Page 9 of 3 Secrets to Love
I peeled the straps off her arms and waist as I tried to control my breathing at the contact with her luscious body. When I finally got them off, I laid them on the ground to make it easy for her to step into. After checking her flight suit for any rips or snags—a perfect chance to admire more of her—I had her stepinto the harness. I quickly strapped her in, not letting myself be tempted by her any longer. We didn’t have time to waste.
“Have you been back to Yatak at all since you left to become a racer?” Xacalla asked as I buckled her into the back seat.
“Nope.” I ensured her helmet was on snug then climbed into my own cockpit. “Had no reason to go back until now.”
“Aren’t you worried about how much it’s changed since you were last there? I know Omisu looks different every time I go back.”
She did not live on Omisu? I hoped that didn’t mean she lived on Eurebly the entire time, and I’d yet to run into her until now.
I started the jet, called into the tower, then taxied toward the runway. “I doubt it changed too much. Not with the Kalpierene government watching everything we do.” Which also made me wonder why the three Kalpierene children had wanted to visit me as part of their wish. Plus, they seemed to want me to return. Was it some kind of trap? I wouldn’t know until I arrived, but those questions didn’t stop me from taking off or heading toward the planet of my ancestors.
***
“We need coats.” I made Xacalla try on a parka to be sure of her size before placing one for each of us in the cart. “And pants. And boots...” I had her test out an entire cold climate ensemble before paying for our gear and leaving the outfitters just down the road from the spaceport. The area around the spaceport was the most developed area of the planet, meant to accommodate those from other planets. The land east of there was home to the citizens simply trying to go about their lives without being harassed by the Kalpierenes who governed us.
“How are we going to fit everything in the jet?” Xacalla lugged the bag with her cold-weather gear over her shoulder.
“There’s a pannier in the fuselage.” I quickened my steps, hoping to get to the diner before being recognized. Not to be vain, but if we’d fallen into some plot against me, I needed to be able to get Xacalla away safely. She was innocent in all of it. Maybe I should have left her on Eurebly, but I doubted she would have let me. “We might have to wear some of the gear over our suits. I’ll change the climate control settings. But the rations we still need to get will go in the pannier. I don’t need them flying around the cockpit and destroying equipment.” It wouldn’t be a quick departure since we had to load the goods under the jet before leaving, but the clothing and food were a must before we headed to Arodin.
The diner was empty save for the staff and a man from Tanva in a delivery outfit. He’d probably brought a supply shipment. I had seen a cargo ship with the same logo as on his uniform, back at the spaceport. Regardless, I scanned my wrist twice as we entered, paying for two meals. By the time we ate and grabbed some packaged food for our journey, the jet should have charged enough to get us to Arodin.
We sat in the back corner, near an emergency exit. I faced the entrance just in case. And no one even acknowledged us except one of the staff who brought over a pitcher of water before returning to the kitchen.
“Should we get a menu to order?” Xacalla glanced around the diner under the assumption it was like all the others she’d been to in the quadrants.
I leaned back in my seat, trying to catch a breath after all we’d been through since we’d first reunited in the hallway at USRA headquarters. “There is no menu. Everyone gets served the same thing.”
“Oh.” She fidgeted with the napkin before placing it on the table and tapping her fingers across it.
“You okay?” I didn’t know if the idea of eating Yatakian food agitated her or if it was a response to our situation.
“Yeah, just anxious to get going again and find the kids.” She picked up her glass of water, but after her hand began to shake, she put it back down again without taking a drink.
“Here.” I reached across the table toward her and was surprised when she joined her hands with mine. “I’m just as intent to get going again, but I know we won’t survive on Arodin without the proper equipment and food. It’s really cold there. I don’t even know why they would take the Kalpierene children there except to abandon them.”
Xacalla gasped. “We need to hurry.”
I squeezed her hands. “They’ll need to charge a couple times to make it there. And our jet is faster.”
She nodded, though I don’t think it helped to ease any of her worry.
When our food arrived, buton and knyats with a side of hashgi, she only picked at her food. Not that she seemed to dislike it but that her worry kept her from eating. I tried to consume the generous portion in front of me as fast as possible so we could be on our way again.
I had nearly finished when a loud boom echoed all around us. Everything inside the diner rattled from the aftershock, and one of the windows shattered.
After grabbing our new gear, I reached for Xacalla. “We need to leave now.”
I pushed open the emergency exit, ignoring the resulting alarm. Instead of taking the road, we trampled through the wild grasses—brown and dry from the planet’s warm season—toward the spaceport. As we neared it, the site left my gut clenched, and panic started to rise through my chest. One of the spacecraftswas on fire and I had a sinking feeling it was the jet we’d arrived in.
“Stay here.” I left Xacalla with the gear in the tall grasses and rushed ahead to confirm my suspicions.
Coddleswap!The jet was indeed on fire. Not because it was taking a charge. Someone had conveniently unplugged it before sabotaging our ride off the planet. I took a deep breath, wanting to scream in frustration instead, but I had to consider the same people who had our borrowed jet blown up were still after us.
Stars, I had to get back to Xacalla. I hightailed to where I’d left her but slowed as I neared the spot. Something felt off. I saw her up ahead but heard rustling coming from somewhere else. She must have heard it, too. After making eye contact with me, she pointed to her left.
I nodded in understanding but didn’t know whether to go to Xacalla to protect her or try to ward off whomever else was out there with us before it reached her. We didn’t have any dangerous predators on the planet, but that didn’t mean a being from another planet wasn’t after us.
Just as I decided to go for Xacalla, she took off in the direction of the rustling. Adjusting my course as a result, I found her wrestling with one of my own kind.
