by Jeff Altabef
“What are you trying to say?” Connor growls, doing his best not to laugh while he adds as much menace to his voice as he can muster.
I chuckle. “I think he’s saying you look like a baboon. If I squint my eyes, I can totally see it.”
“Do you think I have a baboon face?” Connor steps toward him.
“I-I wa-was just jo-joking.” In full retreat mode now, Blake’s gaze flashes off to the side, perhaps wondering if he could make a run for it.
A smile bursts on Connor’s face. “Not bad.” He slaps Blake hard on the back. “I didn’t know you could joke.”
“Now it’s official. Anything can happen,” Akari quips, and we all crack up.
Whether it’s because of Akari’s joke, the look on Blake’s face, or the ridiculous situation we’re in, it feels good to laugh.
I buy a pretzel on our way to the gorilla exhibit and stand close to Connor, but not too close. As we look through the glass, a mother swings her baby in one arm, which makes me feel guilty.
My mom is back home in Arizona. My dad knows we’re okay and must have told her so, but she’s probably sick with worry. I don’t want to put her through this, but she’d be in real danger if I told her the truth. I almost lost her a week ago because of a Seeker, and I can’t face that again. She’ll have to deal with the situation. At least she has my dad.
Connor glances at me. “I wonder what they’re thinking. Their eyes look so much like humans. I’ve known some blokes at the pub back home who look a lot dumber.”
“Gorillas and humans share 96% of the same DNA.” The figure pops to mind from my early morning date with the encyclopedias, and I feel silly as I spout random facts.
Connor’s lips turn down, his face etched with real sadness. “I wonder what percentage of our DNA we share with humans.” He turns and walks away.
He feels it too, this separation we have with everyone else, this isolation.
We have lunch in the African section of the zoo at the Flamingo Cafe. We eat nothing fancy—hot dogs and burgers for all of us except Sydney, who buys a salad.
“So what’s next?” she asks.
“I’d love to visit with a polar bear.” Akari is focused on folding a napkin, but she looks up and grins at us. “We don’t have any in Japan. They seem magical.”
“And deadly,” adds Blake. “They’re the fiercest type of bear, which is why you probably like them.”
“What about you, Blake?” asks Connor. “What type of posh animal is your favorite?” Connor raises his voice an octave and talks in an upper crust accent. “One that’s hygienic, I imagine. Maybe one that uses a knife and fork while out on the range eating antelope and drinking only sparkling well water.”
“Giraffes. They’re beautiful, strong and fast, and not carnivorous.”
“They also have skinny legs like you,” I joke, and we share a small laugh at his expense.
Akari hands me a carefully folded origami creature and bows her head slightly.
“Thanks,” I say. “It’s a bison. Awesome.” I twirl the little figure in my hand and admire each fold, neat and exact. “I love it.”
Akari beams. “I thought you would.”
A gaggle of preschoolers race past us; they all clutch ice cream cones in their hands and wear shirts from someplace called Treetops. The three adults who hustle behind try hard to herd the cats. One cute kid with a mop of black curly locks stumbles and drops her ice cream cone.
I catch it with my mind and let it hover in the air for a second until the girl reclaims it.
When she does, she looks around and finds me with her eyes. An uncertain smile sneaks onto her face before she races forward to catch-up with her schoolmates.
Blake watches the kids, cringes, pulls a pill bottle from his pocket and lifts it toward me. “Do you want one?”
“What is it?”
“Antibiotics. You can’t be too careful with kids running around.”
I shake my head.
He shrugs, swallows two pills and looks at Sydney. “How about you? What’s your favorite animal?”
Sydney sports a mischievous grin. “We’ll save that for last.”
We finish lunch, check out the giraffes, which are beautiful, and amble toward the polar bears. We stop at different animal enclosures along the way: strange deer, wild horses, elephants and even the Monkey House, which Blake refused to go into because of a long list of diseases he was sure they would have. Still, he didn’t deter the rest of us from exploring them.
