Chapter 1
Natalie scanned the dense foliage and shivered. “Oh, my God!”
Kyan glanced at her. “What’s the matter? Don’t you like it?”
Natalie shifted from one foot to the other. “I like it. I just wasn’t expecting it to be so.....so wild.”
Natalie and her friends stood in a line on a flat expanse of grass where Star Destroyer Mixtidelin dropped them off on Kyan’s home planet of Eblian. An enormous lake stretched from one end of the horizon to the other behind them. It reflected the crystal clear sunlight in shimmering waves that obscured the mirror reflection of the mountains beyond.
In front of them, covering the rest of the visible planet from one corner of the lake to the other, stood impenetrable forests. Not a ray of bright sun lit that solid mass of vegetation. Were Natalie and her friends really going to live in that? What had they gotten themselves into?
“It’s not as bad as I thought it would be,” Melanie remarked. “Actually, I think it’s breathtakingly beautiful.”
Natalie’s heart went out to her friend. She took her eyes off the forest and smiled at Melanie instead. “I think it’s beautiful, too. Let’s figure out where we’re going to spend the night.”
“That’s easy,” Kyan replied. “We’ll spend it with the Eblians. They’re curious to know all about us. I’m sure no one on this planet has seen an Earthling before.”
“How do you know they’re curious?” Natalie asked. “They don’t even know we’re here.”
“Of course they do.” Kyan waved toward the forest. “They’re watching us right now.”
Natalie’s head whipped around. “Where?”
Kyan pointed toward the trees. “Right there. Can’t you see them? They’ve been watching us ever since we landed. They’re probably wondering why we don’t make ourselves at home.”
Natalie studied the forest, but she couldn’t make out anything more than a blank wall of green. Where were the faces peering out at them? If they looked anything like Kyan, with his bright green skin, they would blend right in. She could stare all day and never see them until they made themselves known to her.
How could she make her home among these people? Would she ever feel at home here? She would always be an outsider, with her white skin. Would her friends have any chance of settling here? They followed Natalie here in the hope of building new lives for themselves. Would they all live to regret their decision?
Melanie spoke up again. “How can we make ourselves at home? We’re strangers. Maybe they think we’re hostile.”
“I’m here,” Kyan replied. “They know I wouldn’t come here with anybody hostile. They’re waiting for me to take you to my home village and introduce you to my parents.”
Natalie’s head shot up again, but when she saw his face, she couldn’t help but smile. She came here to build a future with the love of her life. She should know Kyan would never let her down. She would stay close to him, and everything would work out just fine. “Let’s go. I can’t wait to meet them.”
He squeezed her hand. “Come on.”
“Not so fast.” Arno’s voice boomed from the end of the line. “There’s one thing we haven’t worked out yet.”
Natalie and Kyan turned toward him, but unlike the rest of the group, Arno wasn’t looking at the forest. He gazed toward the edge of the lake, where a pile of their luggage sat heaped on the gravel beach. A lone figure sat on one of the steel boxes and stared at the sunlight shimmering on the waves.
Natalie sighed. “What are we going to do about Tina? We can’t just leave her here while the rest of us troop off to the village.”
Melanie rolled her eyes and turned away. “Leave her here. I’m sick of making special allowances for her. She hasn’t been through anything worse than the rest of us. She has no excuse for sitting around moping and staring into the distance when the rest of us are trying to do something productive with our lives. If she’s too traumatized to come with us to the village, then she can stay here and rot for all I care.”
Natalie cringed. “Don’t talk like that, Melanie. Have a little compassion.”
Amber glanced at Tina from her place between Arno and Natalie. “I’ll stay with her. The rest of you can go off to the village and meet Kyan’s people. I’ll keep an eye on Tina.”
Natalie’s shoulders relaxed. “Thanks, Amber. I really appreciate it.”
Amber studied the still figure by the water. “I understand why she’s doing this. I feel the same way myself, even if I don’t act the same way. I went through the same hardship, and that’s why I can sympathize with what she’s going through. She’s holding the same pain on the outside the rest of us feel on the inside. I’m grateful to her for that.”
Natalie squeezed Amber’s arm. “What will you do out here, all alone with her?”
Amber squinted up at the sky. “The sun will go down soon, and if I’m any judge of weather, it’s going to get cold tonight.”
