Mail Order Mom, page 17
My hand landed on something cool and flexible, like a piece of tarp or plastic. I picked it up before realizing it was the wing of the flying thing. The dead flying thing. I was back where I started, lost in the darkness of the storm.
A huge head of another creature appeared from behind the dead body. This one was coal black, with two mandibles, sharp and long like swords.
“Oh no...” I froze as the creature’s unblinking round eyes focused on me.
The black, leathery “rope” with the spiked tip rose from behind the monster and curved above its head. The spike was aimed at me.
Fear gripped my throat, and I ran. I tripped and fell, only to scramble back up in the desperate dash for my life.
The “rope” shot forward over the creature’s head. I lurched sideways. The spike sank into the sand, missing me by barely an inch.
Horror froze my limbs. Any moment now, the monster would yank back its tail—or whatever the hell that “rope” was—and whip it at me again.
Instead of a hard yank, however, the long appendage just shook limply. The spike inched out of the sand, then tilted over.
I ventured a glance over my shoulder.
The creature had climbed over its winged victim. This monster had a long, hard-plated body with several dozen skinny legs along each side.
It had nearly doubled over, curling the end part of its body over its head to attack me with its long, flexible tail with the spike.
It was motionless now. Its thin legs dug into the sand. Then, it tipped over on its side, still curled into a hoop, like a giant, spiked tire. A wave of sand rose from its impact with the ground and showered over me.
I whimpered, gathering my arms and legs under me.
“Susanna!” the familiar voice tore through the wind.
I plopped back on the ground, afraid to believe my eyes as Xavran appeared from the thick sand clouds churning around us. He rushed around the dead monster to me.
His armguards were off. A milky-white liquid was dripping from the sharp horns on his forearms. Judging by the sudden demise of the last monster, I assumed this was the creature’s blood on his arms.
“Susanna!” He dropped to his knees and grabbed my shoulders. “Are you hurt? Wounded anywhere? Did the pheiza get to you?”
I understood he must be talking about one of the dead creatures.
“No. I’m fine. Neither of them hurt me...” Gripping the horns on his shoulders, I leaned into his chest. “It’s so, so good to see you, Xavran. You have no idea...”
Relief spread warm and thick through me, making me feel lightheaded. He wasn’t lying crushed under the crozan. The winged thing hadn’t snapped his neck. And no other deadly desert creature got him...
Fear receded, and I sobbed into his chest.
“There, there.” He buried his face into my hair, soothingly stroking my back. “It’s all good now. I’ve got you.”
He’s got me.
When I was in his arms, nothing scared me. Not the storm, not the nightmarish creatures, not the mafia back home. With Xavran by my side, I could deal with anything.
I drew in a deep breath, wrestling my panic under control. We had to figure out what to do next. “We fell off the crozan. We need to make them stop and pick us up.”
The machine was so enormous, it was still moving past us, its dark mass visible through the veil of the storm. We just needed to get the attention of the crew somehow.
He kept stroking my hair, shielding me from the wind. “The crozan never stops. Even if someone heard us, which is impossible in this weather, they would not be able to stop it for us.”
Panic lanced through me again.
“They can’t just leave us behind. What are we going to do?”
“Right now, we have to find shelter. When the crozan has passed by, we’ll be in the open.”
He shifted me to his side, peering through the storm at the dead creatures.
He was right. The massive shape of the moving crozan was shielding us from some of the wind. I could only imagine what it would be like once its protection was gone.
“Come.” Xavran dragged me through the raging wind toward the dead centipede. “Get in here.” He directed me inside the circle formed by its body.
Once I sat down next to the creature’s arched back, Xavran freed my shawl from the shoulder strap of my dress. He then tied the corners of the shawl to the long skinny legs of the monster. They stuck above us like the spikes of an umbrella. Stretching my shawl over them, Xavran created a semblance of a roof.
The wind kept blasting ferociously, but it was much calmer inside our makeshift shelter.
“Better?” Xavran sat next to me, and I leaned against him.
“Yes. Thank you.” I exhaled a shaky breath.
Everything was better with him by my side, even the brutal sandstorm in the most hostile part of the planet.
Chapter 21
SUSANNA
“What are we going to do?” I asked Xavran.
The wind howled like a wild beast outside of our macabre shelter made from the carcass of the dead creature.
“There’s not much to do during a storm in the desert but wait until it’s over.” He stretched his long legs in front of him, leaning back against the centipede.
I remained sitting upright. My back felt stiff. But I preferred that to getting too close to the corpse.
“How long will it take?”
“At least a couple of hours. But most likely all night. Sandstorms in these parts like to take their time.”
The prospect of sitting here all night sounded dreadful. But going out there right now would be stupid—if not outright suicidal—with all those nasty creatures roaming the desert.
“The frontier is a horrible place,” I determined.
“It sure isn’t a walk in a garden.” He chuckled. “But this is how all Aldrai used to look in the not-so-distant past. My ancestors survived in the desert for hundreds of thousands of years.”