When we stop to look at the polar bears, Akari stares at them wide-eyed and frozen in place, so Connor and I step back.
He gulps from his water bottle and catches my expression, which must be sour, because he stops mid-drink and asks, “What?”
“You don’t need to drink.”
Connor lifts the water bottle and smirks. “I’m thirsty. You want some?”
“You know what I’m talking about. That bottle has more than water in it. You had one at dinner last night filled with vodka.”
His face reddens. “I didn’t know you were in charge of monitoring my alcohol intake.” He pushes the bottle toward me and scowls. “You’ll be happy to know there’s nothing but water in this one.”
I can tell he’s serious and that I’ve hurt his feelings, which was not my intention. “I’m sorry. I just thought that—”
“That I’m a drunk. I know that’s what Troy thinks, but I thought you were different.”
“I didn’t mean that you’re a drunk.” He’s so close to me now, his breath warms my lips. “I just want to....”
“You want what?” He leans closer to me.
“I don’t know... to make sure you’re okay.”
“You don’t need to worry about me.” His face turns hard and he turns away.
My chest tightens. I’m such an idiot. Now he thinks I pity him, which is not at all how I feel. Of course, I don’t know how I feel, or why I care about hurting his feelings so much when I didn’t do anything wrong.
The sun has already started to sink.
“Last stop,” announces Sydney. She leads us to the lions, and we stop and stare at a full-grown male. “The king of the beasts—so powerful and majestic—by far my favorite animal.”
An enraptured look shines from her eyes as her mouth drops open. She’s caught up in the power and strength of the animal. Perhaps that’s why she’s involved with us. She senses our strength, our differentness from normal humans. If that’s her motivation, we have real issues. The Deltites are strong also, stronger than we are, and if what Stuart said is true about Elites, the Prime Elector will be much stronger than any of us. She might switch sides the first chance she gets.
I glance at Connor, but he refuses to look at me. Bloods races through my body like white water rapids and I clench my hands into fists. This is so stupid. How did I get myself into this situation?
Sydney leans against the fence, her voice breathless. “I wonder what it would be like to see the world through his eyes.”
I need to take my mind off of Connor, and Sydney’s words ring in my ear. How does a lion see the world? This is as good a time as any to find out. I turn my body, so my back faces Connor, and reach out to the animal with my mind. I sense his energy and push into his thoughts. For a moment I am the lion. Well, not really—I still have my own identity, but I can see what he sees. The world is washed in blues and oranges. I feel the sensation of strength and savagery. I arch my back, push my head back and shake the ground with a fierce roar. My vision focuses on Connor and then swings to Sydney and I roar again. A sink-my-teeth-into-flesh rage rips through me. It scares me, so I pull my mind away from the lion.
“Wow,” says Sydney. “I’ve never heard him do that before.” Just then her phone rings. “Yes, Stuart, we’re just about finished at the zoo. Okay, I’ll be right back.” She turns toward us. “We have to go. Our excursion is over. Stuart needs me.”
Her eyes crinkle at the edges and her jaw clenches.
&n
bsp; I wonder what’s wrong, and immediately worry about Troy.
What would Stuart do if he found him snooping around his apartment?
Sydney pulls the car to a stop in front of the Inn, and we pour out of the cramped vehicle. A second later she motors off with a squeal of the tires.
Connor stomps inside without so much as a glance toward me. He hasn’t said a word to anyone since we talked by the polar bears.
“What’s up with him?” Akari holds the door open for me.
“Beats me,” I lie, knowing he’s angry with me even though he shouldn’t be. If he had given me a chance to explain, I would have said something. I don’t know exactly what, but it would have been reasonably good. I’m sure of it.
I take a deep breath and follow the others inside. They fade behind their doors, but I hesitate in front of mine and trace the twisted arrows symbol with the tip of my pointer finger.
Is this all that’s left of me?
Is Juliet Wildfire Stone gone, only to be replaced by a silly symbol?
