Page 3 of Monster Married
When I came back into the main room, Inkiri was done washing too and standing with a towel around his waist. He had a nice chest, even if he didn’t have nipples. I ached to snap a picture of that chest and post it, which made me remember my stuff with a small jolt of panic.
“Hey, do you know where my backpack went?”
He sighed and dropped his head. “I saved it after the Koa Esher attacked and you and Vergis left. We took it to the Hill of Tara with us, but then the humans attacked.”
I gaped. “Wait, what? Hold on. Did you just say—I thought the Koa Esher caught up to us back at the Hill?”
He clicked at me. “No. Those were humans, shooting guns. When we arrived there, we checked for signs of anyone lingering or living in the area, of course, and there were none. That means they likely went there with a purpose. It’s possible they had a scout watching from a distance.”
“Oh. I had no idea. I’m sorry.”
He tilted his head. “Why are you sorry? Is it because you are human also? That doesn’t make all humans your responsibility.”
He walked over to me, took my left wrist, brought it to his mouth, and licked it affectionately, then he put the friendship bracelet back around it. His own bracelet had a lot of dark blue stones, but also an emerald one, just like most of my bracelet. Leave it to Lissir to color coordinate such small trinkets.
“Thanks.”
I ran my fingers over the stones of my bracelet. The strange knowledge in my head had given me the impression that I was connected to the guys, and not just through the power of a few friendship bracelets. These were simply real and tangible, unlike whatever had happened—whatever I had done—at the Stone.
“My pleasure, Sadir.” He pointed to a bundle of clothes that sat in a basket on the floor. “The rikori washed these for us, but I also asked them for a set of clothes for you. Aër clothes. I thought maybe you’d like to wear them here.” He lifted one item off the top; my cute cat socks. “There’s still one pair of these left.”
He was holding them out somewhat bashfully. He probably thought he had disappointed me by leaving my apocalypse backpack behind, but I was just glad he and the others were okay. I’d mourn my backpack and phone, sure, but that was a lot better than… Well, they were all okay, and that was what mattered.
“I’ll try the Aër clothes. Put my socks on me?”
Inkiri smiled at me like a cat faced with a whole dish full of cream.
Chapter 2
The first thing I noticed when Inkiri slid the door of our room open was that Aër smelled different. When Vergis had brought me here after the spider incident, the scent of those small white flowers that made you high when chewed had permeated the air, but here, I got a noseful of what it was like being in a city, not in a forest.
At first, I wasn’t sure how to categorize the differences. The white flowers had been sweet, their fragrance soft. Here, the air was thicker with strangeness, and first and foremost, I got the sense that we were close to a river.
Wide-eyed, I walked past Inkiri onto a wooden porch outside our room. It was separated from a garden by a decorative banister with carvings of vines and flowers that looked straight out of a fairy tale.
I looked out over the banister, which was tall for me, of course, but normal height for bagua. I caught flowery scents from pots and small flower beds I could see around the area. There was also water or mud—something briny maybe. Patches of moss rather than grass made up most of the garden, and the earth looked moist, even had some puddles here and there. From the moss, small white and red flowers lifted their heads to the sun. Not a river, then, but a type of wetland garden.
More covered wooden walkways connected several buildings beyond the one our room was in, and they ran above the garden area with no way of stepping off and heading into the wet green area itself. It had to be decorative, then; like a park, but only to look at. I had the urge to explore the walkways. From here I could tell that the view would change depending on which walkway you were on.
Inkiri stepped up behind me, and I turned to face him. “What do you think of this place, Sadir? Do you like it?”
He sounded hopeful, although the way he was leaning against the doorframe made him look confident enough not to need hope.
“I do. It’s pretty. It’s not like anywhere I’ve ever been, but I like this place. I mean, of course it’s not like anywhere I’ve ever been. This is Aër, and I’ve only ever been to places on Earth. Obviously.”
The morning had gone well, and I was seemingly due for some awkwardness. Before I could make it worse, the sound of footsteps approaching at a jog made me turn, and I saw Nokim rushing along the porch straight for me.
Moments later, he threw his arms around me and hugged me close.
“Rory! We were so glad when we heard you in your pleasure earlier! Vergis said hugging you was okay. You saved me! And Lissir! Lissir’s fine, thanks to you. You saved everyone!”
Inkiri clicked happily. Nokim made a half purr, half growl kind of noise, and his right horn was too darn close to my face. One of these days, one of them would headbutt me with their horns and I’d end up concussed.
Also, Nokim wasn’t showing any signs that he’d be ending the hug anytime soon. Vergis, the ass, had probably told him I liked really long hugs. I didn’t want to think about what exactly they had heard. Why did we have to end up in a place that didn’t do solid, sound-dampening walls?
I patted his back. “Anytime. Uhm, mind letting me go?”
Nokim pulled back immediately, and when I saw the wide smile on his azure face, his words really hit. He’d been dead. And Lissir had been as good as dead.
