by Maia Starr
I couldn’t even count how many dreams I’d had of one day meeting one of the Parduss. Except, in those dreams, I was some kind of badass cyber warrior who was able to take them down with a laser harpoon.
Hey, it was a dream.
In my sleep, I was a hero. In real life…I was worthless. I screamed, cried, shook, and all but pleaded for my life. It was Korus who was the real hero.
That horrible moment, as well as the wonderful moments leading up to it, bonded Korus and me together for life.
“Good morning,” I said as I crawled on top of him.
He hadn’t been home since that night, two weeks ago now.
“Mmm, good morning,” he said sleepily, pulling my lips into his. “Shouldn’t you be at work?”
“Rushing me off already, hmm?” I teased, nuzzling into his ticklish neck and then reaching my hand down to see how hard he was.
His body reacted to my hand's stroke, and his eyes shot open. He grinned his sexy, sly smile and grabbed me, flipping me over so that his body was on top of mine. He leaned down and kissed me, and I felt safe and warm.
I heard my phone go off and made to reach it, but Korus held my wrists down in his sexy way and whispered, “Where do you think you’re going?”
“I have an interview this morning,” I said, trying to sound as if it was nothing.
He raised a brow. “For a job?”
“N-no, for…with the SAEW.”
He stiffened noticeably at that, and his grip went slack around my wrists. I brushed a hand along his sharp jawline and reached up for one more kiss before getting up out of bed.
I tossed on my green hospital scrubs and threw some dry shampoo in my hair, tussling it out into a mess of second-day hair. Once I brush it, I thought it looked halfway decent.
My mother never taught me to be one of those girls who washed their face or tried hard to look like a lady. Because of this, I had spent the last fifteen years sleeping in my makeup and trying to pull off a smudgy morning mascara and eyeliner ‘party girl’ look.
It wasn’t something my colleagues appreciated. But, I was a hell of a doctor, so they had to forgive my unprofessionalism.
I checked the mirror to make sure my eye makeup looked alright and then spun back around to look at Korus, who was still naked in my bed.
“Come on, he’ll be here any minute,” I said, checking my phone and tossing his shirt back toward up. “Up, up, up!”
The knock at the door signified that it was time to start.
“Can you grab that?” I asked Korus, racing out of the bedroom into the tiny kitchen to turn on the coffee maker.
With no rush, I heard Korus lazily make his way—hopefully dressed—across the wood floors and open the door.
“Hi, I’m here to see…uh…Brooklyn?” Joshua, the reporter, said and let himself in.
I stepped out of the kitchen and smiled toward the tall man who’d entered my home. He wore a fitted blue suit and a tie with an obnoxiously loud print on it. Cactuses. It was very Joshua.
“This is Korus Jackson,” I said, introducing the two. “Korus, this is Joshua Thomas. He works for the SAEW.”
“I’m also family,” Joshua said.
My eyes widened at that. It was a lie. So much a lie that my face went red when he said it. “He works for the SAEW.”
Korus’s eyes found mine, but he never turned his head. Instead, he brushed a hand through his dark shag and questioned, “You said that already.”
“Right,” I stammered.
“I thought you hated reporters,” he said calmly, now staring forward. Not looking at me or Joshua.
I sat down on the floral armchair across from the couch the two men sat on. Korus looked so bulky and buff sitting next to the tall and wiry Joshua. “He was the only one I ever talked to publicly about everything that happened before,” I reasoned.
“Because he’s family?” Korus asked, now assessing Joshua, wondering if he was someone to be trusted.
“No,” I said. “Because I knew he would handle the story carefully.”
“So long as you’re comfortable with it,” he finally concluded.
“I am,” I said with a nod, crossing my legs and suddenly wishing I’d put more effort into my appearance.
Joshua raised both his brows in amusement, and it made his forehead crease. He looked between us with a smirk creasing his lips. “Well, now that we’ve got that settled,” he began in his Southern drawl, his accent hitting his words and sending an innocent wave of familiarity throughout my body. “Should we get started?”
“You could talk to him, too, if you wanted. Seeing as how you’re already here and you were with me when…you know,” I stammered, listening to my coffee maker going off.
“I’d rather not,” he said gruffly. “I’ve had enough reporters bothering me to last a lifetime.” Korus looked at Joshua and slowly said, “No offense.”
“Actually, you kind of have to,” Joshua began. “You can either do this with me, the easy way, or have the SAEW drag you in for a formal investigation, blah, blah, blah,” he trailed off.
Joshua said all of these things as though he were playing the buddy-cop. Like he was on Korus’ side and ‘oh man, wouldn’t it be a drag to have to do this investigation? Why not just get this over with me, your new best friend?’ but somehow I knew Korus wouldn’t take it that way.
“An’ seein’ as how you were already involved in some suspicious—”
“Josh!” I scolded.
Okay, maybe he wasn’t going to try and be his friend.
“Sorry,” Joshua laughed, pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingertips. “Was that rude? It gets hard to tell in this line of work.”
“Yeah, it was,” Korus said lowly, looking up at Joshua with irritation.
