Bastial Energy (60 page)

Effie let out a slightly contemptuous giggle. “You can try.”

Alex cleared his throat and lowered his voice to a whisper. “I’m sure that men are drawn to you because you’re gorgeous.”

Suddenly her heart started up, thumping hard against her chest. It was one thing to catch him staring but another to hear him admit it.

He continued before allowing her to respond. “Whatever they say, you’ll have some quick retort because of that sharp tongue of yours. Sure, it can be dangerous being out by yourself, but not for you. No matter what happens, you can find a way out of it with your magic, which you almost never need. I don’t think you find comfort in the uncertainty of those nights. No, it’s actually the opposite. You know what to expect, and you know that you can handle it. You can be any version of yourself in those predictable situations and come away safe. It was the first thought I had when I met you at the party I hosted:
Whoever this girl is, she’s ready for anything.
There’s no uncertainty in a night out for Effie Elegin, and that’s what comforts you.”

She didn’t even need to consider it for more than a heartbeat. He was right. She
did
know what to expect on a night out.
How could I have never seen that?
I can’t believe I’ve been lying to myself for so long.
She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came to mind to demonstrate the profound feeling she had. So Alex continued.

“This war, classes, everything since coming to the Academy, no one can know what will happen during this time or even after. That’s what it is to become an adult—not knowing and being confused. Whether we’re facing war, figuring out what we want to do with our lives, or simply talking to a girl we’re infatuated with, there are scary and confusing moments we all must go through, and it’s tough as boiled leather. It’s in our nature to be uncomfortable in our own skin. It comes with the age. It means changes are coming, and life will never be the same as it was. That’s the best and worst part about growing out of childhood.”

“And here I thought sex and liquor were the best and worst parts of growing out of childhood,” she replied before she could even consider his words.

He gave his throat an awkward clearing sound like something had obstructed it for a brief moment. Effie figured it must have been from the mention of sex.

“Yes, well, each of these things can be both terrible and wonderful; this at least is true.” As he spoke, she felt him pull his waist away from her rear, his grip around her stomach loosening. “I’ve thought about this many nights. What helps me is to keep in mind that we all have expectations of the future, but it’s up to each of us whether or not we grow into our expectations, change our expectations, or stay confused.”

A silence followed that she knew to mean he was done. Alex had given her much to think about, too much for her even to respond. She’d known there was a deeper layer to him. She was happy to find it had answers about herself.

As they lay there in silence, Effie thought about flipping over, wrapping her nearly bare legs around him, and kissing him. She knew it would be more than welcomed, might even start them on a frenzy, like the night she’d lost her virginity. Her mood pushed for it, especially after his embrace had done so well to relieve her, but logic fought against the idea. They were surrounded by others, and possibly the most important day of her life began at sunrise. The last thing she needed was more excitement.

She took his blanket off her, turned, and gave him a sweet kiss on the cheek. His short beard tickled her as he smiled and leaned into it. She liked pressing her lips against him but decided to stop at one.

“I gather you’re feeling better?” he asked.

“For now,” she answered and tiptoed off to slip her legs under her lonely blanket.
If I’m going to be rolling around while I sleep, I should probably wear more,
she joked to herself.

On her other side, Reela had also seemed to roll away from her original spot but in the opposite direction, toward Vithos. They were lying quite close, and her hand looked to be on his stomach.

Reela had been spending much of her time with the Elf. At first, Effie figured it was because they both were psychics, but as of late she’d started wondering whether there was more to it. She shuddered as the image came of Reela’s naked body on his lap, holding on to his neck as she leaned back and bounced. It made her feel sick, but she didn’t know why.

Effie had just gotten used to the idea of Reela and Cleve kissing passionately between jail bars, even had begun to think they were cute. Now had Reela fallen for the Elf? Would Effie need to get comfortable with Reela and Vithos being intimate?
Why is it such a disgusting thought?
She wanted to spit to clear the sour taste in her mouth but refrained.

