by S. E. Smith
Due to the decline in the birthrate of females, fewer and fewer males were finding mates. This decline had reached an almost critical level. The Prime males were desperately looking for an alternative solution.
One of the main reasons for the trips to other galaxies was the hope of finding a compatible species that could procreate with the Prime males. A mating rite had never been done outside their species before, even though some of their males had tried to bond with other species from nearby galaxies. All had failed. Procreation was impossible without the mating rite and with the fact the species found so far were either incompatible or downright unappealing to the males. It was hard to get turned on to a green, scaly creature with six arms and four legs, or one who had more hair on her body than a Prime Tookey, a long-haired, long-limbed creature found in the thick forest of the mountainous region of Prime.
I’ll never have the chance to find my bond mate, Derik thought, disheartened as he stared into the cold, dead eyes of the Juangan standing over him.
He stared defiantly at the Juangan, determined to end his life with honor. The Juangan took one step toward Derik, then suddenly stopped. Its mouth opened slowly, and a green slime slowly trickled down its chin. It slowly dropped to its knees before pitching face-first toward Derik. Derik scooted back, looking down at the dead Juangan with wonder before glancing up to see which of his fellow warriors came to his rescue.
“Ja tasn meszk talkock,” he muttered. “I must be dreaming.”
Derik stared at the vision in front of him. It was a goddess! It could only be that as he had never in his life seen anything so beautiful. Behind the vision, a shimmering wall of color swirled in the narrow corridor. The vision of the goddess before him appeared out of it. Light danced around her, and she looked like she was—furious. All he could do was look at the tiny figure standing before him. She truly was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen, and she had just saved his life!
Chapter 3
Tink didn’t know what else to do. When she saw the boy fall and the iguana intent on cutting him in half, she moved without thinking. Grabbing her hammer out of her tool belt, she stepped through the doorway and up behind the iguana dude when he moved by the opening of the doorway.
When he raised his sword, she knew she couldn’t let the boy die, so she did what any self-respecting girl would do in the same situation, she popped Iguana Dude in the back of the head with her hammer. She had no idea his head would crack like a walnut, spilling green goop all down his back.
“Gross!” Tink cried out, lowering her hammer coated in the green slime and bent over to wipe it clean on the back of the creature’s clothing.
Glancing at the boy on the floor, Tink gingerly stepped over the dead iguana dude’s body so she could see how badly he was hurt. From the amount of blood, it looked pretty bad. Tink slowly put her hammer in her tool belt and shrugged the straps of the guitar and her oversize purse off her shoulders. She set them down next to the wall and held out her hands, palms up. The last thing she wanted to do was frighten the poor kid and have him attack her.
“It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.” Tink spoke softly. “I just want to see if we can stop some of that bleeding.” Tink smiled a reassuring smile and took another hesitant step toward the boy.
Derik looked at the beautiful creature moving toward him. He couldn’t understand what she was saying, but could tell she was trying to reassure him.
I must have died and gone to the world of the gods and goddesses. That’s what happened, he thought to himself.
He didn’t think the next plane of life would have hurt the way he did, but it was the only explanation. How else could a goddess appear suddenly to save his life?
Derik watched as she pulled her smaller bag toward her. She seemed to be looking for something in it. When she found what she was looking for, she turned to him with a triumphant smile. Derik caught his breath at how her face became even more beautiful as she smiled. She was saying something, but he didn’t understand what it was. He only knew she could do whatever she wanted with him. He was happy just looking at her.
Tink pulled her oversize purse toward her. She always carried a small first-aid kit with her. When you were a mechanic and worked on machinery, you were always getting cuts and scrapes. She pulled the small plastic case containing bandages and antibiotic creams out with a triumphant smile.
“And the guys say I’m paranoid!” she muttered under her breath.
Turning toward the boy, who continued to stare at her like he had never seen a woman before, Tink smiled softly and tried to explain what she was doing. He really is adorable, Tink thought as she watched his eyes following her every movement.
