Chapter Twenty-Five

A balding man wearing horn-rimmed glasses and a flannel shirt too large for his slim frame sat cross-legged upon the bank of a glittering pond. He held an old fishing pole between his legs and began to patch up the bait cast with silver masking tape. Satisfied, he looked over his shoulder, patting a vacant patch of grass next to him. A warm smile illuminated his sunken face.

"Come sit next to me, Eden."

Eden toddled over to the man using her stumpy legs. The man scooped her up before her overexcited little legs sent her toppling over the brink of the bank. He set her down next to him, gently placing the hook of the fishing rod in her small palms. The child dug into the tub of live bait next to her. She giggled at the tiny creatures squirming against her fingers. The man took the wiggling bait from her and fixed it onto the hook.

"Are you ready, Eden?" the man asked. He placed his arms over hers, guiding her movements. "Remember what I told you. You have to flick your wrist back and then push forward."

"Okay."

"When you feel a nibble, what do you do?"

"I watch the line in the water. Then I pull."

"That's right. Go ahead. You can do it, Eden."

The tip of Eden's tongue poked out from the corner of her mouth as she concentrated. The man removed his arms from her and allowed the child to cast the rod on her own. The tip of her rod dipped into the water with a soft splash. The bright red fishing bobber bounced on the rippling surface of the pond. Within mere seconds, her arms tugged forward at an unmistakable nibble on the other end of the line. The little girl's eyes popped wide open in gleeful excitement.

As the indicator line around the bobber sunk under the water, Eden pulled with all the giddy gusto of a young child. Water splashed around her as a thrashing fish jumped out of the surface and soared through the air, landing next to her. She glanced down at the fat rainbow trout flopping on the ground. It was nearly two feet from nose to tail. Beaming with pride, she turned around to brag about her capture.

"Dad, did you see what I just did? Dad?"

There was no answer.

Eden twirled around in panic. The man was gone. Her bottom lip began to tremble. She got up and began to look for her father. No matter how hard she tried to retrace her steps, her ruffled socks and Mary Janes only seemed to move around in circles.

Giving up, the child fell onto the cushion of the grass below her. As her eyes settled on the trout next to her, she tilted her head slightly to the side.

The shadows of an Arkadian symbol could be seen on the scales of the dead fish.

The pungent stench of sulfur blew into Eden's nostrils. She slowly woke up. It was a burden to lift her head from her shoulders. But as she sluggishly came to, numbing waves of hysteria washed over her system.

She found herself trapped in a vertical cage suspended high above the ground. A sturdy pair of handcuffs restrained her hands over her head. They were designed to impede all wrist movement.

The rusty chains dangling from the ceiling gave her a small amount of movement in her legs. A separate pair of restraints held her ankles in place. Everything was designed to keep her thrashing to a minimum. The muscles in her limbs nagged at her for depriving them of rest as she fought to keep herself standing up.

Eden inspected the walls of the cage with a sinking heart. Ominous bolts of red electricity sparked between the spaces of the black bars. She had as much chance of escaping containment as a roasted duck hanging in the display window of a Chinese restaurant.

She puckered her lips as she breathed loudly through her mouth. She tried to keep her mind calm as she studied her surroundings. The walls around her cage contained rows of capsules reaching higher than she could see. She stretched her neck forward, straining to get a better look at the mysterious vessels. They had a thick, gelatinous liquid the murky color of mucus and something Eden couldn't comprehend.

When she realized what was in the capsules, she gasped in shock. Along with a handful of humanoid captives, different races of aliens occupied the containers. The capsules permanently preserved their final haunting expressions before death. Eden tore her eyes away from the gruesome graveyard. She fought back the sour taste of bile rising in her throat.

The sprouts of moss growing from damp spots on the crumbling cavern walls suggested she was underground. As she saw dozens of uniformed Noxx officials pouring in through a doorway on her right, she realized where she was.

Bounty hunters had been on a quest to uncover the lair of the Noxx army for years. She was in the middle of it. Thiago would love this place if he could ever find it.

"Hey, assholes! Let me out of here!" Eden said in disgust.

Eden pulled back as her gob of spit bounced off the sparking cage bars and deflected back on her face. The heads of the aliens shifted up to listen to the shrieks of the human prisoner. One was startled more than the others. The bungling official struck the back of his head on a hanging wall fixture. He reeled over dizzily before another alien swooped in and caught him.

