CHAPTER EIGHT

MELISSA

Mel’s bullshit meter wasn’t so much pinging as it was wailing like an air-raid siren. Jahle’s despair went beyond losing pepper and cumin. She took in his pallor and the trembling in his hands. She bit her lip.

Is he a druggie? Is that his stash?

If so, did she want to travel with him any farther? Her fingers tightened around the gun, and she inched her finger to the trigger.

Is he dangerous?

Jahle lay down and extended his arms down the cliff toward the bag below. When he couldn’t reach, he shimmied forward, until his chest dangled. When he tried to move even further down, Mel grabbed the back of his shirt and hauled him back.

“Stop!” she ordered. “It’s out of reach. It’s gone.”

Jahle crawled to the cliff and dropped his head against the wall.

“I have failed,” he said.

Mel tapped her foot. She took a moment to organize her thoughts. “Jahle, I need you to level with me. What the hell is in that bag?”

Jahle rubbed his forehead. He took a shuddering breath, and lifted his eyes to hers.

“The satchel does not contain spices.”

“Yeah, I kinda figured that one out for myself. What’s in the bag, then?”

“Drugs,” he said simply.

I knew it! That’s why he’s been acting so crazy!

“Medicine,” he clarified.

“Huh?”

“I have no honor. I have lied to you.”

Mel snorted in frustration. “This is harder than getting information out of Jen,” she muttered. She kicked his booted foot with the toe of her sneaker. “Start talking.”

He gestured to the smoke plume below. “Those are the Water People, I hope. I am bringing them medicine and food. They are sick. They have children…” His voice faded out.

“Okay, so you… you what? Grabbed medicine and extra food because you knew we were coming this way?”

He shot her a look full of misery. “I lied to you. I never intended to lead you to the spaceport. We went the opposite direction. My goal was to bring supplies to the Water People. Before my brother came after us and forced us to return to Kreebo.”

“You… you knew I wouldn’t make it?”

“I knew you would not escape Geran. Nobody does.”

If I don’t, what about Jen?

Mel stepped back. Her fingers fidgeted with the gun. “You… You risked getting shot?”

He waved his hand in dismissal. “It is not a weapon. It is harmless.”

The blood in her ears roared, as loud as the Geran wind. She stared at the device in her hand, then stepped forward. She placed the barrel of the gun against Jahle’s head.

“Don’t lie to me,” she said.

He looked up, and his eyes met hers. For a heartbeat, she was drawn into the sadness there. “I am done lying.”

He lied to me. He led me astray.

He let me believe I had hope.

She pulled the trigger. Five times in quick succession.

Nothing happened.

Jahle didn’t even blink.

When she was done, he lowered his eyes back to the ground. Mel puffed out the breath she didn’t realize she was holding. With it, her anger faded. She sank to the floor beside Jahle, the gun – whatever this thing is – clutched in her fingers.

“I didn’t shoot the giant bugs, did I?”

“No, the sonar evaluator simply emitted a sound wave which repelled them.”

“I made loud noises until they went away?”

“Yes,” he said.

“Wow, I suck.”

“You believed you could, and thus you did.”

“Thanks, Mom.” They sat in silence for a moment before Mel spoke again. “So, you did all this to help the Water People? They’re sick?”

“Of dolor. Ketug of the Water People came to my brother, begging for help. Dogan turned him away.”

“Dogan… The guy who ordered my haircut?” Anger bubbled in her throat. Mel didn’t consider herself vain, but her hair was her pride and joy. Jenna turned heads when she smiled, but Mel stopped traffic with her hair.

Jahle sighed. “Yes.”

“The guy who kidnapped me is your brother?”

Another sigh. “Yes.”

“Your brother is the leader?”

“The king of the Ennoi Geran.”

“You’re a prince?”

He winced. “Technically.”

“Huh. Anything else you lied about?”

“Possibly.”

Sheesh. You sure can pick ‘em, Mel.

“Wow!” She kept her tone light and joking, but the bitterness crept in, anyway. “Is your name even Jahle? Is this really an alien planet, or am I stuck in a parking lot in Arizona?”

He didn’t reply.

Mel tipped her head back and stared at the sliver of sky visible at the roof of the cavern. “Your brother coming after us?”

“Almost certainly. He would not wish to lose you.”

“How long before he finds us?”

Jahle shrugged. “I do not know, but it is inevitable.”

She should start walking. Get as far away from Dogan as her feet could carry her. Maybe she would get eaten by giant bugs, or her corpse would lie crushed under rocks, but at least she wouldn’t be chained to a wall.

“Why did he kidnap me, anyway? Is it ‘cause Jen knows aliens exist? You know what? Never mind.” She rolled to her feet. “Now is not the time. We will talk later. You will tell me everything.”

