Flying in Spaceships with Aliens (Kilbus Lord Book 2)

by Erin Raegan

  Kil led us to a cut-out in the wall that was big enough to fit an eighteen-wheeler truck. We walked inside and he pressed a button on the wall until the doors slid shut.

  “Uh-oh,” Iris mumbled, watching her father and Sal.

  Kil looked at them sharply. “It is like an—floating box. What is it called?”

  “Elevator,” Noah answered dryly.

  Kil nodded with a sharp grin. “Yes.”

  “An elevator on a spaceship,” Tibert said to Sal with a harsh breath. “Not at all the same. Don’t you dare hurl again.”

  Sal scowled.

  Everyone took several steps away from the pair. Kil pressed another button and the floor vibrated slightly.

  Sal shakily sat down, leaning his head against the wall. “Not in space. Not in space. I am not in space.”

  “You are very much in space,” Lahn said, chuckling.

  “Shh,” Bets hissed. “You’re right, dear. We’re in the car.” She smiled. “Oh, floating on a boat!”

  “A cruise liner!” Iris shouted.

  “Disneyland!” Wes crowed.

  Tibert looked at them, baffled.

  “What? We’re pretending, aren’t we?” Wes asked, looking confused.

  “Sure, son.” Tibert looked at Noah and me and circled his finger around his ear, pointing back at Wes dramatically.

  “I’m your son,” Wes rumbled.

  “I don’t claim you when you’re stupid,” Tibert shot back.

  Noah pinched the bridge of his nose.

  “We’re here,” Kil said dryly.

  The doors opened into another hallway, this one much smaller. We walked out to dozens of aliens walking the halls. All of them stopped to gape at us.

  “Nope,” Sal shouted. “Not in space.”

  Bets looked at the huge windows with fire in her eyes. “Couldn’t have warned us?”

  Kil sighed and pointed down the hallway. “This way.”

  We walked for close to twenty minutes, down hallway after hallway. So many aliens passed by us and around us, there must have been upward of thousands on the ship. Maybe even tens of thousands.

  I couldn’t seem to keep my eyes off the windows. To our left, Earth in all its perilous glory. And to the right, the moon. But beyond and out both sides was so much floating debris, it obscured your sight.

  There had been a battle here. We’d heard the rumors, and Lahn and Kayd had confirmed it. First the Vitat, then a universal Galactic military force that had attempted to enslave us. And if it hadn’t been for Kil and the Dahk and the Xixin and so many others, they would have succeeded.

  I watched the windows in awe. Starstruck, literally. We were in space. On a spaceship. If you’d told me before I met Kil I would be here, I would have told you to book a therapy appointment.

  But it was undeniable, and terrifying, and completely beautiful.

  Sal did not agree with me. He couldn’t look out the windows without having to sit down and catch his breath.

  Wes and Iris were bouncing excitedly from one place to the next.

  Tibert seemed to take it in, like Paul and Landon, not acknowledging their current location at all.

  Jeremy and Holden were impatient and irritated. Now that they had the means to go home, they wanted it badly.

  I understood Holden’s reasons, but Jeremy’s didn’t make sense. Yes, he’d loved Abby, same as me. Yes, he’d loved other people from home, same as me. But it had to be more than that for him. His irritation at his surroundings was hard to ignore.

  “This wing will be your quarters,” Kil said after we turned a corner and walked through a door. “There are several sleeping rooms, a meal area, and an area to train and stretch yourselves. Movement is very important here. The strain of space travel can take its toll.”

  We nodded, taking in the space. In the center was the meal area with tables and a counter, weird-looking machines in every corner. Through a room to the left was a large area with padded flooring and what looked to be exercise equipment. It held mostly weapons though.

  Kil stopped beside me. “You won’t be needing those.”

  Noah snorted.

  “I have business to finish before we begin our journey. You’ll be safe here. Taken care of. You can reach me through Oren if you need anything.”

  “We’re leaving Earth?” Holden asked sharply.

