When the lift doors opened onto the dark basement levels, Maggie blinked, feeling her eyes struggling to focus. She felt Ro take her hand, and caught sight of his pink cheeks, somehow just visible.
“Don’t let go,” she said, wrapping both hands around the one he had given her.
“I won’t,” he replied, his voice like a physical touch in the dark.
He pulled her forwards slowly, and she walked into the unknown. This time there were no white wall sconces to mark the edge of the darkness. He had turned them on for her the first time, but this time he clearly expected his solution to be enough. They stopped and she heard a door unlatch. After a few more steps, she heard the door close, and she felt him gently pull her hands off his.
“Wait here,” he said.
Her eyes were beginning to adjust, though she imagined her pupils must be the size of dinner plates, so now she could just about make out the silhouettes of the furniture around her. She could hear Ro moving around, and then there was a series of faint cracks, and a bundle of coloured lights appeared before her.
She laughed, even as he began clipping them into bracelets around her wrists. “Glowsticks? I didn’t think these even existed anymore,” she said in wonder, as the rainbow colours created small clouds of light, bouncing off his hands as he worked.
“Kez got them for me,” he said. Her wrists were getting heavy with the neon bangles, she wore at least five on each arm. She liked the way the colours sparkled off her dress. Ro was clipping several together, then looked up to put them around her neck. She gasped and stared.
“What?”
“Your eyes!” she said. Somehow his irises were no longer dark brown, but an amazing deep radiant pink.
“Oh, I took my lenses out, since we will be down here for a while,” he said. He was smiling, but it looked frail, as if her reaction had surprised him.
“You wear lenses?”
“To protect my eyes from the light. I wouldn’t be able to see above ground otherwise,” he told her, nervously pulling the glowstick choker through his hands.
Maggie couldn’t stop staring. His eyes were naturally black, as they always had been, but somehow they looked clearer, and now there were rings of pink fire around his pupils. She raised her arm and stepped closer, the plastic bracelets rattling to her elbow as she touched his cheek, her fingertips settling on his temple. She watched the pink lights twitch around as he avoided her intense stare. His irises looked like tiny galaxies, faceted like gems, and deep. She had never seen eyes like that.
“They’re amazing…” she breathed.
“Thank you,” he laughed awkwardly. “They’re… just eyes.” He was trying to downplay it, but she wasn’t having it. They were like backlit pink diamonds. They would make the most expensive jewels on Earth, in her opinion.
“Have they always looked like that?”
He chuckled again, still unsettled. “Of course.”
“And I never knew?!”
“I have to wear my lenses at work, because of the lights…”
“Are they glowing? Look at me.”
He obeyed and held her eyes so she could stop weaving in front of his face trying to see them better. “Our colours are reflective,” he admitted. “To attract… er, females.”
“Well, it’s working,” she breathed.
“Maggie…” he murmured, and she felt his hands settle on her hips.
“Does anyone else know about this?” she asked, suddenly jealous.
“Well, other Balin. They know my eyes will be pink like the rest of my colours. And the doctors who give us our lenses have seen me without them. Some other Teissians in this building…” he listed.
“And you’re still single?” she asked incredulously. He didn’t seem to take the compliment for what it was, flinching where they touched. “I can’t believe it. Lucky me, I guess,” she said, smiling. “Do me a favour? Don’t show any other women your eyes if you can avoid it, especially humans. They won’t be able to resist. I can’t.”
He softened, ducking his head, breaking their eye contact. He smiled, one side of his mouth crooking up. “They’re not that special,” he insisted. “You’ll see other Balin without their lenses when we go out.”
“Maybe. I’m still going to like your eyes the best though. Pink is my new favourite colour. Wow,” she said.
He sighed through his smile, saying something in Balin.
“What was that?” she asked.
“It wouldn’t make sense in English.”
“You could try, you just do that to keep secrets.”
“Maybe,” he replied, and the way his voice dropped a timbre made her think she really, really wanted to learn Balin faster. He pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her waist and running his lips over her cheek and across her forehead. “I was just thinking you make me wish you were here at a different time.”
“I don’t know what that means,” she said.
“I know.”
“So you’re being deliberately cryptic?”
She felt him smile. “Cryptic? I don’t know this word,” he pretended, his accent suddenly getting heavier.
She smacked his chest playfully, pushing him away. “And now you’re playing dumb!” She might have learned something if she could have stayed mad at him, but she couldn’t. He looked so cute when he laughed, playing his little games with her for whatever reason. “Just promise me I’ll find out one day.”
His laughter faltered and stopped. He shrugged.
“Ro.”
“If you stay with me… If you keep kissing me, then I imagine one day, yes you will find out,” he said, reaching for her again. “I don’t know what you will do…” he sighed.
“Hmph,” she pouted. She didn’t like that answer, it sounded ominous, but at the same time, she was curious. “I want to know now,” she grumbled.
“It can’t happen now,” he said.
She heaved a dramatic sigh, shaking him off as well as the conversation in which he kept secrets from her. They still had a good time to have. “Alright, fine. Let’s get these glowsticks on me so we can go party,” she said.
