Starseed (13 page)

Perseus snorted.

Mike and Lee galloped up to Kaila and halted.

“You gotta stop pretend-talking to these animals,” Mike shouted. “You got friends now.”

“Whatever.” Kaila re-mounted Perseus.

Sometimes they rode in the open fields. But today, a bit warm, they headed for the woods, seeking shade. Wildlife abounded: nutria, raccoons, squirrels, possum, and occasionally, water moccasins seeking water.

They rode a while, Kaila wondering if Jordyn would show up that night. Next, Mike and Kaila rode Mira and Lyra. Then they groomed the five horses, fed and watered them.

Thank you,
Perseus sighed.
Much better.

That night, the family gathered round the television set. As promised, Kaila made popcorn and fed Lucy and Woofy their beloved kernels. Lucy’s pink tongue stuck out as she gazed at Kaila with love.

“Oh, stop being so mushy. You’re welcome,” Kaila said.

Lucy barked.

“I told you I would make popcorn, so I did,” Kaila replied. “Stop. You’re embarrassing me with this fuss.”

“Quiet,” Mike said. “The news is on.”

“They’re raising the taxes again?” Nan looked up from her crochet.

“Idiots,” Paw Paw said. “Every one of them government folk should be run out of town.”

“We gotta pay for their high falutin’ living, the bastards,” Mike drawled. “Work like a dog, they’ll take every dime. Liars and thieves, every last one of ’em.”

Kaila sighed, bored. Why did old people like to watch the news with its taxes, murders, floods, diseases, and wars, while complaining the whole time?

How she wished she could be with Jordyn. Perseus had to be mistaken. He wouldn’t just appear in front of her family. No way.

Kaila stuck in the ear buds of her iPod. She cranked it up. She closed her eyes, losing herself in the music of Pink. A buzzing sounded inside her ears, below the music. She opened her eyes.

“Who on earth would be ringing the doorbell?” Nan wondered from her armchair. She put down her crochet needles.

Kaila raced to the door. Too late. Her mother had opened the door. There stood Jordyn in his silver bodysuit and black t-shirt. He looked past her mother to Kaila.

Lucy and Woofy barked.

“Stop!” Kaila cried above the dogs barking, restraining Lucy by her collar.

Jordyn cast a purposeful gaze down at Lucy and Woofy. They quieted and sat.

“Oh!” Lee exclaimed. She stepped back, barefoot in yoga pants. “Who’re you?”

Now Nan and Mike clustered in the doorway. Why couldn’t her family just go away?

“I’m Jordyn,” he said, staring intently at Lee.

“Don’t do that,” Kaila implored.

But already, her mother wore a placid expression.

Nan said, “Young man, have we been introduced?”

“For goodness sakes,” Mike intervened. “You all leave the guy alone.” He stuck his hand out to Jordyn. “Hey buddy. How’re you? I’m Mike, Kaila’s step-dad.”

“Nice to meet you,” Jordyn said, taking Mike’s hand and staring.

One second. Then Mike froze, his hand out. Nan had her hands on her hips, her mouth open. Lee stood as if in yoga mountain pose.

Kaila observed that the second hand had stopped on the kitchen clock.

“You can’t do this to my family,” Kaila wailed.

She felt conflicted: overjoyed to see Jordyn but weirded out with her family frozen in the kitchen doorway.

“I wanted to see you,” Jordyn said. “If you don’t want to see me, I’ll go. And then you can get back on the couch and watch the news.”

“Please. Anything but that!”

Jordyn stepped closer, drew her to him. His warm arms held her close; he put his lips to her ear.

“What would you like to do?” he whispered.

She felt exhilarated yet embarrassed with her family standing around, even though they were unaware.

Unable to resist, Kaila said, “Send them all to bed.”

“Your wish is my command.”

With the family peacefully asleep in their beds, Jordyn and Kaila sat next to each other on the sofa. The dogs slept peacefully on the floor.

Now together and undisturbed, they fell silent. Jordyn studied the sofa, recliners, rugs, the paintings on the wall, drumming his fingers on his thighs. He cleared his throat.

To break the silence, Kaila asked, “Did you visit my horse?”

“What? No. Why would I want to visit your horse?”

Was he lying? He looked sincere. Kaila realized that maybe the boy Perseus referred to had been one of the others. But who?

Kaila flipped the channels with the remote. “What do you want to watch?” she asked.

“I’ve never watched television.”

“You haven’t?” Kaila was incredulous.

