Page 61 of Matched to the Alien King
Where was safe around here? Or should I just keep it there?
Better to check on it anyway.
Since it was closer, I angled toward the backyard pool area of the house. No sounds drifted from within, so hopefully no one was here.
I hurried around the pool to the sliding glass door, opened it, and listened. Still quiet. Good. The fewer people who knew I was here, the better.
Halfway up the steps to the second floor, a shadow moved along the wall. Certainly not mine since I wasn’t that high up yet. I stopped, frozen, while I listened so hard that my ears hummed. A prickle dashed up the back of my neck, and I whirled.
What stood on the bottom step stopped my hearts dead.
An Earth Space Fleet officer. He was pointing the weapon right at me. The weapon I’d hidden in the bathroom.
Fuxx.
An orange dot appeared in the center of the weapon, and I knew without looking down at myself that it was targeting me as a Faid. The enemy.
He pulled out a gun and aimed that at me too.
“Don’t even think about moving, you goddamn Faid,” he spat.
From my periphery, the shadow from above moved in closer behind me. Another gun clicked right next to my head.
One machete. Two guns. Those were not good odds.
I was surrounded. There was nowhere I could go on this narrow staircase.
And all I could think about was that I’d have to break my promise to Nera.
Chapter twenty-one
Nera
Giventhattheskyhad now bloomed with vibrant colors, I’d say it had been more than five minutes since Maxx left me. The beach had long ago cleared, some of the crewmembers and even some of the contestants going to help tear down the cornucopia.
Not me though. I had a date with a hot alien king, during which I planned to tell him exactly how I felt about him.
Only he wasn’t here. I didn’t even know where to go look for him, because like a jackass—like atrustingjackass—I hadn’t asked him where he was going.
What if he’d fallen into another snack hole or walked through another sticky flower rainstorm?
I sighed wearily, kicking my feet in the sand. Obviously I could just do this tomorrow. Or I could be done with it in ten minutes flat to see what that beacon was all about and why it mimicked the rhythm of the song that was literally inside my head.
I’d finally figured that out on the boat as we’d rowed toward shore.
The beacon was thisclose.
Was it stupid even considering going anywhere by myself on this planet? You betcha.
Was I going to do it anyway? Yeah, probably.
Life’s not about perfection, right? It’s about consistency.
And I’m consistently a dumbass.
I would be on the lookout for Maxx on the beach the whole time though. If I couldn’t find him when I got back, I’d sound the love island alarm.
My god, my flimsy plans are flimsy.
