door at the end. She tiptoed up to it, ignoring the heated argument that still followed behind her. She knocked softly, jumping back when it immediately opened to reveal Scott. His bulky frame almost filled the entire door, but still he seemed small, his shoulders hunched and his expression subdued.
“Hey, Ellie,” he said, smiling. He peered over her head at the arguing levekk and sighed. “Come in. Those two are gonna give me a headache.”
Ellie followed the other human into a large, open room with a couple of sofas on one side and a wide desk on the other. But that wasn’t what made her pull up short with a gasp. The entire room was covered in paper—art, really. Large canvases rested against the furniture, small scraps of paper had been plastered to the walls, and all of them were covered in dark, charcoal sketches of various subjects. Her first thought was that they were beautiful, her second was that the paper and materials must have cost a fortune to buy in the Senekkar.
She gaped at Scott. “This is your bedroom?”
He laughed. “Nah, that’s next door. Devis gave me this room to work in once she learned about my hobby.”
“I thought you said you were a driver,” said Ellie as she turned on the spot, looking around at it all. Some of the smaller sketches were just body parts—Scott’s hands, repetitious diagrams of legs and feet and musculature—but high on the wall was a sketchy rendition of the view from Devis’ living room window that made her feel as if she were soaring above the Senekkar. Behind one of the sofas, she caught a glimpse of scaled skin, and realized that some of these were probably of Devis.
“I am a driver,” Scott explained. “I just do this stuff in my spare time.”
“It’s beautiful,” she said, still enthralled, and she turned when Scott laughed again.
“Don’t tell anyone. Cara would have a field day.”
“Right.”
She reluctantly moved to take a seat on one of the sofas at Scott’s behest, eyes still locked on the artworks. The larger human hovered, suddenly looking uncomfortable. “You want a drink or anything? I suck at this hosting stuff.”
“No, I’m good.” Her eyes fell on a pile of smaller drawings on the low table beside her as Scott sat down. “Can I look at these?”
“Sure.”
She regarded the first sketch in the pile—a smudged out rendition of a crow that looked intentionally rough—and smiled up at Scott. “These are amazing.”
“Thanks.”
They sat together on the sofa, silence invading the space between them. There were so many things they should be talking about, but suddenly, they were all too difficult to broach. Ellie flicked through the papers in her hand.
“Do you draw?” Scott asked when she paused on a particularly detailed rendition of a levekk eye. She knew it was Devis’, but the blade-like pupil made her breath hitch nonetheless, her body remembering the feeling of being pinned under Helik’s icy gaze on her first day.
It took her a moment to realize she’d been asked a question. “Oh. Yeah, a little. I usually do a sketch of whatever project I’m going to start working on, especially when it’s something out-of-the-ordinary, like Helik’s soot.”
Scott’s eyes lit up. “Is that what he was wearing at the party? He looked sleek.” He leaned forward in his seat a little. “How long did that take you?”
“Wow, like, five to six weeks?”
“That quick?”
She shrugged. “It’s not that quick. And I was distracted.” A blush tinted her cheeks. “With work, cleaning. You know.”
“Right.” She caught a flash in the other human’s eye, but then he dropped his gaze to the sofa.
Ellie turned another page, finding a study of a levekk claw. “If you liked it,” she found herself adding, “I could make you one. A soot, I mean.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I’m already making stuff for Anna. And a human pattern would be much simpler than a levekk one. I had to make so many modifications.”
Her eyes widened as she flipped to the next drawing only to find herself accidentally getting an eyeful of Devis’ naked body for the second time that day. Her scaled skin had been rendered in excruciating detail, her legs spread suggestively on a sofa that looked eerily similar to the one Ellie now sat upon. She covered the paper, her cheeks flooding with color now, and set the sketches aside.
Scott didn’t appear to have noticed, his eyes still distant and downturned. “You might have to work quick. I may not be around long enough to wear it after this.”
Ellie’s face fell. It seemed they couldn’t avoid the topic any longer.
“This is gonna sound really horrible, but…” She made herself meet the larger human’s gaze, not wanting to start things off this way. She had to know, though. “She hasn’t… forced you… has she?”
Scott closed his eyes, but when he met her gaze again his expression was sincere. “The bruises?”
She nodded.
“No. She really, really hasn’t.” He placed his coffee on the table, folding his hands together. “Devis is strong, strong-willed, and knows how to work a room, but she’s never forced me to do anything. Even when I was just an ‘employee’ or whatever, she was always fair.”
“But at the party,” Ellie continued, her brow creased with worry. “Devis was screaming at you. And with what you said to Cara and the others…”
Scott nodded. “We agreed that it would be best to be distant with each other in public. We weren’t blind to the consequences. Then when I turned up with the bruises, everyone pretty much wrote the cover story themselves.”
“You weren’t worried that Devis might get kicked out of the program for hurting you?”
“They would need some good evidence of it, and there isn’t any. She never did hurt me, and I’d testify to that. It really was all accidental. Besides,” he added, giving her a sidelong look. “Do you really think any levekk was going to get in trouble for hurting us?”
