Imminent Danger: And How to Fly Straight Into It (40 page)

Pushing past him, Eris bustled out of the cabin and strode quickly toward the cockpit. Breezing inside, she spotted Miguri sitting in the copilot’s chair. “Hey, Miguri,” she said. Glancing toward Grashk, whose scaly limbs were spilling out of the pilot’s seat, she added, “Grashk.”

The Ssrisk grunted.

Miguri smiled at her. “I hope you rested well.”

“I did. Well, at least until Varrin barged in and ruined my dream.”

“So you
were
dreaming about me!” Varrin crowed as he strolled into the cockpit behind her.

“I never said it was a
good
dream.”

“All dreams about me are good dreams.”

“Cease your bickering,” Grashk hissed. “We reach Earth in one hour. That is why I sent the Rakorsian to wake you. The pleasantness of your dreams is irrelevant to our current situation.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Eris sighed.

“So, my friend,” Miguri said. “How does it feel to finally be going home for good?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I mean, I should be happy, right?”

“Are you not?”

“Well, yes, of course I am,” Eris said, without much conviction.

“Liar,” Varrin said.

“Oh, don’t you start.”

“What? Clearly you aren’t that attached to your planet, considering how willingly you left a few days ago.”

“Uh, not the case! You didn’t give me much choice in the matter. You said Earth would be doomed if I didn’t help you. What else was I supposed to do?”

Varrin gave her an unimpressed look. “We always have choices. Even if we don’t like them.”

41

A
s the stolen Rakorsian shuttle zoomed past the moon, Eris looked out the cockpit window, lost in thought. The Earth floated before them, a blue-green marble in a black, starry pool. Sunlight reflected off the ice caps, and the wavering green lights of the aurora borealis glimmered at the northern pole.
I love my planet,
she thought.
So why do I keep hoping Varrin will say, “We have a problem”? Not that I
want
something to go wrong, but is going back to Earth really what I want?

“We’re about to enter Earth’s atmosphere,” Varrin announced, having reclaimed the pilot’s seat from Grashk.

Eris’s thoughts continued to churn.
This will be my last time in space, on a spaceship. The last time I’ll ever see Miguri and Grashk. The last time I’ll ever see Varrin. My galactic adventure is over. From now on I’m going to live a normal, Earth-bound life, with no aliens, or strikers, or abductions. Kari, that sounds dull.

She noticed that Varrin was staring at her. She looked away, not wanting him to see the unhappiness in her eyes.

They descended through Earth’s atmosphere without incident and were soon gliding down toward a clearing at the outskirts of Blythewood. When they landed, Varrin led the way to the hatch. “Time to go home,” he said to Eris and then slid open the door.

Eris jumped down onto the plush green grass. As the others clambered out of the shuttle, she straightened her purple and silver outfit and resettled her necklace, which now held the lamri that had belonged to Kratis.
I should probably give this back,
she thought, lifting the necklace over her head.
I won’t need it anymore, after all.

She tried to hand it to Varrin, but he refused to take it. “Keep it,” he told her.

“I can’t keep highly sophisticated alien technology, Varrin,” Eris lectured. “Knowing my luck, the Psilosians would find out about it, track me down, and wipe my memory or something.”

She tried to give it to him again, and once more he stopped her. “Keep it,” he insisted. “Hide it away if you have to. You might want it someday.”

“What, you mean when I get bored on Earth and decide to travel the stars with you for all eternity?”

Slipping the necklace back over her head, Eris waited for Varrin to respond. When he didn’t say anything, she glanced up at him curiously. He was looking at her, but his eyes seemed unfocused. “Varrin, are you all right?”

He shook himself and then laughed, although it sounded a little forced to Eris. “Of course,” he said, “why wouldn’t I be? Come on, I’ll walk you home. Can’t have you getting into some freak accident and dying after all the near-death experiences you’ve narrowly survived.”

“You mean the ones you put me in.”

He looked away.

