The muscles in his arms twitched when I took his hand in mine, and what started as a fast walk became a slow jog as the humming grew louder. We came closer to the clearing and discovered the unexpected.
Garran’s cruiser was not only visible, but it had landed on top of the ash and charcoaled branches from the campfire Kevin and Logan made on the night that I was abducted.
“How did it get over there?” I asked Garran.
“It didn’t. That’s not my cruiser,” he said. “I thought you weren’t able to send a signal?”
“I wasn’t. I didn’t. Then who could it be?” I asked as he limped forward, restrained by his remaining shell.
The door of the unexplained ship opened, and a shelled head and face appeared from around the doorframe.
“It’s Lestra,” whispered Garran. “She won’t recognize me.”
“But she’ll recognize me, and she’ll know your voice.”
“Lestra,” I said to her, taking several steps forward. She hesitated and then came to the top of a small, protruding ramp that led to the forest floor.
She said something in Enestian, a string of clicks and odd consonant sounds, “Garran” being the only word I understood.
“Lis hjnil kmbrt,” said Garran.
Chapter Forty-Four
Garran
“I am him. I am Garran,” I said.
Lestra sucked in a hard breath, put her hand over her chest, and lost her balance, catching the doorframe to steady herself before she fell.
“I am changed. My shell. Most of it has been removed. It was damaged, and with it I couldn’t survive in Earth’s atmosphere. Underneath our shells there is an inner casing—skin like that of a human. The truth has been kept from our people. Why? I do not know.”
While I spoke, Lestra shook her head, her mouth agape, the panels of her chest expanding rapidly with each breath.
“No. You can’t be Garran. We can’t look like that under our shells.”
“Yes, we do, and yes, it is me. Shell-less and covered in skin, except for what’s left.”
I lifted my shirt, exposing the length of shell sticking up from the waistband of my leggings. A small breeze caught the shreds of my tunic, and when my heritage band caught the light, it twinkled in colors of red and green. “See?” I said, holding the badge steady with my human-like hand.
When I let go, I noticed the tops of my fingertips were like America’s, covered by thin, transparent shells the size of yarp nuts. How odd it all felt—the wind upon me, the saliva against my lips when I touched them with my tongue, the scouring of tunic fabric against my under covering.
“Why?” she cried, crumpling on the ramp, then drawing her knees into her chest.
“It had to be done. I was attacked by one of Earth’s creatures. It destroyed my shell. I’d be dead if—”
“You left the ship? Why? You were supposed to leave, go to Verla Three, and I, I was going to…”
“Going to what?” I asked.
“I was going to meet you there, to help you, to be with you.”
No wonder why she wasn’t overly upset to see me leave. She planned to join me all along.
“But then your sister…”
I moved close and reached for her hand, but she jerked hers away. “No, don’t touch me,” she sobbed, with her feet pushed back from me. “I hate you,” she screamed.
“What about my sister?”
“You ruined everything. Now you can never come back.”
“No, I can’t. And I can’t leave this galaxy, ever, not without a shell to protect me from the radiation beyond this planet.”
“I loved you,” she whimpered into her hands.
And then I felt a strange sensation, something odd yet familiar running against my face. I jerked my hand to my cheek, and when I drew my fingers away, they glistened with water droplets. I’d cried more in the last few days than I had in my one-and-twenty years of life.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen, but even if it hadn’t and I went to Verla, you and me, it would have never…damn, Lestra. You shouldn’t have done this. The ship is visible. What if someone sees it?”
Her crying became erratic. Clicks and wet whistles, the dominating sound as she pressed her forearm against her eyes.
“And now you can’t go back, either. When my father finds out, he will…”
I sank down next to the ramp, and when I put my arms around Lestra, she didn’t move but continued to cry against her knees. “But how did you even get here? You don’t know how to fly. Unless… Did my sister have anything to do with this?”
Slaine emerged from the opened door, his stance wide, his arms crossed. “Yes, my royal. Princess Murelle ordered me to find you, force-tether your ship, and bring you back to Enestia.
She didn’t want you to go to Verla Three. She wanted you to come home, and Lestra insisted on coming with me.”
“And your sister was already in the process of coming up with a lie your father would believe, so you wouldn’t be punished,” added Lestra. “But now…”
But why would my sister try to protect me? It didn’t make sense. She wanted me gone so she could take over my ambassadorship and eventually become queen. “Then you and Slaine, with my sister’s protection, you’re safe to return to Enestia without consequence.”
“Yes.” Lestra sniffled and lowered her head. “So now what?” she asked and recoiled when I adjusted my hug and my inner casing touched her bare shell. Her shell was powered, a light dusting of purple that reflected pink in the glow from the door light.
