Page 29 of Holiday with the Aliens

“I heard Evil Santa say that he wanted us as tribute for his brother.” I didn’t know if Aldyn had heard that, and it seemed like a good piece of information to share. “Not quite sure what that means. But it doesn’t sound good.”

I could have sworn that Aldyn’s eyes turned red for a second, but it must have been a trick of the light. In no time they were back to black. “No,” he agreed. “It does not sound good. Evil Santa?” He grinned.

And despite the situation, his grin was infectious. My heart was light as I smiled back, even if only for a moment. “Do you know about Santa?” There was no telling how long he had been on the planet and if he knew our traditions or not. But he nodded. “Well. He looks like Evil Santa. I don’t think real Santa would actually kidnap people or hold us hostage.”

Aldyn clamped a hand over his mouth as if it was the only thing keeping him from laughing.

Something warm bubbled up within me. Now wasnotthe time for flirting. But I liked that I could make him laugh. Maybe when this thing was over… Yeah, we had to focus on getting out first. There was no telling how long that could take. If we couldeven do it. “Something’s blocking the door,” I added. “I tried to get out, but I couldn’t.”

“I saw.” Any of the earlier mirth had evaporated and he looked serious. “I think he’s trying to open a portal to a ship so he can deliver us. It looks like the transponder is broken, which is the only thing that’s keeping us on this planet for now.”

“Why do you think that?” Sure, I had thought something about teleportation, but I didn’t really know anything about it. It’s not like it was something I encountered every day.

“That tool that he’s banging against the counter.” He nodded back towards the center of the store but didn’t try and move. “It kind of looks like a portal transponder. Our best chance out here is to get that thing away from him. Then we can figure out what he’s doing to keep us inside the building.”

I had another idea. “Or we could figure out the building thing first,” I suggested. “He can’t exactly teleport us if he can’t get his hands on us.” I felt a little bad even suggesting it. Good Santa and Wendy the elf didn’t exactly have a chance to escape if me and Aldyn got out. But we could go for help. We wouldn’t just abandon them.

“That would also work,” Aldyn agreed, but he didn’t seem as enthusiastic. Maybe he secretly had heroic instincts.

He was looking at me intently. And not just in a way that acknowledged that we were the only two people who could get ourselves out of the situation. He was looking at me like he wanted to eat me. But in the good way. In the way I tried not to think about too much anymore. In the way that lit my body up and made me want to pull him close and seeexactlywhat we could do before we got caught.

Such a bad idea. I wasn’t going to risk our only chance of escape by getting hot for an alien and making out in a Christmas toy aisle. I had to have some standards.

But damn, did he live up to them.

If I survived this, I was going to kiss him.

Unless he had like a wife or a husband or like a dozen partners or something. But I didn’t know anything about Aldyn’s life other than the fact that he was hot and I needed him. That was far more than I knew about anything else going on at the moment. And I was getting tired of sitting and waiting. “So,” I said. “What do we do?”

Chapter 5

Jody

My heart was beating so hard that I was sure it was going to give us away. There was no way out. Evil Santa had us trapped, and even with Aldyn at my side I didn’t see how he was going to help.

What could we do?

Try to escape, I guess. It was our only chance. We had to get out of there. Had to find help. Had to hope that Evil Santa didn’t do anything to Jeff or Wendy before we got back. He wanted us in good condition for his brother, so that was something.

I guess.

I still didn’t like it. But what were we supposed to do?

Our plan was to find another way out. I hadn’t been willing to try it at first. The section of the store Aldyn and I were sitting in was kind of isolated. We couldn’t sneak down the aisles to find a different exit. We would have to risk going out into the main part of the store where Evil Santa could see us. We would have to be quick. And we would have to hope that Jeff and Wendy didn’t give us away.

Before we got up, Aldyn looked at me for a long moment. There were unspoken words written across his face. But Icouldn’t read them. Maybe they were in whatever alien language he spoke.

Or maybe I was just reading into the situation.

We stuck together. Splitting up would have let us cover more ground, but it felt too risky. If it came to it, the two of us might be able to fight off Evil Alien Santa.Ifhe didn’t have any other tricks up his sleeves. That was a big if. He’d already knocked us out with one of his toys and apparently could teleport us the second he got the transponder to work. I didn’t think Aldyn and I would be a match. But we had to try.

Aldyn and I got to moving. My hands were shaking and I shoved them in my pockets. I wasn’t going to accidentally knock something over because I couldn’t control my body. We made it to the edge of the farthest aisle and luck was with us this time. Evil Santa was facing Jeff and Wendy and not paying any attention to us.

“You’re weak,” Evil Santa told Jeff in a voice of pure evil. “An insignificant human. You can’t even save the woman you love.”

Wendy gasped, and even I felt the surprise. “J-Jeff?” It came out with a little stutter. I couldn’t look away, even though I knew we had to keep moving. Aldyn grabbed onto my wrist and tugged me deeper into the store. I could still hear them.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked.

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