  Kil looked from me to him. “No, not for a time. When the Guhuvin relieve our presence in two Earthen weeks, yes, I will escort you to your new home.” He looked back at me. “If that is what you wish.”

  “It is,” Noah answered for me. Not lying, but certainly not consulting me first. As per usual.

  Killian stiffened and nodded sharply. “I’ll leave you then.”

  And he left without a backward glance. Not even a see you later. Just stomped right out of the cavernous room.

  Oren shrugged when he caught my eye. “You do not invite him closer.”

  “I thought you couldn’t read minds,” I shot back, uncomfortable.

  “I do not,” he said, turning away. “But I cannot help making simple observations when you wear your emotions so clearly on your face.”

  While everyone else was looking around, Holden and Jeremy cornered me.

  “I’ll ask him,” I grumbled. “I will.”

  “Now, Theo,” Holden said.

  “Fine,” I whined.

  At this point, I sounded as if I didn’t give a damn about Abby and that wasn’t the truth. I was stalling. But if Abby was there, stranded or suffering, if anyone was back home, I was just making them suffer longer.

  But what happened when we did go back and found nothing waiting for us?

  What would we do then?

  The Deal

  Theo

  I may have been a teensy bit lost.

  Oren either hadn’t seen me slip away or he’d let me go—it was hard to tell. But I’d stupidly walked right out of the room and into the alien halls alone. Angry at Jeremy and Holden—at myself and my own fear of the unknown—and not thinking straight. And now, after wandering around for what had to be at least an hour, I was good and lost on an alien spaceship.

  Where was I going? Oh, I had no idea. I hadn’t given it much thought when I left. Just that I was feeling the pressure and acted without thinking. I hadn’t even really intended to chase Kil down, evidenced by my slow crawl through the halls. I’d just been feeling anxious around the boys and their we-need-to-leave-right-now opinion. There judging glares.

  I bumped into alien after alien, all of them stopping to watch the freak show stumble around the halls. I kept muttering apologies, unsure if they could understand me.

  I finally stopped an alien that looked like Leo with a touch to his arm. He looked like a Xixin but he was here, so he must be Kilbus. It was all so confusing. “You think you could point me to—”

  He roared into my face.

  I yelped and backed away, bowling into a dozen other irritated aliens.

  So, not so friendly aliens here then.

  I kept my head down and kept walking. There were no signs. No YOUR LEADER IS THIS WAY directions. I was just guesstimating on a ship floating in space when I could accidentally walk through some door that could spit me out into space, sucking all the breath from my body and freezing me into a block of ice that could shatter from one touch of a grain of space dust. Just alive one second, shattered into a gazillion Theo dust particles the next.

  “I’ve missed that mind of yours,” a dark voice purred in my ear.

  I whirled around, all the hair on my arms standing on end. “Don’t do that,” I hissed at Killian.

  No, not Killian. Kil.

  “I missed Killian,” he said softly.

  “Stay out of my head.” I turned away and marched down the hall.

  “Impossible,” he crooned and chased me.

  I mentally sang songs and pictured sheep dancing in little glittery crowns and skirts. Killian snickered. I ignored him and kept on silently singing Billy Joe
l, loud and proud as if I were Aunt Bets.

  “Where are you going?”

  I stopped, the song petering out with my conviction. “Uh, I was, uh…”

  “Looking for me.”

  “I hate that you can do that,” I growled.

  Killian flushed a little and looked away from me. “I could never help myself around you.”

  “So you can control it,” I confirmed, seething.

  He nodded, looking everywhere but at me. “I can.”

  “So do it. Stay out of my head.”

  He sighed and looked back at me. “I don’t want to.”

  “I mean it. It’s not fair.”

  “How is it not fair?”

  “You have the advantage,” I whispered hotly. “I don’t know what you’re thinking, so it’s not fair.”

  He stepped into me fast, too fast, backing me into the wall. “Ask me. I’ll tell you exactly what I’m thinking.”

