by Dale Furse
‘You are his Wexkian connection.’
‘I am? Is that why he won’t let me enter his mind whenever I want but he barges into mine whenever he pleases?’ She gave Melt an accusing look.
He leant forward and touched his bulldog snout to her shoulder. ‘There was much you weren’t ready to learn,’ he said. ‘By the time you leave here there will never be a need to block you again. Can you forgive me?’
Nell giggled and playfully pulled at a tuft of black hair on the top of his head. ‘Of course, I forgive you. I love you, Melt.’
‘I love you, my special friend.’
‘With those connections,’ Pren continued, looking directly at Nell. ‘We gained some minor strength, but it wasn’t until you joined in our song that we at last became what we were.’
‘What you were?’ asked Kale.
‘Yes. Immortal.’ He bleated a honk. ‘Thus our transformations as you see us now.’
‘You mean you can’t die? Not ever?’ Kale said.
‘Not unless our special connection ceases to exist.’
Nell frowned. She was sure Pren had told her his connection had died. She also thought about all the old Krolls she had encountered since joining in their song. She’d seen heaps. None of what he said made sense.
‘I understand your confusion,’ Melt said silently. ‘Be patient and all will be explained.’
‘You are baffled, Nell,’ Pren said. ‘Each Kroll must have their own connection, and, as I said before, none do except Melt and I. As more Wexkians are born, so too will more Krolls feel that connection.’
‘That part makes sense,’ Nell said. ‘But the first time I met you, you said your connection died.’
‘No. If you remember, before I finished telling the story we were interrupted by Wintars. What I was going to say is while I felt his illness and nearing death as though it was I, I called out to the only person who could save him. My Eldorap friend answered and although he was hesitant to interfere, he took my special Wexkian to Eldorapal.’
Nell lurched up, but once standing, her legs nearly collapsed under her. She sat back down—trembling. Another Wexkian exists. Tears sprang into her eyes. She wasn’t alone. ‘What…what’s his name?’
‘Deesc.’
‘Deesc?’ Her tears grew hot with fury. Trying to choke them back, she turned her wet eyes to Deesc. Her rage filled her with renewed strength. She jumped up and, pushing her seat back with such force, it toppled well behind her. ‘You pig. You…you good for nothing wart.’ She didn’t try to stop her tears. . ‘All this time, you and your Kroll friends let me think I was alone.’
Deesc stood up. His relaxed state made her more incensed. ‘I hate all of you. Come on, Kale,’ she said, yanking him up on his feet by his arm. ‘We’re going.’
Kale turned to Pren, Melt and Deesc. ‘I apologise,’ he said.
‘Ugh. There’s no need to apologise to them.’ She grabbed his hand. ‘Take me home.’
Kale hesitated and gazed at Pren.
Nell could have strangled him for that. It wasn’t up to Pren or any of them to say whether she could go or not.
Melt entered her mind. ‘Please calm yourself. You will have Pren and Deesc regretting ever telling you.’
‘I don’t care. I feel like you’re all against me too.’
‘That is not true. I love you, but I must abide by my Elder’s decisions. Once you had joined us in song, Pren knew you were ready to learn more. However, Pren has needed time to sway Deesc. He was unhappy with our decision, but abided by Pren’s thoughts. I am afraid Deesc still thinks you too child-like.’
‘What Deesc thinks is up to him. I couldn’t care less. I’m sorry, Melt, but I can’t stay in his company any longer. I’ll speak to you soon.’
She tugged Kale’s hand and spoke to him aloud. ‘Let’s go.’
CHAPTER EIGHT
NELL WAS STILL TRYING TO CLEAR HER MIND of anger when she and Kale appeared in Dar-Seldra’s living room.
Sam and Mekie had their mouths locked in a passionate kiss. They weren’t aware of Nell’s arrival, they weren’t aware of anything but each other. She knew they were getting closer, but she hadn’t realised they were that close. Why was she always the last to know anything? She bit her cheek.
Kale coughed.
Mekie jumped back and Sam turned to the new arrivals, wiping his mouth.
‘There you are,’ Sam said. ‘Where the hell have you been?’