“He’s just…trying to do his job,” I offered, awkwardly. “Besides, if we do this officially, then we’ll already have a statement on record, and the press can reference this instead of hounding us for, you know, the ‘first quote’ or whatever.”
I stood up, brushing my pants off as though something had fallen on them and said, “Coffee?”
Joshua nodded, and I inhaled sharply, turning to the kitchen.
I could hear Korus following diligently behind me. He grabbed the mugs off of the digital warmers and watched with crossed arms as I poured coffee into them.
His pale eyes seemed distant and damning, and before he opened his mouth, I already knew what was coming.
“Now I’m going to ask what that’s all about,” he said evenly, his voice low.
“It’s nothing,” I waved him off. “A report.”
“Brother-in-law?” he repeated, disbelieving. “He dated Alexandra, then?”
I sighed and set two of the mugs back down, looking up at him in frustration. “No, he just…he just said that to put you at ease, or something? I didn’t ask him to say that.”
He laughed with annoyance. “You’ve got my interest.”
“Look, he was with me during the whole...when everything happened, but it's over, and there really wasn't much to it to begin with. All you have to know now is that that,” I paused and pointed out into the living room, “That means nothing and this,” I grabbed his hand and put it over my heart, “means everything.”
“Hm,” he said, softening ever so slightly.
“He’s just a family friend, who was good to my parents, who can help us make a statement.”
He smirked in spite of himself. “Not interested,” he said.
“And not chatty, either,” I said and handed him his coffee, taking the other two in my hands.
I brought the coffees out and handed one to Joshua, fighting off a laugh as he grabbed it by the mug and burned his hands.
“Sorry,” I giggled and sat back down.
Joshua had a long face and forehead, with blond stubble dotting across his chin and cheeks. He had pale blonde hair and a smile that went in a straight line.
There was something familiar but
strange about having him in my house again after all this time. Every few months we seemed to get together for coffee to catch up, but never anything more than that. Though, a part of me suspected that he was always hoping to rekindle something that, to me, was long dead.
“So,” Joshua began, picking up his work tablet and scribbling down into it. “What was your reason for being in Gazers Field?”
“We were on a date,” I said, taking a sip of the hot coffee.
“Aw,” Joshua said with a notably fake smile and looked back down at his pad. “And when did you first notice the Parduss?”
I looked over to Korus, curious as to what his take was on the timeline. He looked worn and surprisingly pale, not making eye-contact with either me or Joshua. “Um,” I began unsurely. “We heard them…I don’t know…roaring? And then we tried to stay low to the ground since the field is pretty flat.”
Joshua nodded. “And then what did you do? Did you call out to the creatures or try and make any contact?”
“No, we just backed into the woods and tried to get back to my car,” I said.
“And how long were you both in danger?” Joshua asked. “Or, how long were you in front of the Parduss?”
“I’d say about…” I paused again, hoping Korus might chime in. “Ten minutes? Probably less?”
Joshua wrote down my answer and then his eyes darted up, going between mines and Korus’. “And did they ever see you?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“And in what way?” came the follow-up question.
Being back here, doing this with Joshua, it made it feel like it was ten years ago. Like Alexandra was missing all over again. It was the only time I had ever answered any questions formally. Suddenly, it was making me feel sick to my stomach.
“One seemed to…I dunno, be aware of us? It came up to the edge of the woods, but I think the brush was too thick for it to get in.”
Joshua took another sip of coffee, nodding, and looking like he’d caught me in a lie. “Strange, considering they breathe fire.”
“Right, that's what I thought. But it seemed wary of us. It kept making these, like, barking sounds.”
Korus looked at me, irritated and bemused by my statement.
“Barking?” Korus repeated, incredulous.
I winced. “Well, no. No, not barking but, it kept growling at us but in these little yips. Like, it was trying to get something across to us.”
Joshua frowned and looked up at me, setting his tablet deliberately on his lap. He took a deep breath and offered, “So…on the record, do you want me to write down that you believe the Parduss were trying to communicate with you?”
“Is that so hard to believe?” Korus said, cocking his head to the side with annoyance. I couldn’t imagine how uncomfortable this was for him.
“Hey, anything is possible,” Joshua said, raising his hands up as if to say he meant no harm. “We’ve just never heard of anything like that. So, Brooklyn, is that what you want me to write down?”
The way he said it made me feel stupid for even mentioning it. What did I know? I was practically huddled in the fetal position while everything was happening. “No,” I laughed, shaking my head. “I’m embarrassed. No, don’t write it down. I was afraid. I don’t really remember the specifics.”
“I want you to write it down,” Korus said firmly, “for the record.”
I swallowed. I couldn’t say I didn’t think something like this might happen. A dick fight, and just before work, too—goodie!
“The dragon?” Joshua repeated.
“The Parduss,” Korus corrected.
Joshua looked amused and raised his brows, nodding as he wrote the information down. “And this is not your first encounter with the Parduss, is it, Korus?”
“What?” I interjected. “That’s not true.”
“Well,” he shrugged. “The crash by the spaceport.”
Korus shook his head. “That wasn’t Parduss. I told the investiga—”
“Actually,” Joshua interrupted, “you didn’t tell them shit. In fact, you told them you couldn’t remember, and the Doc here backed you up.”
