Page 53 of Choosing Jenny
Jac grinned. “Oh, he can be that, too.”
I chuckled, then saw something shiny in the air up ahead. “What is that?”
“A ship…Cheesecake?” Jac hit his comms and hailed the ship as it wobbled ahead of us. “HailingCheesecake, come in.”
“I don’t know how to answer the damn thing, you stupid ship!” Sam’s voice came through in a panic. “How do I—”
My ship’s serene voice spoke over some kind of fluted music playing in the background. “You are speaking to them now, Sam.”
I was thoroughly confused. Where was Tiger? “Sam, is that you?”
“Yes! Jen?” her voice cracked.
“Yeah, it’s me,” I said, trying not to react to the hysteria in her voice until I knew why she was so upset. “What is going on?”
“How do I land this thing?”
Cheesecakesaid, “I can take control of the process.”
“Cheesecake, land in nearest clearing,” I told her, hoping my voice controls would still work through the comm system.
“Landing now,” she replied, and the ship descended toward a small open area in the forest below.
Jac landedSovereignnext toCheesecake, and we raced out of the ship toward my own. Sam ran down the offramp, sobbing.Her face was red, and her eyes were swollen. I looked behind her, waiting for anyone else to emerge, but no one came.
“They’re all dead,” she gasped between sobs.
The world dropped out from beneath me. I struggled to stay upright. My mind went silent and still, before it lurched forward again into full blown terror.“What?”
“All of them…they’re gone.”
“Tell us what happened,” Jac demanded, while I tried not to completely freak the fuck out.
“We had to go in this cave on an island far away.” She choked on her words, tears streaming down her face. “These things, the Vulavi—”
“Fuck, the Vulavi?” Jac hissed, his fear tangible.
“What? What are they?” My mind was fraught with worse case scenarios.
He answered quickly, grimly. “They’re like, uh, crocodiles or alligators, I think you call them on Earth. But much meaner and smarter. They’re religious zealots, too, and you don’t go near them unless you have a death wish. What the hell were you doing with them?”
Sam’s entire body shook. “That’s where Gram said the Vulaven Eggs were.”
“Shit, I thought they were a collector’s item,” Jac said, clearly speaking his thoughts out loud. “I didn’t think they had to go to the source.”
“What fuck happened at the cave, Sam?” I yelled at her, near to losing my sanity.
“They…they ate them,” she wailed, before she crumbled into a weeping mess.
“No…” It couldn’t be real. Couldn’t be true. The air spun around me. My vision blurred.
“Where is the cave, Sam?” Jac asked, more in control of his faculties than I was of mine.
She looked up at him, startled and horrified. “You can’t mean to go there.”
“I can and I will,” he said adamantly. “And you’re going to take us there.”
“No, I can’t go back!” she screamed in terror.