“I can’t imagine how.” I was getting thirsty. The sand seemed to have made its way everywhere on my body. I wouldn’t be surprised if it were found in my bloodstream too.
It was hot like in an oven, even as the sun was no longer visible at all.
“There are ways to make this survivable,” Xavran assured me. “Lean against the pheiza.”
I shook my head. “No way. I’m not touching that.”
“Trust me.” He splayed his hand on the hard plating of the dead creature’s back. “It’s cooler here.”
“Cooler?” I touched the glossy plates too. They indeed felt colder than the air around us, like a tiled floor in a basement on a hot day.
“Instead of generating heat, a pheiza’s body converts energy into cold, allowing it to stay outside even on the most scorching days. Its body will take at least a few hours to warm up to the same temperature as the air around us. My ancestors used to hunt them for that and for their blood.”
“What did they use the blood for?”
“Pheiza’s legs are basically hollow, save for one muscle, thin like a thread.” He rose to his knees. Using one of the sharp narrow horns on his right forearm, he chopped off a leg of the dead creature. Milky blood dripped from the cut. “See?” He showed me the leg. It looked like a thick drinking straw filled with watered-down milk. “Have some.”
“Um... You mean to drink?” I cringed inside.
“It’s cool and refreshing,” he assured me. His expression remained open and genuine. He wasn’t kidding. “You must be thirsty.”
“Not enough to drink a dead bug’s blood.” I shook my head resolutely.
“Suit yourself. But it tastes the best when it’s cold.” He took a sip, like sipping a cocktail from a straw. Emptying the leg, he tossed it aside.
As Xavran took his place by the creature’s back again, I touched its hard plates once more. They really felt like ceramic tiles. Maybe I could pretend I was relaxing against a tiled shower wall or something?
Shifting back, I tentatively leaned against the pheiza. It didn’t feel too bad if I didn’t think about my back support having been a ruthless predator that had been trying to kill me just a little while ago.
“Well, it’s...okay.”
I would’ve loved to lean against Xavran’s arm too. I wouldn’t even mind the gore of the pheiza’s blood on his forearm horns from killing the creature. It had mostly been rubbed off by the sand, anyway. But all the horns and bumps on his shoulders and elbows seemed to be designed specifically to deter any close contact.
As if reading my mind, he lifted his arm.
“Come here,” he invited me under it.
I wasn’t going to make him ask twice. Crawling closer, I cuddled against his chest. He was all bumps, horns, and hard places on the outside, but his chest, belly, and the inside of his arms had no horns and no hard plating. It was the most comfortable place to be. I almost didn’t mind being tossed off the crozan. Almost.
My thoughts rushed back to that giant piece of machinery and what we’d left on it.
“I hope the children are okay.”
His chest rose with a deep breath. “They’re safe on my crozan. The crew will take care of them until we return.”
His calm voice was reassuring.
“How do we get back?”
By the time the storm was over, the crozan might be hundreds of miles away. Even if we headed after it now, we’d never catch up.
“Once the crew realize we’re missing, they’ll search for us,” Xavran replied. “In the worst-case scenario, another crozan will be coming here two weeks from now. It’s doing the next step in the terraforming process after mine.”
“Two weeks!” I gasped.
He rubbed my arm soothingly.
“Hopefully, the weather will be nice enough then for us to get their attention.”
Two weeks of surviving on dead bugs and their blood and trying not to become their food while hunting them. I sighed, not looking forward to that.
“I suppose it could’ve been worse,” I said. “At least we’re alive and uninjured.”
That was a very good thing.
We fell silent. I thought back to the start of the storm and the attack of the giant flying animals, then even further back to saying goodbye to Mara.
“Will the cargo airship be okay in this storm?” I asked.
“Yes,” he assured me. “It took off in time to avoid the worst. Your sister will be fine.”
“Good.”
He shifted uneasily.
“Susanna. I want you to know I never had any feelings for your sister. I never thought about my marriage to her as anything more than a formality on paper, which I clearly stated in the contract before she and I were even matched. All I wanted in a wife was a partner to help me with the family.”
I tilted my head back, trying to see his face in the darkness.
“I never doubted that,” I said.
He cupped my cheek. “I made a huge mistake. I married the wrong sister.”
I didn’t blame him for that, either. He’d never had the chance to make a choice before he met us. I was just grateful that he and I got a chance to meet at all.
“Mara never laid any claim on me before,” he continued. “I refuse to believe my feelings for you have been in any way dishonest.”
Was this about Mara trying to “claim” him in the bathroom? Did he feel guilty about what she did?
“Earlier today, for a few unfortunate moments, I mistook her for you,” he said. “She knew that. I called her by your name, and she didn’t correct me. If I’ve misled her somehow—”
“Xavran,” I wasn’t going to let guilt over Mara’s actions rack him. “The only reason Mara got naked and climbed into your tub was because First Officer Qhax told her how important your job was and how much it paid. It had nothing to do with you. She never cared about you as a person, either before or after that.”
