Page 7 of Secretly Abducted
"Then where?"
He hesitates, his skin going through what looks like a whole light show of different colors while he thinks. I can see him weighing options, probably calculating risks. Finally: "I could show you the zhik'ra forests. If you're genuinely interested. It's more private among the growth areas."
"I'm genuinely interested," I say immediately.
"You don't even know what zhik'ra is."
"Seaweed, right? Or kelp? Whatever you call it." I shrug, moving closer to the platform's edge to look down at the swaying forest below. "But that's not what I'm interested in, and we both know it."
His skin flares bright gold for a moment before settling back to nervous-looking blues. "You're very direct."
"I spent ten years thinking I was crazy. I don't have time for indirect." I turn to face him fully, taking in details I couldn't see from a distance—the way his gills flex slightly with each breath, the way his golden eyes have flecks of green near the pupils. "What's your name? I can't keep thinking of you as 'the alien who saved me.'"
"Vel'aan."
"Vel'aan," I repeat, trying to match his pronunciation. The name has a musical quality, like most Nereidan words. "I'm Alex. But you probably knew that already."
"The Council told me. Before, I didn't..." He trails off, looking uncomfortable. His weight shifts from foot to foot, making the platform creak. "I never asked your name. You were supposed to be a routine biological survey. I wasn't supposed to take a human at all."
"Wait, what?"
His skin shifts to what might be embarrassment—kind of a darker blue with gold edges. "I was aiming for a stray animal. For cataloging and behavior analysis. My targeting was off by approximately three meters."
I stare at him for a moment, processing this. "You're telling me you accidentally saved my life because you have bad aim?"
"I had excellent aim," he protests, his skin flashing indignantly. "The calculations were simply... imprecise."
"Right. Imprecise." I'm still grinning. "So you accidentally grabbed a dying teenager instead of someone's cat?"
"I believe it was supposed to be a dog."
This is insane. My entire life changed because this alien couldn't properly calibrate his transport beam. I start laughing, really laughing, and have to sit down on one of the curved benches built into the platform. The material adjusts to my body temperature immediately, which is still weird.
"Will you show me the forests?" I ask, still smiling up at him. "I promise not to mock your aim anymore. Today."
He looks at me for a long moment, like he's trying to figure out if I'm real. The afternoon suns make his skin shimmer, the bioluminescence more visible in the bright light. Then, so quietly I almost miss it: "Follow me."
He leads me along the platform toward a smaller dock. As we walk, I pull out the communication device Tev'ra gave me—a slim, curved thing that looks more grown than manufactured. He'd shown me the basics: touch here to activate,trace symbols to compose, tap to send. I manage to send Finn a message:Found him. Going to look at alien seaweed. Don't wait up.
Finn's response appears on the curved screen almost immediately:Alex, don't do anything stupid.
Too late. Already committed to stupid. Talk later.
I pocket the device and watch as Vel'aan starts unfastening his coveralls. "The water here is optimal for viewing the forests," he says, like he needs to justify this.
The coveralls come off in one piece, and I try not to stare. Underneath, he's wearing what amounts to Nereidan underwear—a minimal piece of fabric that sits low on his hips and leaves absolutely nothing to imagination. It's form-fitting, barely there, and the same gray as the coveralls, like it's standard issue too. His body is all lean muscle with that blue-tinted skin that shifts between different shades as his bioluminescence responds to... something. Nervousness? Awareness of my staring?
Well, two can play at this game. I pull my shirt over my head and drop it on the platform.
"We're going in?" I ask, already knowing the answer.
"The forests are aquatic. Is that a problem?"
"Nope." I kick off my shoes and shuck my pants, not bothering with modesty. I'm down to my boxers—basic black, nothing special, but from the way Vel'aan's skin flares gold, you'd think I was doing a striptease. "I just can't stay under as long as you can. No gills."
His skin does that flashing thing again, gold and blue alternating rapidly. "I'll stay near the surface with you."
I stand there for a moment, waiting for him to get in and show me the way.
