Page 48 of Matched to the Alien King
Only there was no one there to take it.
I whirled, my heart launching into my throat. “Maxx?”
The sea breeze whispering through the jungle was my only answer. The frond he’d held for me swayed a little harder a few feet away as though he’d just released it and then…what? Vanished?
There was no sign of him anywhere. Had he fallen into another snack hole?
“Maxx?” I drew Mike’s—my—twin daggers from inside my pants pockets and slowly retraced my steps.
Worry chewed gaping holes through my nerves. My lungs stuck together with my next several breaths.
With the tip of my dagger, I moved the frond aside—and gasped. Not because he wasn’t there but because red and yellow flowers rained down from the tops of the trees. Flowers with sticky seed-looking things sprouting from the centers. Flowers that shimmered and undulated in a strange dance through the air.
Ohhh, pretty, but also…sleepy?
My knees buckled, right before a black bag was swept over my head.
Chapter seventeen
Rain
Accessingmemory03296Code:010507 \ * * * * * * * * System flux: 8 sksk sldk
Memory accessed:
“Weekend breakfasts are my favorite!” Lucy shouted, pumping her little fists into the air.
Nera knelt next to her at the table with a wet dishrag, her eyes widening. “I think you mean breakfast explosions, Lucy Goosey. How do you have syrup on thebackof your hair? Never mind. Into the tub you go.”
Lucy threw back her head with an overdramatic groan. “Again?”
“Yes, again,” Nera said, scooping her up in her arms.
As they neared me at the kitchen sink, Lucy leaned toward me with syrup-covered lips. “I wanna kiss my Rainy-Poo.”
My chest felt strangely bubbly at that, so light and buoyant, as it always did whenever Lucy and Nera were around.
Reminded of the soapy bubbles in the sink, I collected a handful and blew Lucy a kiss, which landed some of the bubbles on her nose.
She squealed in delight, crossing her eyes a little to see her nose, which made Nera howl with laughter.
“That’s your raincheck for kissing your Rainy-Poo,” Nera said as she hauled her off to the bathroom. “We’ll be right back, Rainy-Poo.”
I laughed, the sound less and less mechanical the more I used it. Which was a lot around those two.
(((((((((((hurt))))))))))
Were other Faid as lucky as I was? Were they in homes so full of warmth and love and laughter that they felt they might burst?
Because it was every day for me, this overwhelming, beautiful feeling.
(((((((((((hurt))))))))))
While Nera bathed her, Lucy launched into what Nera called her theme song, “Snacks After Naps, Okay?” Nera sang too, both of them at the top of their lungs.
I just laughed while I finished up the dishes, so much that my eyes began to rain tears.
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