Page 38 of Theirs to Crave

Yin and the other Quoosalk fell on the meat in a very dignified feeding frenzy, confirming my suspicion that they were more carnivorous by preference. They ate so much their bellies stuck out and their eyelids half-closed in expressions of bliss.

I took another delicious bite and caught Revik watching me. His eyes, so pale in his dark face, were uncanny, and I shivered. I began to panic under his stare and smiled, awkwardly.

His eyes narrowed.

My mind raced. What could I have done to offend him? The bite of eel-salmon in my mouth suddenly felt like lead. Before he’d done the pounce and purr maneuver on Zafett, he’d been the one to haul in the eel-salmon. I swallowed with effort, and I tried another smile.

“Relyat, Revik,” I said sincerely. Then, using one of the few Teterayuh phrases I was confident in, I asked, “What is it called?”

His eyes narrowed impossibly further, neon slits in the inky fur. He exhaled sharply through his nose and turned away, reclining on one arm and munching from a sprig of the sour berries while he steadfastly ignored everyone.

Okaaay. The muscles in his abdomen flexed under his sleek black pelt as he reached for more food, and I looked away quickly.

“Shej.”

I blinked at Litha.

She held up a piece of the eel-salmon and repeated, “Shej.” Then she offered me one of the carroty things, saying, “Lellek.”

I sniffed it suspiciously. It didn’t smell like much of anything to me, and I couldn’t decide if that was a good or bad thing. I had a contentious relationship with vegetables.

I nibbled the end and—at first—was pleasantly surprised. It was a little sweet, kind of like jicama. Then bitterness hit the back of my throat, and I gagged.

I forced myself to swallow what was in my mouth, but pushed away the rest, shaking my head firmly. “Icks.”

“Joarit, ray set sy zhai,” Litha insisted, pushing it back.

I frowned at her. Her tone sounded like every lecture of “eat it, it’s good for you” I’d ever gotten. But that nasty thing would have to make me immortal before I put any more in my mouth. Maybe not even then.

Litha sighed, and I heard a deep, muffled chuckle. Following the sound, I caught Revik rubbing his jaw. I squinted. He was laughing at me, the jerk.

Zafett’s ears flicked, betraying his amusement, but all he said was, “Svixa, joarit va lellek. Iltet ayn zhai tol.”

I watched in horrified fascination as Svixa ate a whole nasty carrot thing in two quick bites, then did the same with a second one before sticking out a surprisingly long black tongue and making a hacking noise of distaste. She bit into thesorumelon Litha tossed her with relish.

“It’s not bad, actually,” Ria said, munching.

I gaped at her.

“What? I like bitter.”

Shane tried a bite, but immediately put thelellekdown, betrayal in the curl of his lip. “You like black licorice, don’t you?”

Ria just laughed and made “yum” sounds as she chewed.

Beside her, Cass picked halfheartedly at hershej. She, like Mariano, had been quiet today.

I replied to something Therry said, but my attention was on my brother and his butterfly. I figured we were all one straw from nervous breakdowns, with everything that we’d been through. But after that shit with Logan...

I was worried about her.

And it was never a good thing when my brother stopped playing. He got all in his head and started acting like a pendejo. Doing stupid shit like blaming himself for things he had no control over, and threatening our only friends on a strange planet.

I needed to get him alone and bully him into talking.

My mouth wanted to keep eating, but after a month of shitty alien shakes I was full—and sleepy with it—all too soon. My eyelids were heavy, and I yawned. It was still light out, but it felt so late. Probably the lack of sleep combined with the all-day crash course in Teterayuh 101. Not to mention the whole, “abducted by aliens” thing.

I must have dozed off, because the next thing I knew, I half woke, cozy and wrapped in my favorite faux fur blanket. Something was vibrating, and I patted around, trying to find the toy I must have left on.

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