He exhaled a laugh. “Oh, I’ve been well aware of her lack of feelings. Her sudden...interest in me back on the landing deck was rather shocking.”
He had looked genuinely perplexed back then.
“Well, like I said, the explanation is simple. Money and power would make Mara interested in just about anyone. Trust me, it had nothing to do with what you did or what you said. Don’t beat yourself up over it.”
He remained silent for a moment. I pressed my cheek to his chest, drawing with my finger little circles on the material of his coveralls.
“I don’t think Mara will want to stay in Diria now,” he said. “She never liked it there, anyway. But I’ll pay for any accommodation she finds suitable in Arqa for as long as she needs.”
“That’s really nice of you. I suspect she may want to go back to Earth, though.”
He made a surprised sound. “But you said it’s not safe for the two of you to return home.”
“Well, apparently the bad guys are about to be caught. She wants to go back after that happens.”
“Are you considering going back, too?” he asked with concern.
No one waited for me back home. All my hopes for the future lay here, on Aldrai. But we hadn’t exactly spoken about my staying after the year was up.
“Well, I still have some time left of my employment contract with you...” I said tentatively.
“And you’ve been doing such a great job that I’ve been thinking about extending it,” he teased with a smile in his voice.
“You have?” I matched his tone. “For how long are you thinking of extending it?”
He flexed his arm around my shoulders, holding me tight. “Indefinitely.”
“I may consider that.” I snuggled closer into his side.
“But I want to propose some changes to the terms of our agreement.”
“Like what?”
He shifted to make us both a little more comfortable. “For one, you won’t have your own bedroom anymore. You’ll be moving into mine. Permanently.”
“Will you take my paycheck away, too?”
“Yes. And I’ll extend your working hours. From now on, I’ll expect you to be available for me at night too.”
“That sounds like an outrageous exploitation.” I huffed dramatically, faking indignation. “Hard to believe anyone would fall for that.”
He smiled. “Isn’t that what they say? That the job of a wife and a mother is the most demanding one of all?”
True. Inside, I felt giddy with excitement at the “changes to the agreement” he’d proposed. On the outside, I kept a stern expression, however.
“I’ll hire as many helpers as you need,” he offered. “To make sure you have time to relax.”
“Will I be getting any compensation at all?”
“Yes.” His voice turned serious. “You’ll get my unconditional love and affection. My full support in everything you do. My undying devotion until the end of our days and beyond. And my heart...if you want it.”
That was exactly what I wanted—to spend the rest of my life with this man, to become a part of his family, and to grow old together, side by side with him, surrounded by our children.
I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face in his chest, afraid that if I said a word, all the wonderful feelings that bubbled in my chest right now would overflow with tears.
“I’ll think about it,” I finally mumbled into his chest.
“I’ll wait,” he exhaled, kissing my hair, “for as long as it takes.”
I thought about our life together so far. There had been challenges I’d never thought I’d be able to handle before. It still felt like I was failing sometimes.
“I’ve never thought I could be any good at looking after four children,” I confessed. My thoughts went back to my visit to the principal’s office. “There’s something I really need to talk to you about. The kids’ principal wants to speak with you. She said she’d been trying to get a hold of you.”
“What happened?” His voice dropped with worry. “She never left a message.”
“Hm. I wonder why?” I asked, a bit puzzled.
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t think she really wants to see me. The last time I went to her office, she told me a boy was mean to Illal, and...well, I might have lost my temper. A little.”
“I can’t say I did much better. Just to warn you, she may complain about my behavior at our meeting with her.” I heaved a breath. “To be honest, I often feel over my head with the kids. I’ve ordered a few books on Aldraian child psychology and development. I feel like I need to learn so much.”
“The learning never stops,” he agreed. “I’ve had children for eleven years now, and there’re always situations when I just don’t know what to do.”
I sat up, turning his way, though that didn’t help me see him any better in the darkness. “Ene has had some troubles with another girl in school. I knew about that for some time, but I promised Illal not to tell anyone. I didn’t want to break the promise, but maybe I should have.”
“What happened? How is Ene?”
“Better now. But I think she could use some help. Maybe we could get someone, a professional counselor or someone like that, to help her deal with her mother’s...with the loss of her mother.”
“Is that really the problem?” he sounded doubtful. “Ene has never met her mother. She wouldn’t even remember her.”
“That doesn’t mean she is not affected by her loss.” I laced my fingers together. “You know she goes into your wife’s old room?”
He shifted to sit straighter. “What for?”
“To cry when she’s sad or feels alone. I’d rather she came to you. Or to me. Or to anyone who is alive and can actually listen and help her. Instead, she cries to a picture.”
He released a breath. “I didn’t know that.”
“It’s heart-breaking.”
“How often does she do it?”
“Not often. In fact, she hadn’t gone in there for weeks now, which is a good thing, I hope. Still, we should talk to someone. And...maybe it’s time to do something else with that room?” I asked carefully. “What do you think?”