“I’m going to see if I can stop some of this bleeding. It might hurt a little while I’m doing this, but everything will be okay once we get you patched up enough to get to a hospital. Although I don’t have a clue how I’m going to explain Mr. Iguana Dude to the police.” Tink pulled on a pair of blue latex-free gloves and pulled out the butterfly bandages, gauze, larger bandages, and antibiotic cream.
“Let’s look at your leg first,” Tink said softly as she scooted forward on her knees until she was next to Derik’s leg.
Pulling out her razor knife, she cut his pant leg from the knee to the top of his thigh. Tink drew in a sharp breath when she saw how deep the wound was. It had to be at least four inches long and half an inch deep.
Taking a clean piece of gauze, she cleaned the wound as best she could and slowly pulled the edges together, running a small amount of antibiotic cream along the cut, then using most of her butterfly bandages to hold it together. Once she was done with that, she pulled out some gauze patches and laid them carefully over the wound and followed it up by taking a roll of gauze and winding it around the boy’s leg, slowly reaching up and under to make sure it held the butterfly bandages in place.
Tink glanced up a couple of times to make sure she wasn’t hurting the dark-haired boy too much. She smiled gently at him as she continued to work on patching up his leg. He really was adorable with his dark hair falling down over his forehead and his silver—silver?—eyes gazing at her with a look of pure adoration. He reminded her of a lost puppy looking at someone who had decided to take him home.
“Okay, your leg is done as best I can fix it right here and now. Let me take a look at your arm. You know, you really shouldn’t have pissed off someone bigger than you without someone to cover your back,” Tink said in a teasing voice, trying to distract the boy. His staring was beginning to make her feel self-conscious.
Pointing to his arm, Tink smiled gently again. “I need to take a look at your arm,” she said.
Derik looked down at his arm. Realizing she was pointing to it, he held it out for her to mend. He watched as she pulled a sharp knife from her strange-looking belt and cut his shirtsleeve from his elbow to his shoulder.
She smiled again at him and reached for the same type of materials that she used for his leg. He realized his leg didn’t hurt as much as it had. The beautiful goddess smiled at him again as she began cleaning and bandaging his arm. When she was done, she leaned over, pushing a tuft of hair from his forehead with a gentle hand. Derik’s breath caught in his throat as he felt her lay her palm against his cheek.
“All done. I think we should try to get you out of here in case any more of those things come looking for their friend,” Tink said as she nodded her head toward the dead Juangan.
She quickly cleaned up all the leftover first-aid materials, packing them back into the case and putting it back in her purse. Sliding her purse over her shoulder so it crossed over the front of her, Tink moved over to the boy’s unhurt side. Bending her knees, she leaned over and helped him stand slowly. He wobbled a little, but then straightened up.
Grabbing her guitar with her other hand, she wrapped her arm around his waist, and they slowly began a shuffling walk down the corridor with Derik’s arm around Tink’s shoulder on one side and holding onto his sword an
d the wall with the other.
In all the confusion of what had happened, Tink didn’t even realize the “doorway” that brought her to this strange hallway was no longer there. Tink stopped at the spot she came through earlier. Blinking rapidly, she looked around, glancing back and forth as much as she could while trapped under the weight of the boy’s arm.
She studied both sides of the corridor for a good ten feet on either side. There was no opening! She couldn’t see Cosmos’ lab or even a glimmer of the doorway she came through.
Beginning to feel a sense of panic, Tink took a deep breath. The boy holding onto her said something and pointed toward the end of the corridor. Tink didn’t understand a word of what he said, but figured he knew where she needed to take him. She would come back after she got him some help and find the doorway. Nodding to the boy to show she understood what he was trying to tell her, Tink took one last look before moving toward the door.
Tink’s Neverland
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About the Author
S.E. Smith is a New York Times, USA TODAY, Internationally Acclaimed Bestselling author of science fiction, romance, fantasy, paranormal, and contemporary works for adults, young adults, and children. She enjoys writing a wide variety of genres that pull her readers into worlds that take them away.
