Page 42 of The Arabis Triad

How the hell had she ended up here?

The last thing she remembered was… Her breath caught. A Reptile had been standing over her, blocking out the sun. He had hit Ashir’s head. A wet, sickening crunch. Then, nothing.

She spun around. “Ashir?”

This wasn’t right. Nothing about this was right. Her skin prickled and the hair on the back of her neck rose. Someone was watching.

“Who’s there?” She trembled as raw terror bore under her skin. She worked saliva into her mouth. “Come out now!”

There was a pause. Then the air pressed against her as though it had form. Her hair whipped about her face and she had to hold it back so she could see.

Above, the clouds billowed and dropped, racing toward her. She stepped back, dread taking hold, but her limbs were stiff and cold. All she managed was a couple of rigid steps and then she was unable to move any farther. The sheer intensity of fear locked her in place.

Everything darkened until it was somewhere between dusk and midnight. The clouds unfurled to the sand. They transformed, and a man stepped from the swirling mists.

Her mouth fell open but nothing came out. All she could do was stare at the epitome of a well-dressed English gentleman. The man—or whatever it was, because it was still made from shades of black and gray clouds—stopped before her. Not a speck of sand coated his shining, black leather shoes. His pants were ironed with a crisp line incised from hem to waist. A pin-striped, double-breasted jacket was done up over a well-formed cravat. On top of his head perched a bowler hat.

All in monochrome cloud.

He—it?—peered at her. Although his expression was carefully blank, her mind screamed that this wasn’t right.

He didn’t blink, simply stared at her.

Still as death.

She licked her lips, working up the grit to speak. “Who… who are you?”

She really wanted to askwhathe was, but she didn’t want to do anything that would piss it off. His not-rightness emanated in waves. That reptilian, lidless stare was unnerving.

“I am your friend, my dear.” He spoke with a crisp, upper-crust British accent.

There was no way he was herfriend. He was… something even beyond her nightmares. He was a force of evil she had no name for.

“What d-do you w-want?” she stammered.

A shadow of a smile touched his mouth. It was contrived, as though in doing so it would put her at ease. Instead, it did the opposite.

He stretched his palm to her. “Take my hand, and I’ll show you.”

She clenched her fists. There was no way she was going to touch him. “Don’t touch me. Tell me what you want.”

His palm stayed where it was, not moving an inch. He could have been a statue, or a robot with a few human-like commands.

He stretched his mouth, showing even teeth that were grayed out. “I need your help. You see, I’m stuck where I am. A little like you’re stuck here as well. If you take my hand, I can help you get back to your planet. That’s what you want, isn’t it. A way back home? Away from those barbarians?”

Evelyn frowned. She did want a way home, but how did he know that? And as for barbarians, well, Paxt, Coltan, and Ashir were big, alpha men, but they were far from barbarians. They’d treated her with the greatest amount of respect. They’d rescued her. Cared for her. Loved her. They had taken nothing she hadn’t freely given.

“What did they rescue you from? A cage? And what did they bring you into? A cage of a different variety, no matter how they dress it up,” the man said.

Her heart froze. “How did you… did you read my mind?”

His dead eyes glinted with a sharp inner light. “I am aware of many things, my dear. Your thoughts are just one of them. How else would I know that your greatest wish is to ride your bike out on the open road? It’s the only time you feel totally free, isn’t it? You can forget the demons. Put aside those who hurt you. You don’t have to think about anything else other than the next kilometer. I can take you back to those… men, but you will never be free with them. They will control you with their needs. With their cocks. They will impregnate you and then they will have total control over you. That isn’t what you want, is it? To be cornered into a life you’ve spent all your adult years trying to escape? Take my hand. I’ll make sure you get back home. They can’t do that. Only I can do that.”

Evelyn crossed her arms over her chest in an attempt not to feel so bare. How did he know so much about her? Did her mind throw out those thoughts? She wanted to return, and yet her life wasn’t entirely how he said. She was lonely there. So alone. People she thought who would love her, didn’t. She’d suffered for it. But now she’d experienced the difference. In such a short time, she’d beenloved.

There was a faint throb deep within her chest. A tug of consciousness. A connection to something beautiful and warm and accepting. That was what she wanted. That was home, no matter where she might be in the universe. She could go back to Earth, but she would never have there what she’d experienced here. It had only been a start, but for the first time in her life, it was something she wanted.

“I don’t… think that’s right,” she said.

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