Page 41 of Xefe
Valentina.I’m sorry.
Holding back a sob, I crawled back down the tunnel, the tears soaking my piece of shit potato-sack dress. This was it. Confirmation. Sunny had told the truth. There was no escape. No hope for me. For Valentina. A faint voice in my head reminded me that there might be a million other ways back home, but the totality of being kidnapped and dumped into a bigger hellhole than Earth, drowned me.
Without my sister.
One of the leaves ahead of me shook. Over the past few hours, I hadn’t heard a peep. The absence of noise had been deafening. No chattering pangos. No growly aliens. Noshoomp shoompof the portals.
The leaf rustled again.
I looked down the cave. The bend was only about twenty feet ahead. I should make a break for it, but my damn curiosity won out. I couldn’t resist and took a peek behind the giant, heart-shaped leaf.
A crumpled little body lay unmoving. A pango. Oh no! Was it dead? Please, little guy.Don’t be dead.I crouched next to it, trying to dry my bloody hands before touching its tiny body. I nudged it slightly and recognized the gold racing stripe down its back. It resembled the little guy that Freckles had manhandled.
Slowly, I cradled the little pango in my hands. His limp body spanned both my palms, only weighing about five pounds. I felt around for a pulse but wasn’t sure where to look. He had a short neck, and his fur was so silky and thick, like mink, that I couldn’t feel a beating heart. But I did spy identifying features to let me know he was a male. Guess he didn’t have the same problem as Sunny.
Dios, it was amazing to study him up close. His round face was adorable. Smashed nose, huge eyes, and long ears. And his wings were so small and delicate they reminded me of dragonflies. How did they support his weight? He had four arms,rather than legs, sort of like a monkey—each hand with a double thumb, just like the warriors. That was a strange similarity unless the animals of this galaxy all had double thumbs. But the Aavvee had three-fingered hands.
No matter how many times I patted the pango, or shook him lightly, he didn’t move.Dios, he’s dead.Gone. Just like Valentina if I didn’t make it back home. I cried into his soft fur, still petting his thick coat, finally accepting defeat. I couldn’t help this pango or my sister.
My hands trembled and jerked. I gasped and looked down. The baby pango’s little tongue darted out and licked the tears off his whiskers.
“Sorry, let me wipe that off.” I sobbed and laughed as I watched his golden tongue in action. “I’m so happy you’re alive.” I ran my thumb over the side of his face, and before I could react, his sharp-as-hell teeth bit down into my finger.
Ay!I jumped, but he held on for dear life, at first feebly sucking but quickly gaining strength. After the initial bite, I hadn’t tried all that hard to get rid of him. It no longer hurt, and I didn’t want to startle him.I think my blood’s helping him somehow.After a few minutes, he slumped into my palm, his tiny hand patting mine as he drifted off to sleep. His chest rose and fell, and I could hear a strangled sound accompanying each breath he took.
The little pango was…snoring.
I watched him until I was sure his breathing was steady. I wished I could stay but I had to get back, had to keep trying to find my sister or make my way back home.Time to say goodbye, pangito.As I lay him on the ground, piercing hoots and shrieks rent the air.
Oh shit.I was about to have some visitors, and they sounded pissed.
CHAPTER 18
Ablack andgold dirt cloud permeated the tunnel. The ear-piercing hoots told me exactly who’d be joining me. The noise bounced off the ashy surface of the mountain walls, and a primate army descended, ready to destroy.
I scrambled to my feet, balancing the baby in my hands. Even in sleep, he refused to let go of my thumb and occasionally took a quick lick of the blood still coating my palms. “Wake up, little buddy. You need to explain that I was trying to help.” I rubbed my finger over his warm fur.
“Baby. Screech, Save, save, saaaave.”
Who said that?I swung around, convinced there must be a camera and microphone somewhere. Or else a stalker was hiding in the fronds.
I backed up, but I couldn’t move fast enough. I was surrounded. “Hey, I come in peace. He’s okay. Look.”
“Give baby.Screech.Give baby.”
It was them! The pangos’ language. Of course, I understood them. I understood everybody, but I never considered my gift would include animals. The pangos stopped short of clawing my eyes out. Like a living, breathing tornado, they flew by and around me, surrounding us as I clutched the sleeping baby in my arms.
“Here’s your baby.” I crouched slowly and tried to lower him to the ground. But the little shit wouldn’t let go of my thumb.Let go, pangito.
The whirling dervish settled. About thirty or so pangos were in front of me, behind me, and attached to the fauna growing onthe tunnel walls. My legs were quaking, even though they lookedadorable. Many of them wore crowns of flowers in their hair or pieces of brightly colored material.
It was possibly the cutest thing I’d ever seen.
Slowly, I settled back down and sat cross-legged, holding the baby in front of me. I leaned forward as far as I could go, so they could see he was okay.
One of the biggest of the bunch roared and bared his tiny but pointy teeth. He wasn’t much bigger than a small dog, but his canines looked sharp. He had three on each side of his cute mouth. He also wore a crown of golden leaves. Clearly the leader, he screamed and hopped up and down. “Stole. Bad, bad. No-wing. You bad.”
Holy shit. I really can understand him.
