Page 21 of Resisting the Alien Rider

Killian needed a wash. Maybe they could go together.

But he could be a handful about bathing at the best of times. I did not think-

“I will go with you!”

Magnolia’s smile widened at Killian’s interjection. It was now my turn to stare at him in disbelief. That child had never volunteered to get wet or clean himself in the entire time I’d known him.

Being with Magnolia was making new males of us both.

I wondered if we’d even recognize each other, or ourselves, when she was gone.

Who were we becoming with her?

Who would we be without her?

As that was too depressingly bleak to contemplate, I refocused myself on the subject matter at hand.

“Fine. I will escort you to the water I found. I have to fill the troughs. Killian,” I added sharply. “If she is in the water, I expect you to be there, too. She is not to be left alone.”

“Hey,” Magnolia said, her smile replaced with sternness, “it should be the other way around. I’m the adult. I should be making sure he’s alright.”

Killian and I stared at her in silence. Then, our glances went to each other at the very same moment. We shared a look between us. A look that said, “Let her think that, but watch her anyway.”

It was probably the first time Killian and I had ever agreed so instantly or communicated so effectively. And we’d done it without speaking a single word.

I tossed down my hat and picked up the trough once more.

“Alright,” I grunted, leading the way to the water. “Let’s go.”

9

MAGNOLIA

Once we found a suitable place to wash up in the creek, it took ages to actually get going. Garrek insisted on checking the area for ardu, whatever those were. He stomped around the water’s edge, turning over stones and poking a scarily impressive-looking knife he’d pulled from his boot into nooks, crannies, or holes he deemed suspicious.

Which was all of them, apparently.

It took so long that, eventually, I wandered away to relieve myself behind a nearby tree. When I returned, he was still at it, crouching and muttering at something on the ground while he stabbed it with his knife. Once he determined that he’d just murdered a wet, soggy weed instead of some slithery predator hellbent on biting my bare human toes off, he finally stood and turned towards Killian and me.

“Looks clear. But don’t take too long.”

“Don’t need to tell me twice,” I said. Even standing here, totally dry, I was already chilly.

“Why would I tell you twice? Waste of words.”

“No, that’s what I mean,” I said, removing my jacket and shivering slightly. “Youdon’t need to tell me twice. It just means that I get it and I agree. We’ll be quick.”

Garrek grunted and hoisted the trough for the animals that he was going to fill a little further down the creek. He moved to turn, then froze when I whipped my shirt off over my head.

I wasn’t naked underneath. I was wearing my bra. I was just as covered as I’d be swimming at a Terratribe II beach. But a sudden, squiggly sort of shyness slid through me when Garrek’s eyes lit up bright as lanterns in the dark.

“Can you turn those off, please?” I said a little more brusquely than I’d meant to. “Or at least aim them somewhere useful, like the water?”

It took Garrek a very long moment to realize I was speaking to him. With his eyes all lit up, I could better see his expression. It was the expression of someone who’d just been slugged in the temple.

“Garrek?”

And he was the one being such a smartass about saying things twice…

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