The thought of Reela and Vithos together made Effie wonder if she was too hard on Steffen for his interest in Gabby. Steffen and her sister would be good for each other, always had been. On the other hand, the two psychics enjoying the pleasures of their bodies seemed truly wrong, immeasurably worse than Steffen and Gabby. With Reela and Vithos, it felt like she was imagining a brother and sister.

She wondered if other girls thought about sex in the same way she did, with vivid images of friends’ naked bodies intertwined when they started to become close.
Probably not
, she figured.

Eventually, pleasant thoughts of Alex holding her distracted her easily enough for sleep to come.

When Effie woke the next morning, there was a taut eagerness bubbling up from the pit of her stomach. It felt like her whole life was about to reach a climax, and not in a good way.

If their plan worked, they would join forces with the elusive Slugari and return to Kyrro with a massive swing of hope. It was the first morning that she didn’t awaken with drowsiness. It was like her body knew this day would be important, whether they failed or succeeded.

After a few miles through the sparse Satjen forest, Vithos stopped them, announcing, “We close. Need animal dig.”

A long while they wandered, before Zoke finally spotted a badger to the east. Its face was striped by black and white, its back a dark gray color like Zoke’s reptilian skin. He said something in Kreppen as he pointed. After Vithos replied in the same throaty language, Zoke translated for them.

“Badger digs well. It’s too far for psyche, and they run fast. We have to not be seen. Stealth, yes?” He turned to Reela.

“Stealth,” Reela replied with a nod.

By that, Effie figured Reela had been teaching Zoke some words he didn’t know. Reela had been spending a lot of time with him and Vithos, after all.

They crept closer, using the thick trees as cover. The badger’s nose wiggled like it was sniffing something. Then its head poked forward. When it decided to move, it got so low to the ground that Effie lost sight of it. Luckily, the animal stopped every few seconds to pop its body up and sniff the air again.

Soon, it seemed to catch the scent of something because it kept to one direction and increased its pace, stopping less to sniff the air as it went.

As they followed it through a cluster of shrubbery, they found the source of the scent the badger had been tracking. It was some creature Effie had never seen before. It was twice the size of the badger in length and height. But its color was something Effie had only seen in emeralds or thick smoke strands of Sartious Energy—a radiant, shimmering green that let through some light while reflecting the rest, brighter even than Reela’s eyes.

“What is that?” Terren asked. They all stopped to keep the cover of the thick bushes.

Steffen let out a gasp when he leaned out for a glimpse. “A Slugari, it’s a Slugari.” He pointed with a jabbing finger. “That’s a Slugari.”

“Slugari?” Vithos repeated and gave a curious glance to Zoke.

“It must be,” Zoke replied. “Looks like the drawings.”

The Slugari was a chubby little animal. Effie understood the name better now that she was looking at one. It had a shape that was similar to a slug, but there was nothing disgusting about it.

Reela let out one quiet giggle. “It’s cute.”

The Slugari had two short arms with talon-like hands. It pulled a flower from the ground, leaned its head back, and held the flower to its face. There was something atop its head that bent forward toward the flower. It looked like a plant stem, but it was hooked at the end.

“She’s smelling the flower,” Steffen whispered. “That long thing is her nose.”

There were two antennae on either side of her hooked stem nose atop her head. They hung forward loosely as if not in use. The fat of her plump body lessened gradually from her front to her back, forming a thin tail that slowly slithered back and forth.

Effie figured the Slugari’s stomach was the light gray coloration on her front. Small arms came around from her sides. Her face was no more than a rounded apex to her body, connecting to the top of her stomach without a neck. The last thing Effie noticed was that the Slugari had two beady eyes and a thin mouth with cute, rabbit-like teeth.

The badger had become excited by the Slugari’s scent, darting around it with curious pokes of its nose. The Slugari must have noticed the badger but chose to ignore it, seemingly too busy brushing something from the flower into a small pouch around her arm.

