Page 27 of Resisting the Alien Rider

I wondered what it would be like to grow up with someone like Magnolia loving you.

Was evenoneof those five siblings aware? Of how fantastically fortunate they were?

“So that’s why you’re so good with him,” I said as we emerged from the trees. Magnolia stopped walking to regard me with her eyebrows raised.

“You think I’m good with him?”

“Of course,” I grunted, dumping Killian’s trousers down by his tent. I was about to yell at him to come get them, but when I saw that he’d finally put on his boots I decided to be grateful and not push my luck. He was covered up well enough for now. He’d tied Magnolia’s towel around his skinny hips like a slouchy apron.

When I turned back to Magnolia, she was nursing a shyly pleased sort of look on her face.

“What?” I asked, slightly stunned.

“Oh, nothing. It’s just… I have a feeling you don’t give out compliments very often, that’s all.”

Her smile was even bigger now.

Stupid, seemingly inevitable pleasure poured through me in response. She was smiling because I had made her smile, and now my whole body was reacting, buzzing with the high of it, while my mind scrambled to think of ways to make it happen again.

She was right. I did not give out compliments often. To anyone.

And yet I had dozens,hundredsof them lined up and waiting for her. I could tell her how lovely shelooked right now, with her skin so soft and clean and her hair all loose and wet. I could tell her how much I admired her competence, her generosity, her spirit. I could tell her how her gentleness made me think of strength when in anyone else I would scoff at it and call it weakness. I could tell her how cursedly good she smelled. That I’d seen the bottoms of her tiny feet tonight and that I liked them just as much as the rest of her.

I could tell her how when I first saw her on Fallon’s ranch, I felt every single particle of my being shift, minutely, but enough to tell me nothing would ever be the same. I’d experienced such a thing only once before, my first morning in this world, when I’d risen before dawn and watched the sun rise beyond the mountains for the very first time.

I did not tell her any of this. Scraped suddenly raw by a pain I had no name for, I picked up Killian’s trousers and – though mere moments ago I’d decided to leave the issue be – barked at him to put them on.

11

MAGNOLIA

I’d fetched my otoscope – the tool used for looking in someone’s ears – and had convinced Killian to sit still for an exam. He sat on the ground in front of our tents, my towel tied around his waist kilt-style, as I peered into his right ear.

The only problem was that I had no clue what a healthy Zabrian ear looked like from the inside. I paused my exam and pulled back, mulling over my options.

My eyes flitted to Garrek who was watching intently from nearby.

And there was my answer. All seven grumpy blue feet of it.

“Garrek,” I said, waving him over with my otoscope. “Come here.”

“What is it?” Garrek asked, quickly crossing over to us. “Is it infected?”

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “I need to look at ahealthy Zabrian’s ears as a reference to compare and contrast.”

Garrek did not react to that at all. He didn’t even blink.

“That means you,” I added helpfully. I patted the ground beside me. “Come on down and let me have a look at your ears.”

“That’s… That can’t be necessary.”

Garrek’s eyes flashed white. His cute little mousey ears twitched, as if already trying to get away from me.

“I’m sorry, but it is,” I told him. “I’ve never looked at a Zabrian’s ears before. And you weren’t just swimming like Killian was, so it should be clear of fluid for me to get a decent look. Come on,” I said again. “It won’t take long.”

He didn’t look convinced.

“It’s for Killian,” I reminded him pointedly. We both looked at the boy, who’d gone back to tugging on the base of his ear.

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