Page 22 of Guardian's Heart

"Want me to change yours too?" he asked, after canceling his truancy hours from nine to zero.

I sat down next to him. "Sure."

"Nova, right? Nova Beauvier?"

I nodded and watched in fascination as he changed one of my Bs into an A and so on. I didn't have any truancies—not then—Missy would have taken the leather strap to me, no thanks, Ma'am. After finding out about Frog's ability to simply canceltruancy hours and even days, I changed my behavior and spent my days with him in this room or the basement at his house. I learned how to get fake movie theater tickets—the problem had not been the money; Missy was more than generous with that; the problem had been that I didn't have anybody I cared to go with. Now, with Frog, it was different. He wasn't into girls, or guys, for that matter. Nothing got him sexually interested besides his keyboard and screen. It didn't take long for me to figure out that he came every time he broke through somebody's firewall.

It made sense that we hung out after school. Everybody around us assumed we were boyfriend and girlfriend, which was fine with us. The boys in school irritated me as much as the girls. Their bragging about having had sex with me had been the final straw. I grew up with twomen, and these were boys. I was old enough to realize that I wanted a man but was too young to date one that was worth dating. So, our fake relationship worked for us. We went to the movies, he took me to dinner with hacked gift cards, and he taught me my love of computer programs.

He was right; there was nothing more satisfying than breaking through a firewall. Not in a sexual way for me like it was for him, but it was an adrenaline rush like no other.

Missy was all too happy that I had found something I loved doing—blissfully ignorant to the illegal part—and happily upgraded my laptop and bought me all the computer equipment Frog had said I needed. To Missy's disappointment, I refused to go to college, but I made enough money by designing computer programs and a few apps to convince her that I was doing well enough without it. The design work acted as my cover for my more illicit computer skills. I had upgraded from hacking into the school account and gift cards to getting through firewalls. That… got me into hot water with some undesirable characters. They promised not to kill me if I did some work for them, andthat's how I ended up in New Orleans when the Cryons came. Oh, and somewhere in between, I met Rhett and thought myself in love. This was the part of my life I liked not to think about or remember.

Frog had, by then, long abandoned ship; happy with breaking into credit card accounts, we parted ways a few years ago. I don't even know what happened to him. He moved two years ago, and we lost touch.

And so, here I was, in an alien forest, waiting for my alien… lover? to bring me some alien meat to roast over a fire. I sighed.

It could be worse. It is as it is,my mind intoned Missy's lessons. Some days, like today, I missed her and hoped that she and Daddy finally had the relationship they had always wanted in heaven. She died unexpectedly a year ago. The doctors found a lump in her neck, and two months later, she was dead. Never woke up from the surgery. The anesthesiologist told me that she whimpered once during the surgery, and he increased her dosage just a smidge. He shook his head, looking young and devastated. "I don't know what happened, Miss, I swear I don’t."

I supposed I could have sued him and the hospital, but it was about the same time as I got in hot water with the mob, and with Missy's death, I just didn't have the whereabouts to handle a long drawn-out lawsuit. Besides, I believed the anesthesiologist when he said,I don't know what happened, I swear I don't. It was as it was. So I moved on.

At least you're safe from the mob here. I snickered.

ZAAREK

Nova surprised me againwhen I entered our camp with my fresh kill. I had been lucky and stumbled upon a young koloch, just big enough to feed Nova and me until we made it out of this forest.

It was getting dark by the time I reached the camp, so I was happy seeing the fire she had kindled. I had thought about dressing the koloch where I had killed it, worried Nova might be squeamish about things like that, but an undefinable urge to return to her had driven me back.

"What did you get?" She moved forward, curiously eying my kill.

"A koloch," I filled her in, taking out my knife. "You might not want to—"

She took the knife from my hand and, in a practiced move that raised my eyebrows, cut the dead beast from one end to the other, careful not to nick the intestines.

"You have experience with this?" I noted.

She looked up, scooping out the bloody insides without flinching. "My uncle and Daddy killed gators and snakes for a living. I had to dress plenty of them."

I had no idea what gators or snakes were, but I was impressed. It was easy to see that she was much more experienced with this than I was. I couldn't even remember the last time I hunted and killed before we got here. Come to think of it… my brows drew together in concentration. When and how had I learned this?

All my memories were of space and chasing down and terminating criminals or protecting high-ranking people.

A dull ache spread in the back of my head. I automatically rubbed the spot, but the pressure only increased the more I tried to focus on how I learned my hunting skills.

"Alright, this should be enough for tonight?" Nova looked up at me with bloodied hands. "Zaarek? Are you okay?"

I broke from my stupor and nodded. "Yeah, yes. I'm fine." I nodded, noticing how the pressure in my skull lifted. I clenched my jaw when I remembered how this had happened before, but then got sidetracked by Nova putting the meat on a wooden skewer and hanging it over the fire.

"How did you make the fire?" I asked, honestly curious.

She held up a stick and a piece of bark. At my questioning look, she hunkered down on the ground, showing how she moved the stick between her palms vigorously, after a moment, smoke rose, leaving me impressed.

"You didn't know that?" she asked, putting her utensils aside.

"I had no idea," I admitted, sitting down across from her, relishing her nearness and the easy comfort I suddenly felt with her. To do something other than tackle her to the ground and repeat what we had done earlier, I picked up the stick and bark and tried to copy her moves.

She laughed, and the sound of it rang through my head, lifted my heart and spirits, and made me yearn for more.

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