Page 37 of Holiday with the Aliens

I pressed the button.

There wasn’t a shockwave this time. Instead, it was like a gust of wind as a door slammed shut. My ears popped, and when I was brave enough to open my eyes, I looked over and saw that Aldyn was standing there with two tentacles wrapped around his arms. But those tentacles didn’t go anywhere. They had been chopped off by the portal closing.

I set the device carefully on the counter. I didn’t want to accidentally open up another portal. But Aldyn looked ready to drop. I rushed over to him and helped pull the tentacles off.

His face was bruised and green blood was splattered over his split lip. His? He was an alien, after all. Maybe his blood wasn’t red.

“Good job,” he told me with a smile, and I didn’t think it was even sarcastic.

“You’re the one who did all the work,” I said.

“I think I need to sit down.” And before he could step towards a chair, he crumpled down to the floor.

Chapter 12

Aldyn

Icould feel every bruise and scrape and cut from the fight. And it was only getting worse by the second. But the portal was closed and Jody’s arms were tight around me.

For the first time that night, things were looking up.

“Don’t you die,” she said, warning clear in her voice. “If you die, I’m going to freaking kill you.”

It hurt to smile. Everything hurt. But I forced myself up from where I had fallen on the ground. I could manage to sit. But I would appreciate some medical attention soon. At least a painkiller.

Of course, from the way Jeff was groaning, he needed way more help than I did.

“No risk of dying,” I told her. Not anymore. But that was probably a conversation for a later time. I glanced over and was surprised to see how small the tentacles looked. When they had been wrapped around me I was sure they were as big as a building. But they were tiny things.

I couldn’t quite circle my hands around their girth, but it would be close. They definitely didn’t look as threatening now that they were cut off from whatever body they had beenattached to. And I was beyond grateful I would never see that body or determine how many tentacles it normally had.

Jody and I didn’t say much. After the excitement of the night, it was hard to figure out what to say. I needed to talk to her. Needed to explain who she was to me. Needed to ask her to dinner. But for several moments, I was just basking in being alive.

Sometime later, police busted through the front door, yelling a warning with their weapons drawn. But when they saw us, they seemed very confused.

“The fight’s over,” Jody told them, leaning her body in front of me a little as if to act as a shield. “The guy who held us captive got sucked in through a portal.”

She pointed to the tentacles on the ground. “That came out of it, if you want to bag that for evidence. The portal opening mechanism is on the counter.” Then she quickly added, “Don’t press the button. I don’t know if the portal will open back up.”

The last thing we needed was to deal with that portal reopening. I much preferred Earth to whatever world we had caught a glimpse of.

The police had questions for all of us and we answered them quickly. It became clear they weren’t interested in pinning the blame on anyone who’d been held hostage, and pretty soon an ambulance arrived to see to us. By that time I was feeling better, but I had lost track of Jody. Where was she? Had she disappeared? Gone home?

Had I lost my chance already?

Most of my aches were going away, but they were replaced by one in my heart. It couldn’t be over so quickly. Could it? Before we had even had a chance to talk? I started looking around wildly, but I didn’t see her. Maybe the cops would give me her information. Hadn’t she said something about being a school teacher? I would go to every school in the city until I found her.

I had to do something. She was my denya. My mate. We hadn’t gone through all of this trouble for me to lose her so quickly.

“Are you okay?”

I spun around at the sound of Jody’s voice. She had two steaming mugs in her hands and offered one to me. “Where did you go?” I asked as I took the mug, the answer evident in the warm drink.

“I thought we could use something like this. It’s just cider, and it’s not even spiked. But it’ll be good.” She took a sip and sat down on the bench. I quickly joined her.

She was right. The drink was good. Sweet with a hint of spice. It was nothing like what we had back home, but I was getting used to the tastes of Earth. “So is this a favorite drink?” I asked.

“I like it well enough,” said Jody. Then she laughed. It was a bit frantic, as if she was just realizing everything that we had gone through. “I feel like I’ve been around you my entire life,” she said. “Is that weird? It feels weird. Especially since you don’t even know if I like apple cider.”

---