Nell wasn’t in the mood to listen to his crap about where she went and what she did. Of course, he could just be angry that he and Mekie were interrupted. She smiled inwardly, but retorted, ‘That’s exactly where I’ve been. Hell.’ She tried to muster a smile at Kale. ‘Thanks for everything,’ she said, and hurried to her room.
Slamming the door behind her and, collapsing on the bed, she sobbed into her pillow. She had never felt so alone. Even when she found out about her heritage, she had Sam to help her sort through her feelings. He was her rock, the person to go to about anything, the one person on Earth and in the universe who understood her, or so she thought. He was now Mekie’s soul-mate. Mekie’s hero. Without him to lean on, Nell had no one. She sniffed and glanced at the side table. No tissues. She pulled out the corner of the sheet and wrapped her faced in it.
After awhile, her mind turned to Deesc. The Wexkian she’d been wishing existed, the one to share her new-found traits with; but no, Deesc wasn’t anyone she could share anything with. He thought he was superior, not only to other species, but to her. He thought her a child. A child of no consequence. It dawned on her then that he had known her since she was a child. Skulking about in his crocodile suit, watching her…laughing at her.
Okay, she could understand him not showing himself before her father had told her anything, but after that day there was absolutely no reason to keep his identity hidden. He could have helped her. Huh. He could have stopped Nadar and the Corl Elder even before Nell had heard of them. Deesc must have known that.
She sat up and punched her fist on her pillow. If she ever saw him again, he had better be ready with answers to her questions.
Tap, tap, tap sounded on the other side of the door.
‘Go away,’ she croaked.
The door opened and Sam walked in.
‘I guess Kale told you,’ she said, wiping her face with the wet sheet. Of course he did. He didn’t keep the secret for long. Ugh. Why hadn’t Dar-Seldra put locks on the doors?
He sat on the bed. ‘Only that the Krolls hadn’t told you about some Wexkian they knew, and how hurt you were by that. I’m sorry you’re in pain, and I’m sorry for being such a selfish, self-obsessed jerk.’
She gazed at him, felt his compassion, and let him take her hands in his.
He gave them a little shake. ‘You just keep getting hit with stuff, don’t you?’
She couldn’t help a small laugh. ‘Yeah. I guess I do.’
‘We used to talk about anything and everything. What happened there?’
‘I guess we grew up. Like you and Mekie for instance.’ She watched his reaction out of the corner of her eyes.
He sighed. ‘Yep. Who would have known, I’d be prepared to stick with one girl?’
‘Why didn’t you tell me things were getting serious between the two of you?’
‘I didn’t know myself until I went to Linque. I guess we were alone so much, whatever was gurgling underneath our skin had to come out sooner or later. I knew I liked her and she is hot. I just didn’t realise my feelings were any different for what I’ve felt about a lot of girls before.’ He let out a nervous sounding laugh. ‘I’ll admit, since that first kiss.’ He whistled as he rolled his eyes into the back of his head.
Nell hit him. ‘Just be careful. Cay-Meka has heaps of mean relatives.’
He squeezed her hands and grinned. ‘I’ll keep that in mind. Enough about me, I want to talk about you.’
‘But I want to know more.’
‘Later. First you. Kale said they wanted to exp
lain and I want to know why you left before hearing everything they had to say.’
Nell spotted the tissues on the dressing table. ‘Could you get me the tissues?’
Sam did so.
Nell took the time to take a couple of deep breaths and figure out how much she should tell him. ‘Thanks,’ she said, pulling a couple of tissues out and wiping her face with them. ‘I just couldn’t stand being there anymore.’ She’d told Pren that she and Kale would keep the secret unless she thought Sam needed to know. Well he needs to know now so he can understand how I feel. She told Sam everything that had happened on Gramlax.
‘Deesc is always laughing at me. Did you know he shape changes?’
Sam shook his head.
‘Yeah, well, remember the first time I met the crocodile on the beach? That was him. That was Deesc. And the weird bird that helped us find Dar-Seldra the first time we were on Corl? That was him too. He’s been watching me pretty well ever since I was born. Who knows what else he pretended to be. He could have been a rock for all I know.’
Sam looked around the room as if taking in what she had said. ‘You know? That explains why you could connect with those animals so well, but not others. He probably just wanted to make sure you were okay.’
