Page 10 of Stone Cold Alien

“Someone who looks after sick and injured people.”

A healer. Maybe that was how she’d freed me from petrification.

She didn’t reach for me, nor did she do anything but wait. I liked that. She was leaving the decision of what to do next to me.

The humans who had climbed the ladder before her had never asked. They had pressed their hands against me wherever they pleased while I remained trapped and unable to object. Robyn had stopped touching me the moment I told her to.

“You may examine the wing,” I said. “Only the wing.”

“Thank you. Tell me if it hurts too much and I will stop immediately.”

Her fingers settled carefully beside the joint. Warmth rushed through me, stronger than before. It spread into my chest and down my arms, making my body react to her as if it recognised her.

Robyn pressed around the base of my wing. Pain burned down my back.

“Stop.”

Her hands disappeared at once.

“I don’t think it’s broken,” she said. “But you might have torn something. You shouldn’t try flying again until it heals.”

“I will decide when I fly.”

“Of course you will.”

Her tone suggested she did not consider that a good thing.

Pam pulled a small device from her pocket. “I’m calling Cairn. He’ll want to know you’re awake.”

“He should already know you brought another female.”

“He knows we’re here, but he wasn’t exactly optimistic. The others didn’t work. I think he was starting to lose hope that our algorithms would find a match for you.”

I did not know what she was talking about and didn’t care.

“Where is he?”

“Near Inverness with Georgie, his mate. We can ask them to meet us.”

Cairn had kept his promise. He had found someone capable of freeing me and sent her here.

He had neglected to mention what I was supposed to do with her afterwards.

Robyn stood. “There’s a first-aid kit in the car. I don’t know how useful it’ll be, but there might be something I can use to support the joint.”

She walked away.

The pull I had sensed for so long followed her as she walked away. I had felt it before, a distant pull towards the south that had followed me even into my dreams. Now it was stronger. Clearer. I knew exactly where she was without looking.

Cold crept into my fingertips. The skin darkened as the warmth disappeared, growing hard and numb. My smallest finger froze in place.

“Stop.”

Robyn turned immediately. The cold retreated, leaving an unpleasant tingling behind as my finger softened.

“What happened?”

“Come back.”