“Now I stay here. America will help me adapt, help me fit in.”
“Help you be human,” she said, and looked up at me.
I glanced over my shoulder, and after giving America a nod, she approached, and Lestra and I stood.
“We need to go, Lestra,” said Slaine. “I took a reading just before we landed. These are the only humans in the immediate area, but that can change.”
“And my cruiser?” I asked.
“We will take it with us.”
“Thank you.”
Slaine hesitated, but he took my hand when I offered it. His grip was a bit too firm, and I winced before he let go.
My last hug with Lestra was long, her fingers gliding along the side of my face, and peering at me through squinted eyes as she inspected my inner body. “You’re bumpy and squishy,” she said with a half-laugh that turned into a sob.
“I know, but I’ll get used to it. I have to.”
Lestra turned to America. “Please, take care of him. Protect him. Help him,” she said, and as I translated their conversation, America took Lestra’s hands in hers and promised Lestra she would.
“Thank you, Lestra. Thank you, Slaine,” America told them. Her eyes became watery, and when they re-entered the cruiser, Lestra choking through a sob, America’s eyes brimmed and spilled tears.
The door of the cruiser closed behind my Enestian friends. The cruiser rose, steadied itself above my ship, and after becoming invisible and engaging the electric tether, the ships lifted into the sky, stirring the forest debris below and bringing the scent of dry dust to our noses.
A light pressure continued to fill my nostrils and settle behind my eyes. Blinking produced more warm tears, and this time I couldn’t help but smile from the strange sensation of water upon skin. No longer an Enestian, the life I’d known was gone, but unfortunately this left no one to stop my father.
“Are you okay?” America asked me as I looked up at the sky. She wiped away her tears and then blotted my tender cheeks with the back of her hand, while keeping her bandaged arm and shoulder tight against her waist.
“Yeah, I’ll be okay, as long as I’m with you.”
“And as long as I’m with you.” She leaned toward me and set her lips against mine, giving me a sweet sensation of softness I never felt before.
“I’m going to have to get used to that,” I said.
“Don’t worry. You wi
ll.” She smiled. But then her expression changed, and she dropped to her knees.
“America,” I said, while pulling her to her feet.
“She has an infection, something resistant to antibiotics. She needs to go back to the hospital,” said Attie.
“And I will, but not right now,” said America. “Not yet. I’m okay. I just got a little lightheaded for a minute.”
She lovingly brushed her fingertips down the side of my face. “Everything is going to be just fine.”
Chapter Forty-Five
America
“So, I know what I’m looking forward to,” I teased. I was still a little swoony, but most of my energy had returned.
“What?”
“Taking you back to my apartment and helping you get rid of those last few pieces of shell. I think I have a hammer that will do the job,” I said, reaching around his waist and drawing him against me while protecting my injured arm.
“I bet you do.” He smiled. “And then you’re going back to the hospital. Promise?”
“Promise,” I said, and gave him a spunky kiss. “I love you, Garran.”
“I love you, too,” he said and caught my bottom lip with his soft, plump one.
“Hey, you two,” said Attie. “What are we going to do with all that shell? We can’t just leave it there.”
“I know what to do with it,” said Garran.
And we watched Garran’s shell, which we’d neatly stacked in the campfire, go up into flames and turn into a fine ash.
Kevin held up a coin-sized piece of shell he’d kept and said, “I’m saving this piece for my master’s thesis.”
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Acknowledgments
Thank you to all of my readers for your encouragement and support. It is my goal to write entertaining and thought-provoking novels that you will cherish as much as I do.
To my parents, sister, husband, son, extended family, in-laws, friends, and co-workers. Thank you so much for your continued dedication toward all of my writing endeavors. You are all very important to me and have inspired my writing in ways you probably haven’t realized.
To my Beta readers and critique partners, thank you for your valuable and helpful feedback.
And of course, a big thank you to everyone at Entangled Publishing. It is an honor to be a part of this amazing and talented team. Robin, you are an editing genius. Thank you for everything.
About the Author
Kalli Lanford, a native of San Diego, California, grew up hanging out at the beach, playing sports, and eventually attending San Diego State University where she earned her bachelor’s degree in English and master’s degree in education. When she’s not nerding out at San Diego Comic-Con or watching Star Wars and The Lord of the Ring movies for the umpteenth time, she can be seen doing normal people stuff like cooking delicious meals for her family (she attributes all of her culinary skills to the Food Network) and attending her son’s football games. In her spare time, she writes young adult and new adult fiction, her biggest passion, and loves listening to hard rock music and going to concerts. She hopes to live long and prosper, and that you will, too.
Website: www.authorkallilanford.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/authorkallilanford
Twitter: @KalliLanford
Instagram: authorkalli
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