She peered over the edge of the cliff at the bag below. “Right now, we have to get those meds. We have to be quick. It’s not that far. We can figure it out.”

She paced while she thought. “What we need is a ladder. Or rope. Okay, I got it.” She paused. “Turn around. Face the rocks. Don’t peek.”

Even as he dutifully followed her order, she wondered what she was thinking. He’ll just have to turn around again in a minute. She pulled off her sweatshirt and jeans. The air was balmy compared to the earlier tunnels, but she shivered as she tied the clothing together. In just her underwear and a thin T-shirt, she felt strangely exposed.

“I-I need your pants, too,” she said.

With a puzzled grunt, Jahle looked over his shoulder at her. For a moment, he appeared to be pinned in place. Only his eyes moved, flicking over her body from the top of her bright head down to the scuffed toes of her sneakers. Mostly, though, his gaze lingered on her torso.

“We could make a rope,” she explained. “If we had enough fabric, we could make a rope down to- to the bag.”

Heat flooded Mel’s cheeks. There was something in his gaze that seemed to tear away the flimsy fabric of her Friday Is My Second Favorite F-Word shirt. Goosebumps rose along her arms, and across her chest. She resisted the urge to wrap her arms around herself.

“Well?” She propped one fist on her hip. “You gonna stare or you gonna help?”

Mutely, he shook his head, then cleared his throat. “The sonar evaluator. It has a strap. It might do.”

The makeshift rope ended several feet short of their target. Mel chewed her lip. “Okay, see that ledge over there? You could lower me down to that, I’ll toss up the bag, and then you pull me back up.”

Jahle shook his head. “No, too dangerous. I will not allow you to risk yourself.”

Mel rolled her eyes. “One, you don’t get to tell me what I can and cannot do. Two, people will die, Jahle. More people than just me. We need that bag.” She grabbed his arm, and shook him until he met her gaze. “If we don’t do this, people will die. Kids will die.”

“It may already be too late.” His voice was barely a whisper.

“Maybe, maybe not. But if we stand here and argue about it, we will definitely be too late. I don’t have that kind of karma to spare. Lower me down.”

As Mel swung her feet over the edge, her mouth went dry. She tried to avoid picturing the tininess of the city below. She wound the strap around her wrist a few times. They had tested the strength of her knots, but her heart pounded. A stream of what-ifs and maybes ran through her mind.

It’s the maybes that’ll kill you.

Or maybe it’s the sudden stop at the end of the fall that’ll kill me.

Bracing himself against a rock, Jahle fed slack to the rope, letting Mel work her way downward. She pressed her body to the slope, trying to ignore the sharp edges of stones digging into her. She tested each stone before she placed her full weight on it. Every now and then, she peeked downward, trying to orient herself.

It took a nerve-wracking several minutes to reach the stone outcropping for which she had aimed. It was wide enough for both feet, though she would not be able to turn. The bag hung from a rock to her right. From down here, it seemed impossibly far away.

“Is all well?” Jahle called down.

“Yup! Yup,” she answered, then added in a whisper, “just trying not to pee myself.”

Gritting her teeth, Mel leaned to the side. The sharp rocks dug into her bare skin, pressing against her breasts and her knees where she supported herself. Her palm, with the rope wrapped around it, burned, but she didn’t dare let go.

Her fingers inched across the gap. “Almost, almost,” she muttered. “Come to mama, you piece of…”

With a whoop of triumph, her fingers closed around the strap of the bag. She pulled it to her, and slung it over her shoulder.

“Okay, big guy,” she called to Jahle. “Haul me up.”

“Hold tight,” he replied. His brow was creased with worry, but he began to pull her upward. Mel climbed as well as she could. To think, if we were horizontal instead of vertical, the distance would be about as wide as my bedroom.

Her face still burned as she climbed over the edge. Jahle wrapped his arm around her waist and rolled, pulling her over him and onto the firm rock of the path.

Mel lay there for a moment, panting. She giggled and clutched the bag to her. “I got it! I got it! I can’t believe I actually got it. We, I mean. We got it.”

She glanced over at her companion. Jahle studied her with that serious expression of his. What is he thinking? Her lips parted, to speak a word of thanks, or to reassure him that they would make it to the Water People in time.

She never got a chance to speak.

Jahle leaned forward slightly, as he began to rise to his feet. His face moved closer to hers. Mel leaned the rest of the way in and kissed him.

For a second, the shock of the contact froze them both. Then Mel cupped his face with her hand and drew him toward her. With a groan deep in his throat, he rolled forward, covering her body with his. The kiss deepened, and for a moment, Mel simply savored the sensation of his warm skin pressed against hers. The softness of his lips seemed to melt away the ache in her arms and hands.

What am I doing?

She wrapped her arms around his neck, and drew him even closer. Her lips parted as his tongue darted against hers. Her head felt light, like it might float away.

I’m going mad.