Page 78 of Emerald

I clear my throat, finding my voice. “It’s alright. I didn’t tell you and I know that sometimes people need to be touched. You were scared and I wanted to help.”

“Well, I appreciate that, but I’ll stop,” she replies, her voice heavy with regret.

My stomach clenches. I knew I’d mess up and ruin my chances of fitting in. I just didn’t think it would be the moment I met the whole group.

Stupid, stupid. One hundred percent…

Ree’s voice breaks me out of another thought spiral. “Drasuk,” she says, dropping her gentle tone, “go tell Eli to tell Wroahk that if he keeps breaking trees Kira won’t hunt with him for the foreseeable future.”

“Yes, Commander,” the dinosaur says in a distinctive, rock-grinding voice, then the ground trembles as he turns and bounds away.

“Rin, I think you should go check on Eli. She’s losing her cool,” Ree says.

I listen closely, but I can’t hear Eli at all and I can hear electricity… Strange.

“Olivia should use our cave,” Rin says. “I’ll keep the argila occupied.”

Rin gives a little wave and then strides off through the purple grass, the giant blue spiders cavorting around her, still braying as she laughs.

“My name is Thivoll, little green human,” the orange cat rumbles. “We will talk more later, but know you are welcome.”

I nod, not sure how you respond to alien cats and not up to trying to figure out how right now.

“Kira,” Ree says and I wait for her to issue another order, but instead she just gestures. She puts a hand to her lips, points off down the valley and then makes some more mysterious gestures that probably only make sense to the two of them.

If I had to guess, I would say these two are really close.

“Got it,” Kira says tersely.

“I’ll visit with you sometime tomorrow, Olivia. Kira is going to show you to a place you can rest. She’ll be on guard, just in case, but no one will bother you. Does that sound good?”

I clear my throat again. “Yes. Thank you.”

Kira stalks off without a word and after a moment of panic, I jog to catch up. I look behind me to see Ree leaning against Thivoll’s shoulder, some mysterious look on her face. His tail is wrapped around her legs and she is stroking his fur.

I look away quickly, afraid I am staring when they are trying to have a moment alone, then stumble to keep up with Kira’s purposeful strides.

Her hair is a wild halo of blazing pink, bone spikes catching the last rays of the sun. I glance up, my mind still not settled on the new color of the sky, then quickly look back down.

So much purple… it makes me think of how often I irritate Kroaicho and my stomach twists again.

Luckily Kira is moving so fast it takes most of my focus to move through the long, thick blades of grass without tripping. It doesn’t take long for us to reach a shallow cave, which is piled high with the same purple stalks in a makeshift bed.

I move inside, noting the tufts of blue and brown fur that suggest the… what was it? Argila? Yes, that’s right… they must sleep here.

I feel bad again, the guilt trying to overtake my thinking, but I push it back down. I don’t have the energy for it and if I entertain it I’m just going to spiral until I shut down. I’ve already embarrassed myself enough as it is.

Kira moves a respectful distance from the cave, turns her back to me and sits down, moving a rifle from her back to across her knees and scanning the valley.

I can’t take my eyes off her pink hair. I get momentarily distracted by the row of bone looking spikes coming from her forehead like some sort of crown, and I can’t believe I somehow missed that she has a blue tail… but then I’m right back to staring at the pink.

Why was Kroaicho pink? What emotion does it mean?

I can’t figure it out, but when I come back to myself, I realize I’ve been scratching my wrist raw. My shoulders slump. Not that again…

Then I realize it isn’t just my usual nerves. My skin feels terrible. I ask the black suit to recede and I see why. Interspersed in with my natural olive tone and the silvery skin I picked up second-hand from Rin are patches of bioluminescence.

Just like Kroaicho’s and also shining out in the same mysterious pink.

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