Page 2 of The Alien Who Saved Christmas
Sometimes she wished she could kill those jerkoffs all over again.
It seemed like the four-armed-man was named “Xane,” though. At least that’s what the big screen said, which made sense. All alien-guys had names that started with an “X.” At least in movies. Honestly, Sadie couldn’t pronounce half the alien names she’d encountered, but she imagined in their own chirpy, growly, guttural, or beeping languages, they were all Darth Xanderkleze, and Xeronimo Alpha.
Damn translator.
“A Rtaharion?” Someone to her left muttered warily. “I hope the drugs they’re giving him are strong enough to keep him subdued.”
“He’s not at full strength, thank the gods.” His companion agreed with a shudder. “What are they thinking auctioning off one of his kind? They should kill him, while they can.”
They weren’t the only ones mumbling in dismay. In fact, everybody seemed terrified of this chained, beaten man. His expression was glazed from the copious amounts of sedatives he’d been given, and still people were uneasy. They were cringing, backing away, muttering to each other, and casting wary looks at the chains on his four wrists.
Sadie frowned, as the auctioneer began the bidding.
Xane was destined to be shipped off to the mines. Watching the auction for the past several hours, it seemed all the dangerous, intractable people ended up there. Sadie wasn’t sure what they were mining, but the octopus-looking guy buying all the disposable men seemed like a real scumbag. The kind of customer who came into the diner five minutes before closing, special-ordered something not on the menu, and then left a lousy tip. She had no doubt that he planned to treat all his new aliens terribly.
Sure enough, Octopus-man bid on Xane, then smirked in an arrogant douche-baggy way. How big a jackass did you have to be that you could smirk with a beak?
Sadie’s gaze narrowed. She was good at reading people. It was a trait she’d been born with. She could look someone in the eye and quickly know who they were at their core. Even aliens. Looking into Octopus-man’s beady yellow eyes, she saw a real dickweed.
If Xane went with that scumbag, he’d perish in some dark and grimy hole. She knew it. This moment would determine if Xane lived or died. And no one was going to help him live. He was all alone. Just like her.
Crap.
For no reason she could possibly fathom, Sadie flashed her own do-hickey, bidding against the Octopus-man. She’d been watching and learning all morning, so she knew how it worked. Basically, it was like any other auction, only you used some kind of multicolored penlight to bid. Green meant “higher” or “more” or “keep going.” Something like that. She wasn’t sure how much she was bidding, but green always seemed to win. She was sticking with green.
Octopus-guy glanced her way with a smug look and flashed green for a second time.
Sadie depressed green again, too.
So did Octopus-guy.
So did Sadie.
So did Octopus-guy.
So did Sadie.
So did Octopus-guy.
Now the crowd was beginning to murmur a bit, surprised by the competition.
Sadie hesitated. She had a bunch of the See-Through Alien Kidnappers’ metal coin things, which seemed to be alien currency. She had no idea which coins were worth what, though. And shehadto have those fluffy duckling aliens to fly her ship. What if she ran out of money?
On stage, Xane stirred. Did he know what was happening? Sadie couldn’t be sure, but she felt like maybe he did. His expression shifted, like he was trying to focus through the drugs. Like some piece of him was awake and watching.
Half the crowd moved backwards in response.
Their fear was understandable. Xane wasn’t a particularly friendly-looking guy. His horns were an elaborate headpiece of scary. At least a foot across, they branched out of his dark hair, into intricate, unholy twists and knots. And then there were the two sets of arms. One set was slightly lower on his torso, almost even with his pecs. The lower set was smaller than his main arms, but they were still way,waybigger than human-sized arms. The guy could shred her without even trying. Literally. All four of his hands were tipped with claws.
Xane’s dulled-stare drifted over the crowd and landed on Sadie.
She instinctively shifted, trying to stay in the shadows.
His head tilted the tiniest bit.
The auctioneer guy was jabbering away, giving a time warning on Lot 25. Calling for more bids.
Xane didn’t even glance his way. All his hazy focus stayed on Sadie. Seemingly against his will, he took a step closer to her. She could feel him trying to peer beneath the hood of the robe and figure out why she was bidding on him. It was a great question. One that she didn’t really have an answer for. As she stood there, debating what to do, she met Xane’s gaze…