"You! You there with the lazy eye! Stop acting like you can't hear me. I know you can. Go ahead, guys, walk away from me all you want. I've got a whole playlist of horrible pop songs in my arsenal, and I'm not afraid to use them! I'll give you a fair warning. I can't carry a tune to save my life."

The Noxx officials continued as if she hadn't said anything. A few shielded their ears to block out Eden's obnoxiously shrill voice. She cleared her throat theatrically. When she started belting the tune to one of her favorite childhood TV shows, a few aliens cried out boisterously in protest.

Eden's mouth shriveled shut as the door to the central entryway opened. A Noxx dressed in a unique set of black army fatigues strode into the room. He was much taller than the guards. In addition to the Noxx's imposing height, there were distinctive chocolate-brown markings shaped in a lopsided V between his eyes. Before, the officials were at ease. After their superior entered, they quietly moved to form neat lines.

Ardela quickly joined him. "I'm interested to know your thoughts on the cargo, Malatov."

The pair ascended a long flight of steps leading to the pedestal on which Eden's cage rested. Eden cowered before them, burying her face in her arms as the pair leaned in and examined her. Malatov snarled, his guttural roar frightening everyone as it echoed through the space of the underground cavern.

"Look at me."

Involuntarily, Eden's head moved up from her arm. Disobeying the commanding voice was difficult. As Malatov sized her up, she couldn't stop her teeth from chattering. At this proximity, the Noxx leader was worse than she had imagined.

Malatov probed her with his fiery amber eyes. The one on his left was sewn partially shut and only exposed a sliver of a congealed, severely infected eye socket. The grayed feathers that adorned his head drooped from age. Exquisite, time-worn tattoos covered the gleaming white scales of the bowling ball-sized muscles bulging from his arms.

Ardela beamed alongside him. She sneaked a cheeky wink in Eden's direction. The Arkadian woman's hair was pulled away from her face in a sleek ponytail, displaying her beautiful chin and close-lipped smile in its full glory.

"Are you sure you've brought me the correct tramp? This one's human, for goodness sake."

"Trust me, this is the one. It looks like Thiago's got himself a new fetish for Earth skanks. The half-breed's finally showing his true colors, I suppose."

Malatov laughed huskily in agreement. He stroked his chin. A flake of skin peeled off his pink snout as he sniffed Eden.

"She's little on the lean side. I don't like her hair, but she smells as sweet as my last kill."

"I can guarantee that Thiago will be looking for her very soon. He'll come directly to you. When he arrives, you and your men are free to finish him off."

Eden gasped. "Ardela, why are you doing this?" she asked. Her voice sounded more brittle than she had intended. "How could you? With him? Look at him!"

"Don't take it personally, sweetheart. It's just business," Ardela replied promptly. The nasty tone of her voice sent an unpleasant tingle down Eden's spine. "You're a smart girl. Keep your head up. For what it's worth, I did like you. If you need to know why, it should be obvious. Malatov is offering much more than any of the pitiful rewards the authorities are willing to fork over."

"You greedy, two-faced bitch."

Ardela stuck a hand on her hip and motioned to a new, ring-pop sized jewel on the little finger of her free hand. "That may be, but I've just bought myself a nice little treat worth more than your life ever will be. It only cost a quarter of what I received for escorting you here. The ring's not too flashy, is it? What do you think?"

"I think you should take that ring and jam it up your mom's hole in case she spawns any more of Satan's babies."

"Feisty girl!" Ardela rolled her eyes. "When you have no weapons left, all you can do is use your mouth."

Malatov stuck a hand through the bars of the cage to caress the supple skin of Eden's burning cheeks.

"I can see why the bastard's got a soft spot for her. She's attractive, in a primitive sort of way."

Eden whipped her hair around her face as she pulled away from Malatov. Her shackles clanged together. Two small spiders crawled out from Malatov's sleeves, crossed the bridge of his crooked yellowing fingers, and leaped onto Eden's twisting neck.

As his fingers approached her contorting lips, Eden reacted instinctively. She clamped her jaw over two of his fingers, chomping down as hard as she could.

"Son of a bitch! Get off of me, you disgusting human!"

There was a loud crack as Malatov's knuckles connected with Eden's cheek. Her head slumped to the side of her neck. She couldn't believe the viscous display of force. Malatov withdrew his arms from the cage, angrily setting the voltage of the cage bars to its highest setting.

As a bickering Ardela and Malatov wandered down the flight of steps and away from her, Eden couldn't control her emotions any longer. Sobbing, Eden quietly cried herself to sleep.