Page 130 of The Tenth Muse

Chewbacca makes her gurgling noise, as if protesting my joke to the fullest degree.

Runa laughs, “You’re lucky she’s not a Wookie or she’d tear your arm off for that one,” She comes back to a stand, wiping glistening beads of sweat from her forehead with the back of her arm. “Where do you think?”

I do a full 360 degree spin on my heels, slow, taking my time to scope out the landscape. “I think right here,” walking only a few feet toward the Southeast corner of the house, I point to the spot in front of the window. “She’ll get tons of full, direct, sunlight, she has space to expand her roots and we can still see her from our front window.”

Runa nods, “Plus her trap can still reach the front door, and if anything, that’s a built in security system on its own.”

I laugh harder than I can control, tilting my head back and making a fool of myself. An awkward embarrassment lingers. Runa notices my discomfort with myself, the way my composure stands and I suddenly want to run away, go home, forget I’ve done any of this.

“Hey,” Her voice is a low hush, “I like you as is. Don’t be anything you’re not around me.” Her fingers rake against my throat, her hold becoming firm as she grips the back of my neck to force my gaze up to her, “Okay?”

I can’t blink, can’t look away from her, so I simply rasp out, “Okay.”

A slow clapping sound breaks the bubble of intimacy around us, a vile, sinister, laughter that’s too familiar for me to not know from deep in my bones. Williams steps out from a covering of trees, that wretched look on his face like he’s just won again. “Wow.”

I’m suddenly paralyzed, every possible fear coming to fruition just hours into our plan, the proof of what I’ve been told my entire life presented in front of me; I will never escape my family.

“H-how?” Runa manages to choke out, the look on her face surely identical to mine.

“You think the senator doesn’t keep a tracker in his daughter’s car?” He looks at us like we’re idiots, taking one confident step after another as he gets closer to us.

I’m trying to ask where he came from, for the details, but I only manage one single word before I realize that none of it matters if he’s here to take it all away from me. “W-where?”

“Where what?” He frowns, looking back from the way he came. “My car? It’s parked on the road, I wanted to make sure you two didn’t sneak off and hide when you heard me pull up.”

His sneer is more venomous than the baneful vines surrounding us, full of contempt, as if this is somehow so much more personal to him.

“Why do you even care?” I manage to complete a full thought when I feel Runa’s hand close around mine, the simple gesture syphons her strength directly into me.

At least, it feels like it.

“At first I thought I’d drag you home by the hair, kicking and screaming while I delivered you to your dad like a present. I daydreamed the entire drive here about how he’d thank me, what he’d offer in exchange for my willingness to still put up with you and this little…” He looks at Runa for only a split second, “Interruption of our plans.”

“I’m not going.” I declare, crossing my arms over my chest. “You might as well kill me if you want to take me home, I’m staying.”

He laughs, a condescending type that unnerves me to the bone. “Yeah, you can stay here.” His eyes haven’t managed to look my way once yet, for the most part they’ve been locked in one direction only.

Chewie’s.

The plant whines, like she feels the anxious energy and can’t help but be affected by it.

“Then what do you want?” Runa’s voice takes a more assertive tone, her fists balling at her side.

“I want the alien you’re trying to hide behind you. The same one you were trying to cover up with that blanket the other night.” He laughs. “I figured it was drugs or something illegal but…”

“Alien?” I whisper, confused.

He shakes his head, amusement still clear on his face as he pulls his phone out. “Now I get to be the guy who brought in an ET. Your dad and I are gonna be getting the highest clearance at area 51. Hell, maybe I’ll bypass him altogether and go directly to the president with this thing.”

I’m so disoriented from his dumb conclusion that I don’t have the appropriate response, Runa bursts out in a fit of laughter, no longer caring to present as intimidating.

“Alien?” She cackles, “You fucking idiot, that’s a plant.”

“Nice try,” His chuckle is insulting to our intelligence, he approaches confidently, unafraid of either of us. “Now, the question is, do I want to call in the cavalry for transport, or do this quietly?” Williams lifts up the phone like he’s gonna take a picture but I lunge, reaching for it and slapping it down to the ground.

Rage burns from his eyes, his features twisting, as the vein on his forehead threatens to explode. He shoves me with a powerful push, my back colliding against the wooden exterior of the cabin.

I scream, pain throbbing through my body, Runa’s grunts of struggle the only thing that forces my eyes to stay open and fight. He will not take everything from us. I’m able to come to a stand but just then Runa is pushed onto me. I catch her before she can fall to the ground, but by the time we’ve recovered Williams is already in front of the plant. I move to stop him but Runa grips my arm, showing me the shattered phone in her hand.

---