At least Troy remembers who I used to be and.... Thinking about him sends a shiver of anxiety roiling through me. I unlock the door, scan the rooms, and call out his name, but he’s not here.
My heart thunders in my chest and my imagination races. What if Stuart caught him sneaking around his apartment? Would he hurt Troy? We’re still on the same side, aren’t we?
The dining room was bugged last night, but that doesn’t mean all that much. There are numerous reasons to snoop on a formal dining room, many of which don’t involve us. That bug could have been old. Stuart might not even know it’s there.
Still, my gut tells me he knew all about the listening device. After all, he knew how Blake found the Inn, which must mean that he had listened in on our conversation.
There’s only one way to find out if he’s spying on us, so I search the two rooms that make up my suite. Three smoke detectors are stuck on the ceiling for just two rooms—at least one too many. Stuart has bugged my rooms, just like the dining room.
I can’t escape the obvious: he’s spying on us. But why?
I start to pace as my thoughts hopscotch between Stuart, Troy, and Connor. My insides twist when I think about Troy. I can picture him snooping in Stuart’s bedroom when the diminutive Host waddled inside.
Though not physically imposing, Stuart probably has a gun or some other type of weapon. He poisoned us, so he won’t hesitate to hurt Troy if he wants to.
But why would he want to?
Just when I picture the worst for Troy, I remember the hurt on Connor’s face at the zoo. What’s his story?
He hinted at something important last night. Did he kill someone, and now have a hard time living with it? Does he drown the memory with booze?
I would’ve thought that ridiculous a month ago, but I killed a Seeker. Sure, I wasn’t left with any choice, but if I could kill a Seeker, why is it so hard to believe he might have had to kill someone too? Maybe in self-defense? Still, he shouldn’t have gotten so mad at me.
Troy should have gone to the zoo. If he had been with us, none of this would have happened! Troy would be safe and Connor wouldn’t be angry with me. They’re both so—pigheaded!
I work myself up into such a satisfying righteous anger, it takes me a moment to notice the door open and Troy standing in the doorway. “Jules, are you all right?”
“Argh!” I practically growl at him and storm into the bathroom—childish, perhaps, but I need a moment before talking to him. I distract myself by searching the bathroom for listening devices, sweeping my hands along the edge of the mirror, opening the draws in the medicine cabinet, and inspecting the ceiling and walls. When I find none, my body relaxes and I can breathe.
Troy knocks on the door. “Jules, what’s going on?”
I glance at my reflection in the mirror. My black hair rains down well beyond my shoulders. My eyes are not quite wide enough to be beautiful, and my nose is longer than I wish and pointy at the end like the tip of a dagger.
I sigh. I’m lost in a world I’ve never been before—a stranger in a foreign land where I don’t know the language. I’ve never had a boyfriend. Maybe there’s a reason why Troy and I have only had a platonic relationship. Perhaps he’s only meant to be my friend, my best friend.
Connor could be different, or maybe I’m nuts. What would he see in me anyway? I look at my reflection in the mirror again, straighten my back and twirl my hair. I’m not special; I never have been. I’m fooling myself. Connor accidentally touched my hand on the fence by the bison, and I’ve spun some silly childish story. I’ve got to be stronger than this, so I push these thoughts aside and open the door.
Troy stands on the other side, worry clouding his eyes.
I lift my finger to my lips, wave him into the bathroom, shut the door behind him, and twist the faucet in the shower. The sound of rushing water should mask our conversation, but I whisper anyway. “I think the rooms are bugged. I’ll bet there’s a microphone in one of the smoke detectors.”
He frowns. “Great. Are you okay? What happened at the zoo? You look angry.”
I twirl my hair and look off to the side toward the towel rack. What do I tell him about Connor? I’ve never had a problem talking to him before, but the words stick in my throat, so I focus on the zoo instead of Connor. “The zoo was fine. No problems, although Sydney got a call from Stuart and had to rush back.” I glance back at him. “What happened with you? Did you sneak into Stuart’s apartment?”