He smiled and slipped his hands under her hair to fix the glowsticks around her neck. She tried not to twitch when his hands or his claws brushed her skin. She tried to hide how over-sensitive she was, how overly-aware of him.
“So where are your other colours?” she asked. His clothes didn’t reveal much more than what he wore to work.
“You don’t stop, do you?” he laughed.
“Well, I’m curious!”
“Would it make any difference if I told you that is a very forward curiosity you have? If a Balin female asked me that, it would be quite crude of her.”
“Sorry. But I’m not Balin. And you know… We’re dating so I think you can assume I’m, you know, interested. In you. And anyway! You said Balin like to show off their colours! It’s only because you’re in office-wear all the time that I don’t know. Everyone else knows, don’t they?”
He made a noise that was a hybrid between a shocked laugh and a derisive snort. She’d clearly caught him off guard with her suggestion, even if she suspected there was something about it that flattered him. “Not everyone!” he insisted. “But most of them, I suppose… But it doesn’t seem fair to tell you when I don’t where your colours are either,” he said.
Maggie frowned. “I don’t have any,” she said.
His eyes raked down her body, burning like magenta flares. “No?”
As her mind dove into the gutter, she couldn’t help her choked squeak. She almost covered herself with her arms as if he could somehow see through her clothes, and she felt a blush bloom from her chest to the tips of her ears. “That’s! They’re not- I mean…”
He cupped his hand around the side of her head, leaning in to murmur softly in her ear. “I confess I am curious too… about the exact shade.”
“Y-You…” Maggie choked on anything she could possibly say in response, feeling like sh
e’d just burst into flames and only he could put her out, her body suddenly tight with wanting him to touch her more.
He leaned back and smiled innocently. “I’ll make you a deal. You can learn all about my colours, when I learn about yours.”
“I- Pssht, you- How- Where did you learn to be such a-?” she demanded, resisting fanning herself.
He clipped a couple more glowsticks together and lay them like a coronet over her hair, pressing them gently into place. “You bring it out in me,” he said, grinning. Then he took her hands, holding them up to survey his handiwork. “What do you think? Can you see?”
Maggie thought about it, and while everything was cast in weird colours, she could see enough to be able to walk around freely, without having to be led. “I think I’ll be okay,” she said.
“Good,” Ro smiled. “You look beautiful.”
Maggie squirmed. “Thank you,” she said, returning his smile.
“Now one last thing… You asked me not to show other females my eyes, well, please don’t react to other males the way you have to me. Some of them may try to entice you, but don’t indulge them, please. I will not enjoy it if you do,” he said.
“Don’t worry, Ro,” Maggie replied, stroking her thumb over the pink markings on his cheek, getting lost in his eyes again. “I think you’ve blinded me. I won’t even notice anyone else.”
Chapter 17
Ro took her hand and led her out of the apartment, her glowsticks rattling faintly as she tried to walk smoothly in her high party heels. She was happy even as nervousness began to worm into her stomach. She was with Ro, who was obviously feeling gratifyingly flirty tonight which gave her hope that he was as interested in her as she was in him, and he was holding her hand again. Even if she was about to meet his friends and neighbours, and be thrown into the heart of the Teissian community, she knew enough of them worked at DETI that she could always fall back on that for a conversation topic.
In the corridor, they turned away from the elevator and headed deeper into the dorm, following the curve of the building. Maggie could hear music and voices, though it didn’t sound like any kind of music she’d ever heard before. Maggie’s colourful range of vision only extended a few feet around her, so the first thing she saw of the party was the apparently disembodied blue patches of a Balin loitering outside. One of the apartments had its door open, which was where the noise was coming from, and a few Balin were standing around in the doorway.
Maggie had to admit, the visibility of their ‘colours’ in the dark certainly achieved their objective. As far as she was concerned, everything outside her bubble of neon light was an impenetrable black sea, and the patches of colour on their bodies gave it dimension. Knowing there was a person there was like finding a rock to rest on when adrift, and the flicking of their eyes as they took her in was kind of mesmerising. She could totally understand why prey sought out the angler fish with its glowing lure at the bottom of the ocean. The moving colours in a wall of nothing just made her want to get closer to investigate.
The group in the hall greeted Ro, raising their glasses and one of them clapping him on the back, but Maggie could see how their eyes kept returning to her – it was one of the few things she could see. She smiled nervously, knowing she was under scrutiny, probably for being human but maybe just for being Ro’s guest.
“This is Maggie,” Ro introduced. “We are in a relationship.”
Maggie tried to hide that he had taken her completely by surprise by announcing that, but she wasn’t sure she managed it. Her eyes felt a little too wide and her face too warm. “Hello,” she laughed breathlessly, raising her hand in greeting. Her glowsticks rattled and she felt embarrassed by her need for them. She must look ridiculous to these people.
The Balin were very interested in her now, standing straighter and looking her up and down. They all spoke to Ro in Balin, talking over each other.
“Maggie does not speak Balin very well yet. You can ask her yourself,” he said.
The one with the blue patches jerked his head at her. “Why are you with him?” he asked.