  He looked so earnest. So desperate. I looked around me, realizing we were in the middle of a crowded hall and had far too many eyes on us. “Back away.”

  He didn’t. His eyes flared, angry and defiant. “We need to talk.”

  I tucked my chin to my chest, avoiding those eyes. Those eyes I’d so easily fallen into years ago. “Just leave me alone.”

  He made a sound, low and impatient. “Leave me alone, she says.” He looked at the ceiling. “How am I to do that?”

  “I don’t know,” I mumbled. “Maybe the same way you have for two years.”

  Killian cursed and pushed away from me. “Come then, what did you want to speak to me about?”

  “Uh…” I looked back down the hallway.

  “I can’t leave you alone if you’re the one seeking me out.”

  Right. Because me having a question had anything to do with him and all the confessions behind his eyes.

  I sighed. “Jeremy and Holden.” I bit my lip. “They, uh, want—”

  “Me to take you back to your little town and search for survivors.” He rolled his hand impatiently. “I already read your thoughts. Theirs too.”

  “Then why ask me?” I growled.

  “Let’s move on to the bargain, sweets.”

  I shook my head sharply. “What? No, no bargain.”

  “You want something from me. Well, I want something in return.”

  I cursed. “You’re impossible.”

  “No,” he said quietly. “Not impossible. Determined. A Kilbus gives nothing away for free.”

  “Not even for me?” I stupidly asked. As if I was special or something. Dumb, dumb mouth spewing ridiculous crap all the time.

  His face softened. “No, not even for you.”

  “Fine. What do you want?”

  Killian looked me over from the tips of my ears to the tops of my toes. His gaze was hot and expressive. “What I’ve always wanted from you. Time. Just your time.”

  “No.” I ducked under his arm. “You want more than that.”

  “Oh, you can read my mind now?”

  “I might not know you, this you”—I waved at him—“but I still know enough of you. It’s not that simple with you. It never is.”

  He chuckled dryly. “No, it’s not. Give me your time, Theo. Just to explain myself. Then I will take you wherever you wish to go.”

  “Only talking?” I pushed.

  No touching. I could read the want in his eyes and I knew if he laid a hand on me I would be lost. I knew what his touch could do to me. What we’d almost done on that couch, in the front seat of my car. What I’d wanted from him so very badly.

  His eyes searched my face, his lips slowly lifting into a smirk. “My, my, sweets, what a filthy mind you have.”

  I groaned long and loud and walked away.

  “I love it!” he shouted. “Just for the record, you are welcome to those thoughts of me any time!”

  “Asshole!”

  “Do you even know where you’re going?”

  “I’ll figure it out!”

  I stomped away to the chorus of his chuckle. Cursing him and myself and every stupid, ridiculous thought in my head.

  “So just talk to him,” Holden said impatiently, pacing my room. It was a small room, just enough space for a bed and a wall compartment of shelves. It had its own bathroom though, which was nice.

  I looked away from him and Jeremy. “Easy for you to say.”

  “Look, Theo, we get this is hard,” Jeremy said haltingly, “but we need to go back.”

  “I know,” I said on a sigh. “I said I’d talk to him.”

  “So go then.” Holden pointed at the door.

  I gaped at him. “Everyone’s going to sleep. I got lost for hours earlier. It can wait until morning.”

  Holden cursed and left the room.

  “What is up his ass?” I asked Jeremy.

  “What’s up all our asses!” Jeremy barked. He sighed and rubbed his face. “Look, I’m just stressed. Holden’s been worried about Abby for two years now, and he really thought he might never see her again. The possibility now is killing him.”

  I looked down, guilty. They just wanted what any sane person would. To go home. To find Abby and anyone they could. But I wasn’t sane anymore. I was a shell of that girl from two years ago. Terror rooted me to the floor. I wasn’t ready to face my home. To face what I suspected waited for us there.

  Jeremy glared at me.

  “I get it. I miss Abby too. I’ll talk to Killian, but he wasn’t exactly following me back here.”

