Page 35 of Xefe
“Is this true?” Xefe unclenched his fists and looked at Loxo, who remained on the ground. He studied his eyes; they always told the true story. The purple eye swirled.
All was calm.
“It is true.” Loxo looked away, and Xefe felt his shame. “It will not happen again.”
“See that it does not, or you will be barred from the earthers.”
Loxo’s red eye swirled for a tic and settled, his shoulders slumping in defeat. “Understood.”
“They may be dangerous. Or carrying disease. Stay away from them.” Nime tipped his head up in agreement. “Keep them far from your rod.”
“Enough. Earthers. Come here!” Xefe activated his staff, and his voice transmitted around the dilapidated arena.
They completely ignored him, too busy wrestling in one of the nets and screaming words like: die,puta, and ho-bag.
“Listen.” He slammed his staff into the ground and continued with his message, “This is the most important competition of your life. To determine if you are fit to compete against our warriors.”
They paused and disentangled themselves from each other.
Xefe continued, “You must compete as a team.”
“What?”
“No.”
“We’re all going to die.”
The words flew from their mouths faster than he could track. “Silence. Youwillbecause youhave toif you want to survive and compete in the Great Race. Understand?”
For once, they listened.
“Now is the time to ask questions. You compete tomorrow. You have fiveticsbefore I leave, or you will compete uninformed and clueless.” Everything Nime said about them was correct, they were ruthless and conniving… but also smart. They would want this information.
The earthers straightened and looked at each other, hopefully taking his instructions seriously. To his surprise, the squabbling stopped, and some sort of negotiation began. They spoke intently to each other. Xefe allowed the extra time because they looked like they might be willing to work together. Or it could just be a precursor to violence. Either way, it was their choice.
Live by Nozaroc’s rules or die ignoring them.
CHAPTER 16
“Did that orange-eyedalien say we have to work together?” Nieve straightened her filthy sack dress.
“His name’s Sunny. And yeah.” I took a moment to compose myself, brushing my hair out of my face. It was a miracle I had any left after the two of them tag-teamed me.Can I dothis? Work with these weirdos?
“I thought they called him Xefe, or First,” Querida said, her peaches and cream skin covered in black dust.
“They can call him whatever they want. His name is Sunny.”
“Whatever it is, we’re doomed.”
“Yeah, probably.” I sighed and helped Nieve up from the ground. Only seemed right since I’d put her there. I looked around at the dilapidated field. Honestly, it reminded me a little of home. Most of the training rings in New Angeles were subpar at best, and this place was a mess. It may havefeltfamiliar but it looked so foreign. Because of the Floating Stones Loxo had told us about, there were literally chunks of the alien material floating around us. It was… surreal. But this was our new reality and now that I’d gotten some of my aggression out, we needed to focus. “Let’s hear him out and decide how we’re going to manage this.”
We dusted ourselves off and limped over to the water stand. Unfortunately, they only offered the green cubes from the soup room. Why couldn’t I just have a normal glass of water? I popped one in my mouth, it had the consistency of a sponge, but it wasn’t half bad.
Nieve and Querida fueled up as well, eating as we limped toward the golden warriors. The three aliens were back in their black, spiked uniforms, like giant alien porcupines. They loomed large even though they were at the farthest end of the arena.
“If I’m going to die in the next twenty-four hours, I want some juicychisme. Spill the tea.” Nieve spun around and walked backward so she could see our faces.
“About what?”