“Yes, it is,” Kyan added. “That’s why we should all be in the village before sundown.”
Amber shook her head. “We won’t get Tina to the village today, or anytime soon. I’ll build a shelter for us here.”
She grabbed one of the larger boxes from the pile and popped the latches. The lid fell off to reveal an array of heavy hand tools. “I’ll cut some logs from the forest and build a shelter.”
Natalie’s eyes widened. “Can you really do that?”
Amber shot her a grin. “I used to work with my dad in the logging camps up in Saskatchewan. You didn’t know that, did you?”
Natalie shook her head in mute wonder.
Amber dug through the box and pulled out an axe. She hefted it in her hand. “I know what you’re thinking. You thought since I got scared when the Toom first abducted us that I would be a liability when we landed here. But there’s no danger here. I know what to do for Tina, and you can trust me to do it.”
“I do trust you, Amber,” Natalie replied. “I’m just surprised. That’s all.”
Amber scraped her thumb over the sharp edge of the axe and nodded. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the regeneration bed took my fear away. I noticed that on the Magellan planet. No matter what happened, no matter what the Toom did to me, I was never scared. I wondered if that confidence would wear off with the other effects of the regeneration bed, but I guess it hasn’t.”
Natalie couldn’t suppress her laughter any longer. “Thank you, Amber. Thank you for taking care of Tina. All of us owe you a huge thanks.”
Arno stepped forward. “I’m staying, too. If you think you’re going to haul timber from the forest to build a shelter before nightfall, you’ll need some muscle to do it. I don’t feel comfortable leaving Tina, either. We’ll work together to build a camp here. It might turn out to be temporary, but we don’t know. We might be here longer than we think.”
Amber smiled at him. “Thanks, Arno. I need all the help I can get.”
Natalie turned back to Kyan. “Good. We’re ready to go then.”
Kyan waved toward the forest, and he and Natalie and Melanie set off toward the treeline. Halfway across the grass, Natalie cast a glance back toward the lake. Arno bent over the tool box and lifted out a heavy blasting maul. Then he and Amber started toward the forest together.
Natalie fell in at Kyan’s side, and the canopy closed over their heads. The hoots and screams of animals echoed through the forest, and Natalie peered up into the shadows. Indistinct shapes fluttered overhead, and they all seemed to move in the same direction along with her and her friends. Were the Eblians following them? Were they waiting to pounce once the little group got out of sight of the lake?
But why would they do that? Kyan was returning home, clothed in glory, after years fighting the Toom with the Galactic Police Force. He brought with him four females to the devastated Eblian population. Why would the native inhabitants attack them now?
Kyan always told her the Eblians were a peaceful, retiring species. So why did she hesitate to meet them in their own territory? Wasn’t she here to make this planet her home? She loved Kyan more than anything, and she wanted nothing more than to love his people, too.
Kyan took her hand, and his warm skin reassured her. He’d never let anything bad happen to her, not even when they traveled into dangerous situations together. He wouldn’t let anything happen to her here.
He led her farther into the heart of the forest, where skyscraper-sized trees blocked out the light. Water dripped from the treetops onto their heads, and hidden creatures screeched more terribly than ever. After a long walk in darkness, Kyan stopped and peered upwards. He nodded. “This is the spot.”
Natalie glanced around. “What is?”
He let go of her hand. “This is where we go up.”
Natalie opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Melanie hovered at her side in silent trepidation. Nothing but enormous trees surrounded them on all sides.
All at once, Kyan set off running at top speed through the dense underbrush. He broke branches and crashed through piles of debris underfoot. Then, with a great burst of speed, he leapt into the air and extended his hand as far above his head as he could reach. He caught hold of a creeping vine dangling from the nearest tree—and disappeared.
Natalie stared up into empty space where he used to be. High above her, a black shape crouched on a branch and gazed down at her. Was it Kyan? At that distance, she couldn’t be sure. His skin would blend into the mottled darkness perfectly, and not enough light eeked through the canopy to show her his shape or his face.
Then, out of nowhere, Kyan zinged down out of the air and hit the ground at her side. He held the creeper in one hand, and in a fraction of a second, he wrapped his other arm around her waist. Then, just as fast, the creeper recoiled and pulled him up into the canopy with Natalie clutched tight against his chest. They sailed up into the treetops and left the ground far below them.