  “That guy’s an asshole for giving you an ultimatum.”

  “Tell me something I don’t know,” I muttered.

  “Just get some sleep. But if he doesn’t come here in the morning, then Holden and I are dragging you there.”

  I scowled as Jeremy slammed out of my room.

  I fisted the fabric of my nightshirt and settled back against the pillows of my bed. They were silky. So silky they were cold. The bed was tucked into a cubby in the wall, cocooning me, but it was dark in the room. No control panel for the lights meant all I had for light was the glow of the moon.

  I felt suffocated. Noah was in the room beside mine, Oren sleeping on a padded bench out in the common room. But I felt trapped between them both.

  I rolled onto my side and shut my eyes. I had to talk to him tomorrow. Things would be said, but I wasn’t as angry as I’d been the day he left. I was afraid all my hurt would come out and bleed onto the floor in front of him. Anger was a better emotion. Safer. But I couldn’t seem to muster the same level I’d had the day I found out what he truly was.

  It didn’t help that he would know everything I was about to say before I even opened my mouth.

  He could be reading my mind right now. Did that ability have a limit at all? Like, through walls was hard, but long distances was impossible? How did it work exactly?

  I stared at the dark wall of my cubby, biting my lip. Killian?

  Nothing. Duh. It wasn’t like he could project his thoughts into my head.

  Right?

  Killian? Can you hear me?

  Silence.

  I laughed darkly, rubbing my tired eyes. I was going to lose it. Completely crack wide open.

  Arguments and Apologies

  Theo

  “What is it?” Wes asked with a disgruntled look on his face. He poked the jelly ball with a thick finger.

  “Food,” Oren said sardonically.

  “Coulda fooled me,” Tibert mumbled.

  Oren sighed. “Would you like me to seek sustenance elsewhere?”

  Every one of us nodded. Lahn snorted, along with Kayd, and they snatched the jelly balls from our plates and devoured them.

  “The Dahk has decent food for humans,” Oren said. “Perhaps they may speak to their acting commander?”

  Lahn nodded absently, slurping the brown jelly into his mouth.

  I shuddered and looked away. The jelly smelled putrid and tasted even worse. I didn’t know how they ate that. We’d had alien food—Kayd and L
ahn had had several different things brought to our camp—but nothing like what Oren had offered us this morning. If the jelly balls had been the first alien food I’d ever tasted, that would have been it. I would have never found the courage to try anything else.

  Bets patted Oren’s hand lovingly. “It’s all right, dear. You should have given me a hand in the kitchen two years ago. I could have taught you a thing or two.”

  Oren glared at each of us as we left the table. Wes and Iris immediately left our rooms to no doubt wreak havoc across the ship. Tibert shook his head at them and went back into his room.

  May quietly slinked away inside hers.

  Sal was looking a little better, but Bets was still babying him. They’d asked Lahn and Kayd to hang up a sheet in their room so Sal didn’t have to look out into space. It seemed to be working for him.

  Even Paul and Landon were settling in. Both of them had blocked their door last night with their bodies, lying down so no one could get inside. Lahn had tossed them those jelly balls this morning and I doubted we would see them again until we landed somewhere.

  Noah was the only one who seemed to be having a problem. Well, other than Jeremy and Holden.

  And me.

  Noah was in a bad mood most of the time, but right now he looked like a caged animal. Even Mike seemed more relaxed than him.

  The door behind Oren swished open and Leo walked inside. Oren went to him and the two spoke quietly. I watched them as they looked to me.

  When Oren came over, I sighed and stood. “You’re taking me to him.”

  He nodded. “Do you need some time?”

  “Just to clean up,” I muttered.

  I washed up in my small bathroom. The water was warm but tasted a little metallic. I had a clean pair of jeans and T-shirt and the boots Iris had given me a while back. It was cold on the ship though, so I made sure to grab a fluffy sweater.

  I let my damp hair hang down. “I’m ready.”