Page 12 of Shadow Mark

Lenore peeled the foil top off the bottle. The contents were murky brown but smelled chocolatey. She took a cautious sip and then gulped down half the bottle when she realized it tasted like a peanut butter chocolate smoothie.

“This is so good,” Lenore said, practically moaning in pleasure. The smoothie was rich, almost too rich, but she didn’t care. She missed bread. And apples. Just food. Food she didn’t have to catch and skin and filet.

While she ate, Sarah explained how the portal dumped her in the middle of a sacred site and Vekele found her. Vekele had never seen a human before, and he thought she was a spy. There were politics. Apparently, this was a high-tech society but with medieval politics, complete with two branches of the royal family warring over control of the crown. Lenore focused on her meal, half-listening.

“It’s a lot like that show with the dragon and people who are always killing each other,” Sarah said.

“Sounds more like the War of the Roses to me,” Lenore said.

Sarah perked immediately. “Oh, that’s good. Yes, like that. Anyway, things happened, and the king owes me a favor. So now we’re doing search and rescue missions for other people who’ve been portaled. We’re also working on finding a way to get back to Earth.”

“That’s a spaceship outside, right? The way back to Earth seems obvious to me.”

“Earth’s a really long way away, and they don’t have any ships capable of the journey, so I’ve been told. Apparently, making a portal is easier.”

Sure. That sounded plausible. Lenore fought the urge to roll her eyes. Everything Sarah said sounded very pie-in-the-sky with a heavy pair of rose-colored glasses. She had doubts.

“And you’re just doing this out of the kindness of your heart?” Lenore asked. She finished off the last fruit slice. It was nice. While it had the texture of an apple, it had a subtle, barely sweet flavor. She could eat a dozen more. “How do I know you’re not a sicko intent on selling me at auction to other sickos? Or do you plan to stuff me full of alien baby eggs?”

Sarah wrinkled her nose. “Eww. Why would I do that?”

“Why would you help me? Nothing’s free.” Her gut told her there had to be a catch, and her gut had kept her alive on another planet.

“Honestly? I don’t want to go back to Earth. I worked retail. My old life was boring. I want adventure and to see the galaxy. This is an adventure with the bonus of helping people.”

Again, plausible, if a little too sunshine-and-rainbows twee for Lenore’s tastes. Maybe Sarah was just like that, all Pollyanna sunshine to Lenore’s skeptical grump.

Lenore packed up the trash from the meal into its box and reached for the medical kit. Inside were the standard first aid kit supplies: gauze, bandage, ointment in tubes, and little packets that she hoped were wipes. She ignored the pair of sinister-looking syringes. The contents looked familiar yet were dissimilar enough to be frustrating. The scout guidebook’s diagrams didn’t cover this. What she assumed to be a tube of antibiotic ointment could very well be sunscreen.

“Can you read any of this?” Lenore asked, giving up on trying to figure it out on her own.

“Vekele can do that. He’s trained in first aid.” Sarah waved to the man lurking at the door.

“That’s swell, but I’m a doctor. I’d rather do it myself.”

“A doctor? Really?”

“Yup, and I’ve got the student loans for med school to prove it. Which one is the disinfectant?”

“Those.” Sarah pointed to a stack of small white packets.

Lenore tore open the packet to remove a swab and cautiously sniffed. It smelled like disinfectant. “This is safe for humans? It’s not corrosive acid that’ll eat my flesh?”

The prince, still lurking in the doorway, said something that sounded rather rude.

“Look, it’s an honest question,” Lenore said, tired and fed up. “Half the plants out there make me break out in hives.”

Sarah’s gaze bounced between Lenore and the prince. “He says it’s safe. All the products have been used on me. No one’s face melted.”

Lenore seriously doubted that’s what he said, but whatever, as long as her foot didn’t get infected. She slathered on an ointment before reaching for the gauze. While she worked on wrapping her foot, she reviewed everything Sarah had told her. The woman—princess, believe it or not—seemed genuine. And honestly, even if Sarah and her alleged prince were going to sell her at an auction, Lenore didn’t have a lot of choices. She could continue doing her best scout impersonation and hope she survived the winter, or she could take her chances with Sarah and company.

“How many people have you rescued?” Lenore asked.

“Two. No, three, technically,” Sarah answered slowly. “There was someone before you, but they didn’t…make it.”

That made perfect sense to Lenore. If that wolf creature hadn’t distracted the lizard-cat today, Lenore wouldn’t have made it, either.

Sarah offered her a pair of fresh socks. The material was thin and flexible like neoprene, but the sole felt tough enough to protect her from rocks and thorns.

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