What is going
on
with him today?
she thought, bewildered.
He’s finally rid of me for good. Shouldn’t he be a little more—well, happy?

Miguri, who had been staring wide-eyed at the trees that ringed the clearing, now scurried over to her side. “Prolonged farewells only dampen the spirit,” he told her solemnly.

Eris smiled and crouched down to hug her little friend. “Let’s keep them quick, then.” Releasing Miguri, she straightened and turned to Grashk, who was leaning against the side of the crimson shuttle with all three pairs of arms crossed. “Grashk, to be honest, I don’t know what to say to you. At first you scared me, then you helped me, and then you saved my life. I still don’t understand why.”

The blue reptile cracked all six sets of knuckles, which Miguri had told her was what Ssrisk did when they felt awkward. “I have not seen such courage in so inferior a being in a long time,” Grashk hissed. “I felt it was my duty to ensure your survival. I am interested to see how you evolve.”

“Um … thank you?”

“Assisting you and your allies was also the only course of action that would result in my continued survival,” the Ssrisk added.

“That’s pretty much what I figured,” Eris said, grinning. “But that’s okay.”

She turned back to Miguri, whose white hair was drooping sadly. Bending down, she scooped up the Claktill in another hug. He laughed and wrapped his arms around her waist. “You’re my best friend,” she told him. “Before I met you, I never found anyone I really connected with. You’ve been so kind, and so helpful. I doubt I could have survived this whole adventure without your help.”

A faint blush rose on the Claktill’s brown cheeks. “I feel the same way, my friend,” he chirped softly.

Overcome with emotion, Eris squeezed the alien to her once more. “You have no idea how good it feels to hear that.”

“Perhaps I will be accepted back onto a colony ship, and we will pass your planet someday, and I can visit you and introduce you to my family,” Miguri suggested.

“That would be grand.”

Varrin cleared his throat pointedly. Eris guessed he wanted to hear his good-bye speech. “You’re walking me home, remember?” she said. “You’ll get your speech later.”
Although I have no idea what to tell him. How do you say good-bye to an alien mercenary prince you accidentally fell in love with, but you can’t admit your feelings to him because you know he’ll never return them?

She turned back to Grashk and Miguri. “Thank you both for everything you’ve done. Despite all the horrible things that happened, I wouldn’t trade you two for anything in the galaxy.”

“Trading is for the weak,” Grashk said.

“Right.” Eris blinked. “So … I guess this is good-bye.” She felt tears welling up in her eyes and quickly wiped them away.

“Are we done with the tearful good-byes?” Varrin drawled.

“Let’s go,” Eris said.

Varrin strode off across the grassy expanse, leaving Eris to hurry after him. As she reached his side, she started to turn around and catch a last glimpse of her friends. “Don’t do it,” he said quietly. “You’ll just start blubbering again.”

He’s trying to make me feel better, in his own inept way,
she thought, whacking him on the shoulder to show her appreciation.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Varrin grin.

It was nearly sundown by the time they reached the Barlow Collegiate Institute campus. When they arrived at her residence, Eris stopped outside the front doors and turned to Varrin. “This is it. Where I live.”

“A sight to behold,” he drawled, looking up at the ivy-covered structure. “Well? Aren’t you going to invite me in?”

She stared at him and then snorted. “Oh, yeah. Like that would go well, what with you speaking alien and all.”

“How about I just speak English?”

“But you don’t speak English.”

“Sure I do. I downloaded your Internet to the shuttle’s electronic library after the battle and learned the basics.”

“You’re telling me you learned the entire English language in three days?”

“Enough to get by. I’m Rakorsian, remember? I do
everything
well.” He smirked.

I’m not sure which is more unbelievable,
she thought.
That he learned English in three days, or that he somehow downloaded the entire Internet.
“Prove it,” she challenged.

“You are a beautiful young woman,” Varrin said in perfect though heavily accented English.

Blushing, Eris said, “Fine, you can speak English. Come on, then.”