Maggie goldfished for a moment at the blunt question. The male didn’t sound aggressive and Ro wasn’t jumping in, as if he was waiting for her answer too. They were all watching her, so she just said “I like him.”
The strangers settled down, relaxing again, some of them scoffing or waving their hands as if clearing the air of what she’d said. The furthest one from her said something in Balin that included their word for ‘human’, and on the whole they seemed to be dismissing her as incomprehensible. She looked to Ro, worried she’d given the wrong answer, but he was smiling at her.
“Let’s go inside,” he said, tugging her through the small group who seemed to resume their old conversation before she was past them.
Maggie couldn’t see much through the crush of guests inside. The apartment seemed to be laid out much the same as Ro’s. She tugged him to a stop. “What was that about?” she asked, indicating the group outside. “Did I say something wrong?” She blushed again as she remembered what he’d said about them being in a relationship. She guessed they were, since he clearly expected there to be kissing in their future, something she was also looking forward to.
Ro shook his head, his nose wrinkling in a dismissive expression. “No, don’t worry,” he said.
“But why did they react like that? What did they want me to say?”
Ro laughed. “They expected to hear an exciting story of something I had done, some act I had performed to win you to me. Balin choose mates based on strength, and health. Choosing someone because you like them is seen as…” He tilted his head as if searching for the word.
“Stupid?”
“Unreasonable,” he smiled. “They are still living in the old ways. I am not,” he said. “I am happy you chose me because you like me. Nothing could make me happier. I like you too,” he grinned, ducking his head for a quick kiss. Maggie felt better after that.
“Come,” Ro said, pulling her through the crowd. All around her were dark bodies and flashing colours, her glowsticks casting neon shadows on the people around her. She knew she undoubtedly stuck out like a sore thumb, a lighthouse in the dark ocean, but no one stopped them or said anything to her. Ro was welcomed again and again, and every time he introduced her as his girlfriend. She received mixed responses. Some of the Balin laughed, some of them went quiet, some of them were polite, and some of them asked her oddly personal questions, like whether it was true that humans had sex all the time. Ro saved her from having to answer that one by chastising the stranger in Balin before leading her away.
When she peered over the crowd, she could see webbed crests rising and falling here and there like bright sails. The majority of the Balin were wearing the traditional clothes she had been given, the slit harem shorts, and the females wore the simple band around their chests which didn’t look indecent on them like it had on Maggie. The fabrics were mottled and marbled with all kinds of colours, and she tried not to stare at any colours that caught her eye from thighs or torsos like cat’s eyes on the road.
They got to the front of the crowd which had gathered around the musicians in the lounge. There was a Balin male who looked old in comparison to Ro, his scales looking dusty and ashen, and his colours faded to pastel shades of sky blue and candyfloss pink, sunflower yellow and sea green. He was sat down, overseeing three young males playing strange instruments, and pouring a thick white liquid from a gourd into shot glasses. Ro reached down and nabbed two of the glasses, passing one to Maggie.
“Here,” he said with a smile.
Maggie held it up to her eyes, squinting at it. It had a weird milky glow to it. “What is it?”
“Balin liquor,” Ro told her, knocking his shot back.
“Is it safe for me?” she asked. He seemed fine, though she guessed it was strong stuff from his wince.
“Uh…” Ro seemed not to have considered that, and he looked around, making Maggie realise they had a
small audience of the Balin nearest them who were watching her excitedly. A few of them shrugged or shook their heads or laughed, and the old one who was serving it visibly made no promises.
Maggie looked at the shot and sighed. “Oh well,” she said, and tipped it back. Her throat locked as it burned on the way down and she coughed. She waited a second to see if it caused her any pain, but it seemed to be safe. She smiled and a cheer went up from the crowd, fresh glasses being thrust at her from all directions.
“Just like tequila,” she croaked, accepting another shot. This time she and Ro chinked glasses and did the shots together, and the second one hit her stomach with a queasy acidic feeling, even as the first one made her feel all soft and warm. She clutched his arm as she wobbled with a head rush, and he caught her around the waist, taking the empty glasses and putting them down.
He laughed. “That’s enough, I think,” he said, and the crowd hissed and objected. As fun as they thought it would be to get the human drunk on alien liquor, Maggie did not want to make a fool of herself that night. Proving she could take what they dished out was one thing, throwing up on her shoes was another.
The music changed and the crowd seemed to shift, men leaving the mass to stand in the centre, stomping and scratching the floor in rhythm with the music. Their crests stood like opened fans as they danced in synch with each other, and the crowd seemed to grow wilder as Balin whooped and called to encourage them.
Maggie felt Ro try to pull her away but she resisted. “I want to watch,” she objected.
“Maggie,” he pressed, his breath against her neck.
She looked at him, surprised how pained he looked. “What? What’s wrong?”
He nodded his head at the people watching, and she noticed that it was mostly females who had pushed to the front, their eyes bright and hungry, evaluating the males as they danced. “They are displaying,” Ro whispered. “Don’t watch them.”
The New Guy (Office Aliens Book 2) Page 14
