Page 86 of Guardian's Soul

"Yes, which is probably the Darlams. Still, even if we went back a hundred thousand years, many species would haveexisted before. Spacefaring, intelligent species like the Pandraxians. Still, there is no mention of them," Luph continued.

"All right, let's get back to the symbols. What else does it say?" Noodar pushed.

"This species, let's call them Archie because we have to call them something, right?" Nova winked. "They landed on Darlam, then unloaded a bunch of their children and some adults before they left. The children grew up with the Darlams, and, as nature does, couples mated, the Archies and the Darlams interbred?—"

"Can we please not call them Archies?" I interrupted, not liking the name at all. It sat wrong with me, stirred up my stomach in a strange way, and made me shudder.

"Fine, what do you want to call them?" Nova asked, a little exasperated, and I got it. Still, I couldn't explain why I felt so strongly about it.

"I… don't…" I was going to say I didn't know, but a bright white light flashed through my mind. Pain. I took a gulping breath as if I had been underwater for too long.

"Hannah?" Thrax's worried voice seemed to come from far, far away, or as if someone had stuffed cotton balls down my ear—it was so muffled.

My lips opened, and my throat worked as the pressure in my brain increased, making me feel like if I didn't get the word out, it would rip out of my skull. "Arkhevari."

Strong arms encircled me, held me as I swayed on my feet, and I leaned against Thrax's chest, feeling exhausted and spent.

"What was that?" Zoe asked, a little high-pitched as my hearing returned to normal.

"Arkhevari," Nova repeated, her voice barely above a whisper.

"What the frygg is happening?" Zaarek shouted.

"I have no clue," Thrax said, looking at me. "Are you okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah, it's just… this name… doesn't it mean anything to you?"

Thrax was about to shake his head, but a funny expression crossed his features. Luph and Zoe both moved their heads from side to side, but Nova's eyes caught mine and a look of recognition passed between us.

"That can't be," she said, shaking her head in denial.

"What?" Zaarek nearly shouted. "Will someone please explain?—"

"Arkhevari," Raasla intoned, holding his head.

"Okay, I'm not the only one freaked out here, right?" Nock piped up, never stopping to film.

"I think I might be able to explain," Luph said, "but you'll have to bear with me, okay?"

"No." Thrax took my face into his hands. "Do you need to go lie down?"

"I'm fine," I assured him. And I was. I could feel the color returning to my face. "Really," I added as he raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"All right, keep going." Noodar waved at Luph.

"Well." Luph did that weird thing in the back of her throat that could be called throat clearing but sounded wet, more like she was washing the back of it, before she continued, "This is where the difference in the symbols comes in."

Luph stopped and looked at Nova, who nodded encouragingly at her. "So the different symbols we deciphered are names. At least the boys' names. For us girls, they don't make any sense." Luph apologized.

"What do you mean?" Thrax wanted to know, still looking concerned at me but also caught up in the news Luph and Nova were sharing.

"Well, they spell the guys' names like a nametag," Nova explained without explaining anything as she jumped back into the discussion.

"Okay, what about us?" Zoe asked.

"It's gibberish," Nova said.

A dark, foreboding feeling rose inside my stomach. I didn't want to ask. I really didn't. All I wanted was to take Thrax to our room and make love to him. My hands encircled his arm, clinging to it before I called up my courage. "What does mine say?"

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