But then the badger stuck its nose a little too close, and the Slugari waved a claw in its direction. At the motion, the badger jumped away and hissed.

The badger didn’t stay away for long, though. It darted around again, edging closer with more sniffs. The Slugari finished with the flower and let it drop so she could aim both three-fingered claws at the badger as if casting some sort of spell. Whatever it was, the badger ran off whimpering.

“Close enough for psyche?” Zoke asked in common tongue.

“Yes,” Vithos replied. “I make calm. Krepp be hidden.” Vithos transitioned into Kreppen to finish whatever he was telling Zoke. Then he held out his hand and walked toward the Slugari from the cover of the bushes.

“Steffen,” Terren whispered. “Follow Vithos and tell the Slugari we’re here to help.”

Steffen stumbled out behind Vithos. At the sight of them, the Slugari tilted her head curiously. When she spoke, her mouth became animated but the words were light, dying the moment they were produced. There was an “S” or “H” sound in nearly every word Effie could hear clearly enough.

“Sodu harena sigh go dusa?”
That’s what it sounded like if Effie had to guess.

Steffen said something back in what had to be the same language. He repeated the same word three times at the end:
hytu, hytu, hytu.

The Slugari and Steffen went back and forth for five long minutes before Steffen turned around and called to them in common tongue. “You can come out. She smelled us already, anyway. Her name is Shudu.” They each filtered out from the trees as Steffen continued. “Their crop of janjin has been dying. Shudu was sent to gather seeds. She says my Slugaren is very bad. She also says it’s been fifty years since the last time they had contact with a Human—”

“You can tell us that later,” Terren interrupted. “Will she lead us to their colony?”

“Yes.” Steffen nodded enthusiastically. “As soon as we’re ready.”

“We’re ready! We should get out of sight as soon as possible.” Terren’s tone was as if he was playing a game with a child and had just gotten fed up with their naivety.

Steffen spoke to Shudu in Slugaren again, and then the green creature started to slither away. “Follow her,” Steffen told them.

Shudu moved a lot but didn’t cover much ground for her efforts. Her tail folded and slithered like a snake while rippling waves cascaded down the rest of her unbending body.

When Effie noticed that Terren and Vithos were looking around in every direction, it suddenly made her feel exposed, and not in the same fun way as jumping into the river naked with Reela. It felt more like something was about to jump out at her, though she didn’t know what or when. She checked around as well. There were hills to the north and trees in every direction. Someone could be watching them and easily remain hidden.

“How far is it from here?” Terren asked.

“It’s right up ahead,” Steffen replied.

Shudu stopped at an old tree. It was nearly twice as wide as most others and with bark that had faded to gray over the years. The Slugari went around the tree’s funnel-shaped base, pointing at part of it. Like many trees in Satjen, clusters of long green leaves came from every crevice within the tree’s base.

“No, couldn’t be,” Steffen whispered incredulously, kneeling in front of the biggest patch of leaves. He used both hands to pull them aside. They slid out like a piece of pie, leaving a hole easily big enough to crawl through. “Unbelievable.”

The Slugari said something to Steffen, which he translated. “Shudu will go last to put the plant back properly, but it’s a maze down there. So once we go down, wait for Shudu before going any farther. I think that’s what she said.” Steffen scratched his head. “She used a few words I don’t know.”

“Effie, go first, will you?” Terren was telling her more than asking her. “You can give us light from below.”

She squatted in front of the hole to shine her wand down. The tunnel was steeper than she would have liked and went on farther than she could see. She got to her elbows and knees, grasping her wand tightly. As she crawled in and tried to remain calm, her shoulders pushed against the edges of the tree and her backpack scraped against the top.
This is where Slugari could move five times the speed of Humans,
Effie thought, trying to manage her body through the tight space.
It’s a good thing I don’t mind close spaces that much.