‘No. Well maybe…but even as animals, he thought I was funny. And it’s not just that; he could have told me who he was from the start. It would have made everything so much better if I’d known there was someone like me. He could have helped me. But, oh, no, he wanted to watch me in secret, let me struggle with what I was becoming. He could even have stopped Nadar from hurting Mekie; in fact he could have stopped Nadar right from the beginning. And then there’s Shahs, he could have helped her…stopped the crazy blue Corl who had imprisoned her. Ugh. He never did anything.’
‘Hmm,’ Sam moaned.
‘What?’ Nell blew her nose, watching Sam as she did so. He looked like he was going to say something she wouldn’t like. ‘Come on. Spit it out,’ she said.
‘I was just thinking. Maybe if you stayed a bit longer you could have asked him about all that.’
He was right. ‘Well I didn’t.’ Nell eyed him. ‘You sound like you’re on his side.’
‘You know if there’s a side to choose in all this, I’d be on yours. It’s just that it doesn’t make sense for him to watch you for all that time just for a laugh. Although, you can be funny sometimes. I was just thinking there’s more to it than that. It’s not as if he left you high and dry. He did show you where Dar-Seldra was and he did get Kandar to help us get back to Kafir that time and there’s something you don’t know. It was a Grarl Kandar had never met before who told us you were on the Corl trader with Nadar. That’s how we found you.’
‘Did the Grarl have black eyes?’
‘Come to think of it, it did.’
Nell frowned. So Deesc had helped a bit, but he could have done more—much more. Although she was busy tossing everything over in her mind, she was aware of Sam’s impatience to go back to the living room; or rather, back to Mekie.
‘Come on. Let’s go back out. Kale and Mekie will be wondering what’s happened to us.’
‘You go. I’ll be out in a minute. I’ve decided to go back to Gramlax, but I need to figure out what I’m going to say.’
Sam stood up and looked at her. ‘Without actually apologising?’
‘Something like that.’
Two firm knocks on the door.
‘It’s me. Mother’s home and she wants to see you, Nell. She knows you haven’t been home all night.’
Nell eyed Sam as he opened the door. ‘How does she know?’ she asked.
‘I suppose,’ Mekie said, ‘She saw through my excuses for you not being able to talk to her every time she contacted us on the communicator.’
Sam laughed, ‘Yeah, apparently you were in the bathroom a lot tonight.’
Nell sighed, ‘Okay, I’m coming.’
When Sam stepped over the threshold, Mekie flung herself at him.
‘Hey, what’s the matter?’ Sam said.
‘Mother has examined Annet. She won’t be going to Gramlax and Carl won’t leave her. Mother will never allow me to go now.’
‘She might. Did you even ask?’
‘I was hoping you might.’
‘Well, I can,’ Sam said. ‘But I think you should.’
‘I agree with Sam,’ Nell said. ‘You ask your mother yourself. Now, both of you, hurry up.’
Nell hurried down the hallway. Pausing at the entrance to the living room, she readied herself for Dar-Seldra’s rebuke over her behaviour once again. May as well get this over with.
Dar-Seldra sat in the armchair, sipping steaming coffee. Nell didn’t think her aunty needed anything more to put her on edge. Why had she chosen coffee at that moment? It always made her a little hyper because she insisted on putting two heaped teaspoons in. That’s the only way she liked it.
Nell must have stared at the coffee mug because Dar-Seldra said, ‘I needed something to wake me up. I’ve worked all night in emergency.’
Nell widened her eyes. It must have been a bad accident because it was nearly evening again. ‘What happened?’ she asked. The Kafir emergency rooms weren’t usually so busy. Not like in Earth hospitals.
‘A trader crashed in the forest just outside Kafir’s walls.’ She shook her head.
A sizzle sparked in Nell’s stomach. Dar-Seldra looked too upset. ‘How?’
‘Never mind that now. I want you to tell me where you’ve been.’
‘Kale didn’t tell you?’
‘I wouldn’t let him. I know wherever you were and whatever you were doing, it wasn’t his idea.’
