Page 98 of Hyperspeed
“Look at your pretty face,” she muttered, taking in the bruised skin. “All knocked up.”
“You make it sound like I’m disfigured,” I grumbled.
She tutted and narrowed her eyes.
“You’re lucky you weren’t! Look at your leg.” She gestured to the bandages. “That’s going to scar,va’tari. You need to be more careful!”
“I was being careful,” I shot back. “Last I checked, I can’t control the galaxy’s asteroids.”
Grandma pinched the tip of my ear between her surprisingly strong fingers, tugging my face closer to hers.
“Watch how you speak to your elders,” she scolded, giving my head a little shake. “I’ll let you off because you’re tired and hurting, but remember, you’re never too old for a spanked behind.”
I dropped my gaze in shame, shrinking into my dad’s side when she released me.
Her threats were never empty, and the vision of her coming for me with that heavy wooden hairbrush she loved was enough to put me in my place.
“Sorry, Grandma,” I mumbled, pacified when she leaned in and brushed my cheek with a soft peck.
The lines on both our skin flared sunshine yellow, signifying our love and care for one another.
“I love you, my little supernova.”
I smiled. “I know. Love you too.”
She kissed me once more before standing up from the couch. “Go and shower,va’tari. You smell like antiseptic, and it’s making my nose burn.”
“Could also be the food you’re cooking,” Dad quipped.
Grandma glared at him, while Mum slipped away to dust a set of shelves that were already spotless.
“I will spit in your dinner,” she hissed, turning on her heel and storming back to the kitchen.
“Good luck with that one, Dad.”
We shared a conspiratorial grin. Dad had been winding Grandma up my entire life, and while she acted like he was the bane of her life, we all knew it was for show.
Dad helped me up from the sofa before turning back toLove Planet, and I limped towards my bedroom, dropping a peck on my mum’s cheek as I passed her.
“Do you need any help,zyli?” she asked, and I shook my head, closing the door behind me.
I sighed, leaning back against the wood. I loved my family to death, but even I could admit they were a lot.
Showering was awkward, since I couldn’t get the bandages wet, and I ended up precariously balanced in the walk-in shower, bad leg hanging out of the open door. It left the tiled floor a little wetter than I’d have liked, but it was worth it to feel clean after everything that had happened.
By the time I hobbled into the living room, dressed in a baggy T-shirt and some pyjama bottoms covered in cartoon race vehicles—a birthday present from my parents two years ago—I was dead on my feet.
I curled back into my dad’s side, only half listening to the new episode he’d started while I showered. Mum and Grandma joined us, the latter handing me a bowl filled with the traditional Iskari stew she saved for when someone was ill.
I wasn’t sick, but I was feeling worse for wear, so I appreciated the warmth from the secret combination of spices she used. Even Mum didn’t know what was in it, and when she tried to recreate it, it never tasted quite the same.
I was falling asleep into my almost empty bowl when a knock at the door startled me awake. Mum jumped up from her seat to answer it, but I waved her off, placing the bowl on the coffee table.
“Don’t worry, I’ll get it.”
“You need to rest,zyli.”
“Need to keep moving so I don’t go stiff.”