“Yes. I do,” Ellie said, scowling. “When I mentioned it to Helik, he went and spoke to Devis. He would have done something, if it was true.”
Scott gave her a measuring look before he conceded. “Maybe you’re right. You know him better than I do.” His gaze softened. “It’s difficult, isn’t it? The lying…”
Ellie dared to meet his eyes. “Yeah. I didn’t realize how hard it would be.”
“I grew up in the Inner Districts—lying is as natural as breathing there—and I still had trouble,” Scott admitted. “I’d almost be relieved the secret was out, under different circumstances.”
“Hmm.” Ellie felt one tiny knot of tension in the greater tangle within her chest ease at his words. Their situations weren’t so different; Helik and Devis were both showing the world what it needed to see, and for their humans’ benefit. Devis played the ruthless master, while Helik took the role of salesman.
That didn’t make playing the part of product any easier for Ellie to swallow.
“So how did you get the bruises?” she asked, in an attempt to escape her thoughts. “If you don’t mind me asking.”
Something faltered on the other human’s face, and Ellie’s eyes widened as his cheeks went pink. “Devis is… You know how I said she was strong? Things maybe get a little…”
“Oh.”
“I give it as good as I get it, though.”
“Oh, wow
. Okay.”
The two humans shared a look, before dissolving into laughter.
“The, uh… The claws are an interesting touch, right?” Ellie choked out, barely controlling her giggles.
Scott’s face lit up, and he was fighting a smile when he replied. “I was gonna go with health-hazard, but hey, whatever you’re into…”
Ellie flushed red, covering her grin with a hand. Their laughter slowly died down, but Ellie felt like the room had warmed by a few degrees, her shoulders relaxing.
Scott shifted on the sofa, and his gaze was cautious when it cut back to her. “So, you haven’t said as much, but from the way you’ve been talking… You and Helik…?”
Ellie gulped, her stomach flip-flopping. “Yeah…”
He raised an eyebrow at the door, and the muffled sound of Helik and Devis still going at it in the living room. “He’s not always like that, then, I’m guessing.”
Ellie grimaced. “No, he… he’s got so many faces, y’know? He puts on a new one every time he needs something, but underneath it all? There’s a funny, adorable, sincere guy under there, and I’d spend every minute of every day with him if I could.”
Scott’s look was sympathetic when he said, “It’s hard to imagine Helik Kaan being adorable. Or sincere. He’s always struck me as…” He trailed off, as if thinking better of what he was about to say.
“As what?”
His lips thinned. “A bit of a prick, to be honest.”
It didn’t matter that this was Scott, it didn’t matter that he might even be right—a flicker of irritation whipped through her at his words, and she frowned.
“Well Devis comes off as insane, angry, and abusive, so we’re even,” she snapped, but there was little bite to her voice, her eyes downcast.
Scott rubbed at his neck. “Fair point.”
“He cares about the program,” she added, unable to let it go. “He cares about making things better for us.”
“I just worry that he cares less about what the program can do for us, and more about what it can do for him.”
Ellie flinched, and Scott had the decency to look chastised.
“Sorry,” he said. “That was out of line. I’ve never met the ‘real’ Helik Kaan.”
“It’s fine.”
Outside, the fight rose in volume, Helik’s angry spitting soaring above Devis’ for a moment, and Ellie felt her whole body ripple with the force of her sigh.
“That one’s probably the real Helik,” she said, hiking a leg up onto the sofa and hugging her knee. “Between keeping attention off me and the program, he’s… pretty stressed.”
“Yeah… I’m sorry in advance if any of this splashes back onto you guys,” said Scott, hesitantly catching her eye. “The other humans, too. Even Cara.”
“Ha. Yeah.” She smiled at him, taking comfort in his presence even if they didn’t agree on everything. “We’ll figure something out, Scott. Helik and Roia will use their magical PR powers and fix this, I’m sure.”
But Scott looked unconvinced, his gaze trailing out over the sketches that surrounded them. After a moment, his eyebrows rose, and he cocked his head towards the door.
“I think they’ve stopped…”
“Finally.”
Ellie sank against the sofa in mock-relief but followed Scott when he stood and crossed the room. They crept down the hallway, Ellie peeking out from behind the larger human as they ventured back out into the living room.
Devis was still in her chair while Roia had claimed the one adjacent, and the two were talking quietly. Helik was over by the window, glaring at nothing.
Scott moved over to lean against the back of Devis’ chair, stroking his fingers down the knobbly crests of her plated head, and Ellie watched with fascination as the levekk leaned into the touch, her hand snaking up to cup his elbow.
Helik was a dark shape against the window, his frame fraught with tension, but Ellie refused to let that discourage her as she crossed the room to stand beside him, placing a hand on his back.
The levekk jumped, rapidly glancing around the rest of the room’s occupants when he realized just who was touching him. But Ellie held firm, and slowly, Helik relaxed.
“You finished yelling?” she asked, a hesitant smile on her face.
Helik looked at her for a long moment, before his shoulders sagged and he leaned forward to rest his plated brow against the glass. “For now,” he grumbled, but Ellie felt a wandering claw begin to toy with the waistband of her skirt and that eased her nerves a little.
