Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 88265 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88265 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
“I was taken from Central Park where I was jogging early in the morning,” the redhead says. “Alexa.” She gives a little wave. “Pleased to meet you. I wish it was under more pleasant circumstances.”
“I’m Irina,” the platinum blonde says in a strong Russian accent. “I was walking home from work in Moscow.”
“What about you?” Sandy asks. “What were you doing in Cleveland when they took you?”
“I was in the hospital.” I bite my lower lip as I consider if there could be a pattern to the kidnappings. “I wonder how they choose their targets?”
“From what we could figure out, the abductions are random,” Alexa says. “We’re from different countries around the world, including Germany, Kenya, the USA, the UK, and Russia. We’re not sure where Maeva is from, but I think she could be either from Canada or France because she sometimes mutters in French in her sleep.” She averts her eyes. “The others who didn’t make it were from China, Belgium, Spain, and other countries in Europe and Asia. Most of them only spoke a few words of English.”
I look around the group. The same air of despondency surrounds each of them. They’re dirty and undernourished, which worries me. Even more concerning is the scene I witnessed when the Phaelix pushed Alexa down on the ground.
Lifting my head, I clear my throat. “Are we slaves as in forced, unpaid labor, or are we sex slaves?”
“So far, they’ve only used us to cook and clean for them,” Sandy says. “But I overheard them talking about a slave auction that’s happening soon.” She bares her teeth. “I bet that’s when we’ll truly find out.”
Maeva utters a high-pitched cry.
“Shh, dorogaya,” Irina says, pulling Maeva’s head onto her shoulder.
I catch Alexa’s gaze. “That’s not what it looked like earlier.”
“That was a first,” she says, quivering while rubbing her arms. “They got really worked up about the dinosaur that circled over the huts. They call them dragons. I don’t know what got into them, but you don’t want to unleash their violence. It seems that danger and fighting make them fucking horny.”
“Bastards,” Karl bites out.
I think about my own near-rape experience and suppress a shudder.
“Have you tried to escape?” I ask.
“Impossible,” Sandy says. “They always keep watch. Even now, one of them is guarding the area from their outlook decks in the trees.” She turns her face to Irina. “And we all know what happens when you try.”
Irina drops the sleeve of her blouse and shows me half of her back. Long slashes crisscross her shoulder blade. “They did this with a thorny branch. I’m lucky it healed without getting infected.”
Fuck.
Alexa leans closer. “If you don’t do what they say, they drop a slug-like leech into your ear.” She points at a woman with cherub cheeks that sits in the center of the floor. “That’s how Eucabeth went deaf. From how she screamed, it must’ve been agonizing.”
Cruel fuckers. They’ll get what they deserve. Too bad we need some of them alive to get off this planet.
“Have you found out anything about the portals?” I ask. “Those lizards brought us here. Some of them must be able to create portals that can take us back.”
Sandy shakes her head. “They don’t even discuss it among themselves when they think we’re not listening, and they’re aware that I’m the only one who understands a little of their language. It must be a tightly guarded secret.”
If only I could connect with the prawns, but my head is hurting too much. It feels as if my brain has been through a blender. I can hardly think, let alone concentrate on using my power.
I rub my aching temples. The pain is getting worse instead of better, which isn’t a good sign.
Sandy observes me with a pinched brow. “You don’t look good.”
My chuckle is wry. “One of you don’t happen to have painkillers, do you?”
I try to keep a sense of humor, but if moving hurts, laughing is pure torture.
She sighs. “Medicine is a luxury the slavers never allow. I don’t even think they know the concept.”
In that case, I may end up dead after all. Unless I make it back to Earth in time.
Sandy studies me with a curious light burning in her blue eyes. “What happened at the beach? What did that Alit want with you? He looked downright scary.”
“This is going to sound weird.”
Sandy chuckles. “Believe me, hun, nothing can sound weird to me anymore.”
Point taken. “He’s an Alit prince, and he thought I was his mate.”
I expect them to burst out laughing, but they only stare at me with owl-sized eyes.
“But…” Sandy frowns. “I’ve picked up a few things since arriving here, and from what I’ve gathered, the Alit don’t mate with humans.”
I consider telling them the truth, that I discovered I’m an Alit myself, but I decide against it. I’m not sure how they’d feel about me if they learned I’m not a born-and-bred Earthling, and it’s too cumbersome to explain the whole history. Besides, I don’t understand everything myself yet. Nor do I want to dwell on what happened between Aruan and me, especially the fact that a part of me already misses him. So I shrug and settle for, “He was wrong.”