Nell lowered her shoulders, defeated. There was no way out but to tell the truth. Dar-Seldra would know in an instant if Nell lied. She sat on the end of the sofa, making Mekie slide over to the other side, and told her aunty everything.
When she finished, she waited while Dar-Seldra placed her mug on the lamp table beside her chair and sat back. No one moved.
‘That is much for you to learn in one day,’ she finally said. ‘I can’t say I’m surprised that there is another Wexkian. I wonder if there are more we don’t know about.’
‘From what he, Pren and Melt said, I don’t think there are…yet.’
Dar-Seldra’s brows knitted together in a frown.
‘Are you worried about the return of Wexkia too?’ Nell asked the question but wasn’t sure she wanted to know the truth.
‘No. No I’m certain they will be as loving and kind as you are,’ Dar-Seldra said, and smiled. ‘What I would like to know,’ Dar-Seldra continued, ‘Is what they think about your objection to non-Grarls joining the fight for Grarlon because, while I agree with you, I can’t see how we can change the UC’s decision.’
‘They don’t think it’s the right way to go either, but I left before I found out how they thought the trouble should be handled.’
‘Hmm. I think that perhaps you should go back and hear everything they were going to tell you before we do anything. You can travel with Sam to Gramlax.’ She paused. ‘We will speak with Lesel first. Perhaps, everyone in your life needs to know about this other Wexkian.’
Uh oh. Nell frowned. That was a lot of people. She didn’t think Deesc would be too happy about that. Huh. So what? He wasn’t in charge of her. She always made her own decisions before and she wasn’t about to change for him.
‘Okay,’ she said.
Dar-Seldra turned her attention to Kale. ‘I think you had better go and explain your whereabouts to your mother. Also, please ask them to come over later for a light supper?’
The corners of his mouth drooped, but he nodded and left.
Dar-Seldra rose as if her body weighed a ton. ‘Annet and Carl will be back shortly and Tanat should be here soon. When he comes, could one of you ask him to come to my room? I’m going to lay down for awhile.’
Nell leant back on the sofa and threw her feet up onto the coffee table. ‘Well, that wasn’t
so bad.’
Sam and Mekie looked at each other and burst out laughing. Nell laughed too, glad the camaraderie she usually felt in their presence was back.
‘I’m going to get a soft drink,’ she said.
‘I’ll have a cola,’ Sam said.
‘Me too,’ Mekie said.
When Nell got back, Sam and Mekie were deep in conversation. The way they sat and looked told Nell they were planning something.
‘What are you two up to?’
‘We’re just trying to work out a way to get mother to let me go with Sam to Gramlax,’ Mekie said in a conspiratorial tone.
Nell handed them their glasses. ‘Why are you going to Gramlax, anyway? Not to spy on me, I hope.’
Sam snorted. ‘Nothing like that. Mum and Dad have gotten friendly with a Wintar friend of Nurse Fellder’s and her partner. They knew your Wintar grandfather and said he had left something for the oldies with his cousins on Gramlax. Mum’s really curious about it and wanted to collect it herself, but Dar-Seldra said she wasn’t up to travelling yet, so I’m going.’
‘Why would Lesel’s husband leave something for your parents and not for Lesel or even, for me?’
‘Apparently,’ Mekie drew the word out slowly. ‘He hated your father and wouldn’t allow his name to be spoken around him. If someone said Dar-tern, he would go into a rage. Lesel wouldn’t disown Asisa and your grandmother liked your father. You grandfather then refused to have anything more to do with Asisa or Lesel. He even moved to the other side of Gramlax.’ Mekie paused and shook her head.
‘After your mother died,’ she continued. ‘Your grandfather never went to her interment and never once contacted Lesel. She never forgave him for that so that’s why you never hear Lesel talk about him.’
‘Go on,’ Nell said, frowning. It had never crossed her mind that Lesel’s husband had left her. She just assumed he was dead and Lesel would talk about him when she was ready.
Mekie took a mouthful of drink and Sam jumped in to continue. ‘By the end of your grandfather’s life, he had found out Kandar had taken you and Dar-tern to Earth. He wanted to know if you were loved and safe so he searched out Kandar. Kandar told him about how Mum and Dad were helping Dar-tern and taking care of you.’