After waiting five minutes for an elevator that refused to arrive, Eris marched Varrin up the paint-splattered stairs and down the hall to her suite. Sliding her keycard through the reader, Eris pushed the door inward. “My home away from home,” she said, waving her arm at the common room. “Like it?”

Varrin peered over her shoulder. “You didn’t mention you had sisters.”

Looking inside, Eris saw that her three roommates were much as she had left them—lounging around the common room in bright pink outfits, watching a reality show on television, and tapping away at their smartphones. “Those are my roommates,” Eris told Varrin somewhat frostily. “Lisa, Mallory, and Janice.”

The girls looked up at the sound of their names.

“You’re back!” Lisa exclaimed. Spotting Varrin, she added, “Yum! Who’s the hottie?”

“Is that your boyfriend?” Mallory asked, batting her eyelashes at him.

“No, he’s—” Eris began, but Varrin had already slipped past her.

The Rakorsian seized Mallory’s hand, bowed, and kissed it. “I am Varrin,” he said. He then kissed the other two girls’ hands in turn. “I am very pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“Ooooh,” the girls giggled.

“He’s got such a sexy accent,” Mallory whispered loudly to Lisa. “Do you think he’s foreign?”

“He certainly looks foreign,” Lisa agreed.

“You have no idea,” Eris said. Turning to Varrin, she added, “Come on. Let’s grab some money from my room so I can buy us dinner.”

“Are you leaving?” Mallory protested. “But you just got here!” She pouted at Varrin.

“Alas, my time on this planet is limited,” he told her gravely. “I am, after all, from across the galaxy.”

Mallory gaped at him. “Like, with stars and stuff?”

“That is correct.”

Her eyes grew unfocused. “Wow.”

Janice shot Mallory an annoyed look and then smiled sweetly at Varrin. “Why don’t you stay awhile and hang with us?”

“Come on,” Lisa wheedled. “It’ll be fun.”

“Ooooh!” Mallory squealed. “We can order pizza!”

“I am afraid that will not be possible, my dear ladies,” Varrin said gallantly and then winked at Mallory. “I fear I could not answer for my actions if I were to spend more than a few minutes in the presence of such a vacuous young woman.”

“You’re so sweet!” Mallory cooed. “I don’t think I’ve ever been called
vah-cues
before.”

“Vacuous,” Varrin corrected. “And I am genuinely surprised that no one has ever described you as such.”

“Well …” Mallory trailed off modestly.

Eris quickly slipped into her room to retrieve her meal card.
Where did Varrin learn English from, exactly?
she wondered.
Shakespeare?

When she returned to the main room, Varrin grabbed her arm and began tugging her toward the door. “Lovely to meet you ladies,” he said and pulled Eris from the suite before her roommates could respond.

As they walked down the corridor, Eris cast Varrin an amused look.

“What?” he demanded, switching back to Galactic Common. “Any particular reason you’re staring at me? Can’t resist my devilishly handsome looks, as usual?”

“No, just—whoa!”

Varrin yanked Eris out of the way as Josh Fisher, Lisa’s jock boyfriend, barreled down the hallway. Josh made a flying leap, snatched a football out of the air, and shouted, “Touchdown!”

“Nice catch!” called his friend from the other end of the corridor.

“Later, dude!” Josh shouted. “See ya at the game!”

Chuckling to himself, Josh tucked the football under his arm and took a few steps. Then he stopped and turned back to look at Eris, a puzzled expression on his face. “Wait, do I know you? Were you at Trip’s party last weekend?”

Eris scowled. “I cut my hair and suddenly no one recognizes me.”

“You’re Lisa’s roommate!” Josh exclaimed, snapping his fingers. “The girl in the towel.”

“The towel?” Varrin asked in English, his eyebrows quirked in interest.

“Mind out of the gutter, please,” Eris said. “I was just taking a shower.”

To her surprise, the amusement instantly vanished from Varrin’s eyes. “Why was he near you when you were taking a shower?” he demanded, shooting an unfriendly look at Josh. “Did you used to date him? Did you sleep—”