He smirks. “For an alien, he hasn’t invested much in security. I had no problem with the lock. He’s a weird dude. First, he likes comic books.”
“Seriously?”
Troy grins and nods. “The apartment is full of them, all stacked in cardboard boxes—Batman, Spiderman, Iron Man, Aqua Man. All of the Mans. Not the most inspiring stuff for our Host, but I found something else that’s really weird. Guess what?”
“What, like on his computer?”
“No. You know I’m no hacker, Jules. He password-protected his computer. I tried a few of the superheroes, but that was a dead-end. Still, I checked out his closet.” He hesitates. “You’ve got to guess.”
I roll my eyes. “I’m not going to guess and don’t tell me anything really gross unless it’s important. I don’t want to know about rubber superheroes or anything like that.”
He whispers, “I’ll skip that part then, but in the back of his closet, I found three white tunics. They were softer than anything I’d ever touched before. They’re not made from any fabric we have on Earth. If that’s not odd enough, they were way longer than old Stuart could wear. They’d look like dresses on him.”
“So who are they for?”
He shakes his head. “That’s the question.”
Someone raps on the exterior door.
We leave the bathroom and find an envelope had been slipped underneath the doorway. I open it and find fine linen paper folded neatly inside.
The note is short:
Meet me in the dining room at midnight. Your training continues. — the Host.
“Midnight,” I whisper to Troy. “Why so late?”
As soon as we enter the dining room, I suspect we’re in for a surprise—and not a good one. A screen hangs from the ceiling with the Inn’s symbol projected on it. Troy and I settle into our seats across from Akari and Blake.
Connor saunters in last, a few minutes after us. I try to catch his eye, but he doesn’t look at me. He hasn’t brought a water bottle, so maybe some good has come from our argument. Maybe he realizes I only wanted to help... or maybe he hates me.
Lots of different maybes cross my mind in a heartbeat, and my face flushes with heat.
When Connor sits, the image on the screen flickers and Stuart’s face replaces the circular symbol. “Good evening, Twisteds. I trust you had a most excellent day, but it is time to continue your training. Yes, yes, your training must advance. I suspect we are almost out of time, so I’ve had to accelerate matters.”
My heart flutters. Why isn’t he here? This can’t be good.
His left eye twitches and little rivers of sweat trickle down his cheeks.
Connor says, “Why don’t you tell us who this leader is, so we can get on with the important job at hand? We don’t need to fiddle around with these bloody training sessions.”
Stuart tugs on his beard. “Yes, yes, I understand your impatience. I feel the same way, but we must progress in the correct order. Your abilities must be tested. You will never survive unless you embrace and use the special abilities the Alphian DNA has given you.
“Each one of you has a special ability that I’m sure you know about by now. Yes, yes, certain that you know. The Alphian DNA helps you channel the energy around you, so you can perform certain feats like create wind or fire, or liquefy solids, and in Juliet’s case, possess animals’ minds for a short period. These traits are common among Alphians. Usually an Alphian will have two or more, but in your case, each of you has but one. We must make sure you can use these abilities when you face the Prime Elector, so this test is necessary. Yes, yes, this is your final test before we move on to more... practical items.”
“Test?” Blake sounds worried. “You didn’t poison us again, did you?”
Stuart arches his thin blond eyebrows and looks at us like we’re the crazy ones. “Poison, no, no. Gratefully, you all passed that test. This test is a... scavenger hunt. Yes, yes, a scavenger hunt. To pass you will need to find four round crystals, one for each Chosen. Each crystal will have a different clue etched onto the surface. Once you have all four, you simply lock them together. The crystals will read your special electrical signatures and emit a beacon of sorts that I will register, so I will know when you have found all four and the test will be over.”
“A bloody scavenger hunt. There’s more to it than that,” grumbles Connor. He glances at me for the first time, and I can tell we share the same thought.
This is no ordinary test. Stuart and Sydney aren’t here for a reason. They’re worried about our reaction to whatever he hasn’t told us yet.
