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Makir, ever the peacemaker, spelled it out for me. “You and Ginger must join intimately with each other. She needs your seed.”
I exhaled, deflating my bruised ribs. Sign me up to fight hellsna any rotation over this. How would my heart survive?
14
“I’ll give you sometime to think about it.” I marched away from Makir and a bewildered JayJay along the molten river, sweat beading on my brow. They didn’t deserve my wrath, and I felt like I might explode at any second. The sea of blue moss under my feet cushioned my steps, but its softness did nothing to buffer my foul mood. The magma hissed and spat, the perfect accompaniment to my rage.
Geo had set me up to fall flat on my face. Asshole. I couldn’t believe he’d never told JayJay why I was here. What an idiot. And JayJay… I had no idea what was going on in his big bald head, but he’d looked terrified.
Sooner than I wanted, I found myself at the cavern’s end. The molten river continued into the adjacent cave, but it was a dead end for me. I sank into a seat of woven vines. They trailed from the domed ceiling of the cavern, creating swings on occasion. Miniature dragonfly-type insects buzzed through the air in swarms, lighting the dim cavern in sunny swaths like the Milky Way across the night sky.
My bangs were plastered to my forehead, and although the humid air eased my joints, the long walk had left my knees and hips swollen and aching. I was out of options. And you’re acting like a five-year-old. Without a willing Rock Dweller’s assistance, I’d never be able to return to Earth. And if I didn’t return to Earth, I’d never compete in the World’s Best Designer Championship.
I massaged my knee with one thumb and pushed off the springy ground, swinging the vines. It wasn’t Geo’s responsibility to tell JayJay. Instead of wallowing, avoiding my weakening condition all last week, I should’ve taken the initiative.
My anger vanished as I pumped the swing higher. I needed a major attitude adjustment. Poor, bewildered JayJay. He was always so nice, under all his bossiness, that it had caught me off guard when he told me to pack up. It had stung that he didn’t want me there. But if I’d just bucked up and spilled the beans, I knew he would’ve asked me to stay right from the start.
But what had I done instead? I had a freakin’ tantrum in the middle of the kitchen.My arms pulled taut, and my hair swept over the ground before I shot back toward the rounded ceiling.
Blood rushed to my head at the thought of buckling down and asking for help, but it could get me home. More than anything, I wanted to shout ‘YES’ to Global Design’s invite. I launched myself into the air, not giving a lick about my joints, soaring into the soft moss.
Manic laughter overcame me as I sank into the springy bed, but as I lay there, the decision to move forward with the treatment settled in my bones with a sense of rightness. The vial Doctor Ten had given me hadn’t left my side, and I reached for it. Even though I couldn’t wrap my head around how a Rock Dweller and human could produce offspring, having a child right now did not line up with my career goals. I broke the seal, brought the shimmery liquid to my lips and downed the contents.
If JayJay agreed, we could keep the treatment professional, right? I lied to myself, spreading my limbs out like a starfish. It would be impossible for me to stay detached if I was sleeping with him on the regular. I let the searing heat of the kiss we’d shared last week overtake my senses and sank deeper into the sea of moss. Why did he have to be so damn overbearing and likable at the same time?
It would be easy to maintain emotional distance with a few simple steps. There would be no waking up in his strong arms, wrapped in his earth and musk smell. There would be no long conversations over shared meals. I would ask Sisip for my own room. Our interactions would be one hundred percent transactional. In and out—literally.
I also didn’t want to mess up JayJay’s plans. I saw the way he looked at TeyTey and Sully. He might not know it yet, but he wanted a life companion, and I didn’t want to get in the way of that.
With that settled, I dragged myself back to the kitchen, snapping pictures of pretty columns of stacked mushrooms ringing the stalactites above. The enormous cavern buzzed with energy and camaraderie as I walked into the eating area. My stomach growled, and I ladled graneth groats into a bowl, shoveling down spoonfuls while I hunted for a seat. A table full of dark-skinned Boola appeared to be butchering a mantu on alarge plastic sheet. Two Nacers played a card game across from each other, wings spread wide behind them and towels hanging loosely around their necks.
I really needed a shower and to talk with JayJay, but I couldn’t pass by Efred without comment. He appeared to be attempting to repair his pants with one arm still in a sling.
“Morning, Ginger.” Efred’s purple scales shimmered under the brighter lights strung through the vines overhead. “How was your night with Protector JayJay?” he asked, grinning as if the imagined conquest were his own.
I searched for something to say that wouldn’t diminish JayJay’s reputation among his team. “I had the best sleep ever.” That truth surprised me. I may have woken up stuck on this planet, hating that my illness forced me to rely on people, but before that, I had been in a deep, peaceful sleep.
The Drack snickered. A plume of smoke circled his nose. “Yeah, I hear vigorous activity before sleep can tire a mate out.”
“I’m not his mate.” I tossed my hair over my shoulder, ignoring the rest of his comment. My mind betrayed me though, and I swallowed a moan as an image of JayJay in the leather pants I’d made, and nothing else, made my mouth water with a different sort of hunger. Scooching beside Efred on the bench, I plucked the needle and thread from his good hand, desperate for a distraction.
“Here, let me help you with this.” With a familiar twist of my fingers, I knotted the thread and swiftly stitched the long rip over his thigh.
Surrounded by gold, his dark, slitted pupils pulsed open and closed. “I’ve been working on that for ages. Thank you.”
His appreciation filled a void in me. I’d always been competent, but with my career torn out from under me and my lack of control fighting this illness, the gratitude in his strange eyes meant more than he would know. “It’s no big deal. I’m acostume designer by trade. I could repair a ripped pair of pants in my sleep.”
“You’re a seamstress?” Efred’s dark purple scales were the same color as the hiscus flower I used to dye JayJay’s leather armor.
The weight of at least three sets of eager eyes landed on me.
“A costume designer,” I corrected, smiling at the glowing dragonfly-like creature with fuzzy tentacles zipping by.
“I don’t know what that is, but it means you sew, right?” His long tongue uncoiled, and he lassoed the bug out of the air and into his mouth.
Welp, I didn’t see that every day. I shuddered. I’d planned on leaving after breakfast to shower, but in the blink of an eye, a pile of clothes, some in shreds, overflowed the table in front of me.
Efred adjusted his sling, and his shoulders shook. “We’re going to keep you busier than Protector JayJay.”
