Page 30 of Kryxis

Dani realized she was gaping with her mouth open and promptly closed it. The vrisha reappeared beside her, making her jump.

“Essa mi havari, lillak.”

“Um…”

It gestured to the room. “kasss.”

“I don’t know what you—AH!” She jumped again as the vrisha’s tail slithered across her back, poking her. They clearlywanted her to follow. She stood her ground, giving them a suspicious glare. “Why?”

The vrisha gestured toward the room again, hissing something else. She glanced around. Did they seriously want to show off their lair to her?

She could see the anticipation and excitement in their spooky red and blue eyes. They did. They seriously wanted to. Only a few hours ago, she had tried to burn them alive, and they were acting like they were having a friend over for dinner.

Or was she the dinner?

She crossed her arms, warmth spreading up her neck, remembering when they had licked her, then the time before that when they had pinned her. “I shouldn’t be here…how do I know you aren’t trying to lure me into a cage or something?”

They tilted their head, clearly not understanding her either.

She thought it over. “You.” She pointed at them. “Are going to eat”—she pretended to gnaw on her arm then pointed at herself—“me?”

They blinked at her with a second pair of eyelids, making her shudder.

She shook her head. This was crazy, but maybe they really had no plan to kill her after all. They just wanted to catch her and add her to their collection of things.

The vrisha offered the medikit to her, and she took it hesitantly. They then disappeared again before she could open her mouth. She needed to figure out how to convince them to let her go, but this was nothing like the hostage situations she’d seen in films or stories from the web with someone tied up in a bunker or locked in a closet. She didn’t even know how to communicate with them let alone persuade them to spare her.

She studied the room again. No cages to put her in from what she could see. Just a bunch of strange art. Making the vrisha feel even less like some odd creature.

Still, they had stalked her and scared her, so still a creep.

They also saved your life, Dani,said a little voice.

She looked down at the medikit she now held close to her like a shield. It was one thing to believe they had wanted to take her life for themselves but a whole other thing when they took her to a hospital and let her heal herself. And she had no answer as to why.

Peering around, she stopped her gaze along the wall just above the table. Her brows furrowed as she limped over to it and put the medikit down.

There were drawings on the wall. They looked like they were done by a child. Little stick figures with what looked like two parents, a child, and a cat. On a few others were drawings of trees and a mountain, a blue sky, and a sun.

She frowned, trying to make sense of them when she noticed a shadow moving beside her. The vrisha was standing there. In their hands was a canteen and a mealbar.

She stared at the food before flicking her gaze up to the vrisha.

“Seesh,” they said, offering the food to her.

She hesitated. “I, um…” she wasn’t sure how to respond. Several paranoid thoughts raced through her head, but she forced herself to ignore them. She felt drained, shaky. Cautiously, she took off her helmet and set it aside. She took both, and uncapping the canteen first, she took a sip.

It was water. And surprisingly filtered. She took several generous gulps before wiping her mouth and letting out a sigh of relief. She ripped the bar open next and took a large bite. The vrisha watched her as she chewed and swallowed.

“Seesh?” she said, pointing to the bar. “Food?”

“Seesh,” they repeated. “Food.”

She took another bite. It didn’t taste like much, but it was something.

“Xa, lillak, sis ne essa.”They tugged on her suit, wanting her to follow them.

She glared at them. “Nothing funny, got it?”

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