“Maybe we should all talk together,” she whispered, pressing just a little closer to him. “Then we can work out what to do.”
Helik’s expression was shuttered, but he allowed her to lead him over to one of the sofas. He wouldn’t sit beside her, but he did stand behind her, fiddling with the flyaway hairs that had escaped her bun. It was much like what Scott was doing for Devis in a strange way, which Ellie supposed was better than nothing.
“So,” said Roia, breaking the silence. “What I want to know is how they got this picture.” She tapped her wristlet, and Ellie was thankful when nothing popped up to assault her eyes again.
“I’m assuming you all saw it?” Scott asked. When everyone in the room nodded, he sighed. “Great, now everyone’s seen my ass,” he joked, but his smile didn’t reach his eyes.
“We don’t know how they got it,” Devis said with a frown, running her claws down Scott’s arm comfortingly. “I mean, they obviously sent a drone up or something, but all those windows are reflective. Cameras shouldn’t be able to see through.”
“Could we go have a look?” asked Ellie, ducking her head when Devis’ sharp eyes fell on her. The levekk female was still kind of intimidating, despite Scott’s assurances. “Maybe they tampered with it?”
Devis’ brow plate dipped, but not at Ellie. “Sure. It’s this way.”
They filed through the large apartment, each space so wide that it made Ellie feel like a child again. Unlike Helik’s penthouse, it was all on one level, and apart from the small corridor leading to Scott’s wing, the rest of the apartment was made up of open, sprawling rooms with high ceilings, tailor-made for a levekk-sized occupant.
Once they made it to Devis’ bedroom, a square space with little furniture other than the over-sized, nest-like bed that sat against one wall, Helik and Roia made a beeline for the window, drawing the curtains back and inspecting the glass. Ellie hung back, catching the way Devis’s shoulder touched Scott’s as they stood in the middle of the room. The two were always touching, but it was subtle, almost unnoticeable. They were nearly the same height, and Ellie thought that they should look strange together, out of place. But they didn’t. They each stood tall, like two pillars supporting the same structure.
The room was quiet while the two aliens searched the glass. There was only one window in the room, taking up the entire wall, and Ellie shook her head at the size of it. How would they find what they were looking for in something that size? What were they looking for, even? There was nothing visibly off about the glass. It looked exactly like the windows downstairs, or at Helik’s.
But then, in the silence, Ellie heard a faint whistling. She cocked her head, scanning the room. She wondered if it might be static from one of the devices scattered around, but no. This almost sounded like…
“Wind?”
Scott glanced at her. “What?”
“Does anyone else hear wind whistling?” Ellie asked, and the entire room stilled.
She turned towards the window, tiptoeing soundlessly as she strained her ears. “It’s coming from the window. Definitely.”
They all turned their gazes to the glass, and then Roia exclaimed, “There! Right at the top corner.”
Only Helik was tall enough to reach up and push the curtain edge back, but they all saw what he revealed. There was a tiny, perfectly circular mark, and when Ellie moved closer to get a better look, it turned strangely cylindrical.
“Is that…?”
The glass had been tunneled through, letting the atmosphere outside whisper into the room. It was tiny, barely half-an-inch across, but clean. There were no cracks in the glass surrounding it. Someone had drilled through it somehow.
“Has anyone been in here apart from you two?” asked Roia.
Both Scott and Devis frowned in unison, but then Devis’ eyes widened. “We had a heating problem a couple of weeks ago. Someone came up to fix it, but they shouldn’t have come in here.” She turned to Scott.
The human looked worried. “I was here, but I didn’t bother following them around the apartment. They could have done anything…”
“Fuck.”
“That’s crazy,” said Ellie, looking up at the hole with her mouth half-open. “Do you think they could fit a camera through that?”
Roia nodded, her expression sour. “I think that’s exactly what they did.”
Ellie watched Helik while the others continued talking. He was pressed close to the glass, running one pointed claw along the rim of the hole with a pensive look on his face.
“You okay?” she asked, sidling up to him again and wrapping an arm around his waist.
“Fine,” he murmured, glancing down at her. His brow didn’t quite tent like a human’s would, but his icy eyes were round as they searched Ellie’s face. He looked lost.
“We need to decide what to do about this,” she said, twisting her hands into his clothes. “There must be something. We could say the images were doctored, right? Or maybe run a counter-article?”
“I don’t…” Helik’s gaze skittered away to the tightly packed buildings visible through the window.
“Helik?”
The levekk’s lips pressed into a thin line, his brow plate dipping strangely in a way that looked pained. “I don’t think there’s anything I can do, Ellie,” he said softly.
Ellie moved, trying to recapture his attention by squeezing between him and the window. “Nothing? Surely we could release a statement saying it’s all fabricated.”
Helik bit his lip, his gaze flickering. “As the director of the program, I can’t…”
Ellie’s chest clenched, a dreadful feeling settling over her. “Helik, no. You can’t just abandon them!” The others in the room fell silent as her voice rose in volume, but she didn’t care. “You’re the only one here who can do something—”