My face flushed. I hadn't told Korus that. But, it was the truth. Korus couldn't even remember what Jell-O dessert was, let alone important details about what happened that night.
“Right, he had traumatic memory loss,” I confirmed. “It’s in his record.”
“I saw the ship crash, and I ran up to help. That's all,” Korus said.
Joshua nodded. “Yet, the spaceport won't back it up. They won't even admit that you ever worked there.”
“Why would they?” Korus snapped back.
“Yeah, Josh, the whole thing was a PR nightmare for them,” I tried to reason, watching at Joshua squinted an eye in Korus’ direction. He was already suspicious of him, and apparently there was nothing I could say to dissuade him. “They fired him, for Pete’s sake.”
“There's no records of him ever working for that space station,” Joshua said, suddenly frozen in place.
“What are you trying to say? He was there for the crash and…Joshua, I was there with him that night. Am I involved too?” I scoffed.
“No reason to get upset now. Just doing my job,” Joshua warned, putting his hands up.
“Look, I appreciate you coming by but, I have to go to work so...” I said awkwardly, standing up and walking pointedly toward the door.
Joshua stayed on the couch for a moment longer, eyeing Korus. “Right,” he looked him up and down and continued absent-mindedly, “Right. I'll be on my way. Maybe we'll finish this on the weekend. Nice meetin' you.”
Korus didn’t respond.
Joshua met me at the door, and I frowned scoldingly at him. “Thanks for coming by,” I said and began to shut the door, but he put his hand on the doorframe and took a step back, causing me to take one step out into the hall.
“Hey, B,” he whispered.
“Don’t,” I said, exhausted.
“Don’t what?” he laughed. “What! I can’t even speak, now?”
“Don't say whatever off the cuff, slightly charming but mostly rude and overstepping statement you're about to make,” I scoffed.
He jutted a thumb out as though he were talking to a studio audience and said, “Gee, it's like she knows me or somethin'.”
I waved him off. “Just don't”
“You really into this guy?” he asked, nodding his head toward the inside of my apartment. “Why?”
“I know enough to know that he's enough,” was all I said.
“He know about Alex?”
I stiffened. “Of course.”
“Ah, shit. It's really serious then. So, why won't he give a statement?” he said, sounding genuinely curious.
“He's already being hounded by the reporters. You must remember what that's like.”
He nodded, seeming to back off a bit. He stood with one hand on the doorway, leaning with his leg stretched backward into the hall. “Yeah,” he said distractedly as he licked his lips.
I cocked my head to the side. “What?”
“Ehh…what? You told me not to speak!”
I turned sideways and watched Korus inside my apartment, wandering down the hall toward the bedroom and then I stepped out into the hallway, closing the door so it was only slightly ajar. “Just say it, but do it in your indoor voice, okay?”
He shifted awkwardly and vaulted himself off the wall. “Look, B, we have the drone footage of the ceremony in the field.”
I frowned. “The ceremony? What's that mean?”
“Where you were, in Gazers Field,” he explained. “The abduction took place two hours before they got to you guys. We have some photographer out there who sent his drone out into the field to get some shots for some local magazine…”
“Joshua,” I scolded, “focus!”
“Right!” He waved me off. “Point is, a Parduss came up to him. To Korus.”
“I know,” I said with irritation. “I was there.”
<
br /> “Yeah but, you didn't say nothin' about it,” he offered plainly.
“Um, what’s your point? We were both terrified out of our minds.”
He shook his head, as serious as I’d ever seen him. “No. You were terrified. He was cool as a cucumber.”
I laughed into my hand. “Are you seriously using the word cucumber right now?”
“What!” he laughed
“You're trying to imply something heinous went on, and you're using the word cucumber? You are turning into your mom.”
“I just didn't like it," he said, his face going sullen once more. “The look they gave each other, it was…wrong. You know? It was just wrong somehow. He was calm. Happy, maybe? And that thing looked at him like...”
“Josh, what's your point?” I asked, a spindly fear creeping up my spine. “What's the underhanded implication? They know each other? How’s' that even possible?”
“No,” he said, obviously backtracking as he shook his head. “I'm not sayin' nothin'. I'm sayin' keep your eyes open. That's all. I mean, what do you really know about this guy?”
I thought about the question, and to my horror, as much as I liked Korus, the real answer was ‘not much.’
Chapter Eight
Korus
I’d spent so much time with Brooklyn that it felt strange to wake up in my own apartment. I looked up at the wood-planked ceiling, and for a moment I actually started to miss Cadir.
In truth, it hadn’t been my plan to abandon my planet forever. But now, banished, it seemed like the odds of getting back there safely were slim to none.
Hell, staying on the Earth seemed like a pipedream now, as well.
It had been days since the interview with Brooklyn’s associate and I was happy to put the event behind me. All I could think was how much I wanted to hold the man up by the scruff of his neck
He was right…maybe that’s what pissed me off even more. The white dragon, Naxra, was looking at me. We were communicating—or trying to. She was daring me to take full form.
They were looking for me, and I knew it was just a matter of time before they found me.
I didn’t think it would happen so soon.