Jerry Springer was on. A barefooted brunette in a tight short dress belted another woman who was screaming about her being a whore.

Jordyn stared, aghast, as they pulled each other’s hair until the security guards separated them. He said, “People like this?”

“I guess.”

The channel changed. Kaila hadn’t touched the remote. A boxing match. Two large men threw punches with their boxing gloves, circling round each other. One landed a hard right straight into the other’s jaw, sent him to the ground.

“Ugh,” Jordyn said. “Fighting. This is terrible!”

The channel changed again.
CNN
. A bomb going off in the Middle East. People with blood on their faces, people dead in the streets.

“Why do you do this to each other?” Jordyn asked.

The channel changed. History Channel. The pyramids in Egypt.

Jordyn listened to the narration. “Now this is of interest.”

“Ever since I was a kid I’ve wanted to see the pyramids,” Kaila said. “I’ve wanted to go my whole life.”

“There’s a reason for that.” Jordyn changed the channel with his mind.

Kate Winslet and Leonard DiCaprio clung to each other on the
Titantic.
They kissed one another passionately.

“I love you,” Kate Winslet declared.

“What does that mean when they say ‘I love you’?” Jordyn asked.

Kaila wanted to shout,
what I feel for you!
But she said, “A good warm feeling for another—where you care about the other.”

“What happens to those two?” he asked, pointing to Winslet and DiCaprio.

“Um, the ship sinks and he dies.”

“They don’t stay together forever?”

“No. But I think when someone truly loves, they love forever, whether the person is there or not.”

He gazed at her, digesting this information. His eyes watered. “That’s terrible. They should be together.”

“Maybe, when she dies, they’re finally together in spirit.”

Jordyn knit his brows. “What is that?”

“A part of you that flies away when your body dies.”

“Like the wind?”

Kaila shrugged. “I guess.”

Jordyn’s face softened. He patted her hand. “You are cute. Telling me such stories to make me feel better.”

If Kaila had a tail, it would have drooped. She recalled the Christmas Eve she discovered Paw Paw changing into a Santa suit in the dining room.

“Oh little Goosy,” Paw Paw said, scrambling to hide the hat, wig, and beard. All Kaila could do was stare, open mouthed. Later, they left milk and cookies by the fireplace anyway.

Now, Jordyn had changed the channel. He held still, cocking his head as he listened. The Country Channel aired an old black-and-white film of Patsy Cline. She crooned into the microphone, “Sweet Dreams of You.”

“I like this,” Jordyn said. “We don’t have music.”

He rested his neck on the couch and closed his eyes. Kaila marveled at Jordyn liking the corny music. When the song ended, he opened his eyes. “Again!” he commanded the television. Patsy Cline started “Sweet Dreams of You” from the beginning.

“How did you do that?” Kaila asked.

“You can do everything we do. You’ll see.” He stood, held out his hands.

“What?”

“Come here.”

Jordyn put his arms around her, nuzzled his cheek against hers. “I have always wanted to try this,” he said, peering around, as if embarrassed.

He swayed side to side; Kaila realized he was talking about dancing. She closed her eyes, sighed, dizzy with his touch. He had such strange energy, like a battery charged beyond capacity.

His arms tightened as they swayed back and forth. When he touched her, she felt electrified, receiving his charge. His hard chest flattened her soft breasts. She wanted to press herself closer, wanted to merge as one. He rubbed her lower back while rubbing his cheek against hers. She felt the stubble on his jaw. He moved his lips to her neck and softly kissed.

“Now I know,” he started to say. He jerked back.

Kaila jumped with fright when she saw that the rest of the hive had invaded the living room. Echidna, Toby, Antonia, Lucius, and Viktor stood in one line in their silver bodysuits, arms crossed.

“What do you have to say for yourself?” Lucius asked, peering through black sunglasses at Jordyn.

“Shame,” Viktor added. His red hair was tousled and wavy; his lips pouted above his red beard.

“I liked it,” Toby said, his wide face grinning. “Were you going to kiss her?”

“Shut up,” Echidna said to Toby, placing her hand on her slender hips. “You are turning into a fool.”

Toby looked hurt. “I’m not!”

“We need to chill,” Antonia said, putting slender fingers to her dark tufts of hair sleeked back by a silver headband. “Comprehend, Jordyn, the reason we’re here is we need to stick together as one. You can’t be leaving the hive like this.”

“Who says so?” Jordyn challenged.

Viktor lurched in front of Jordyn. “You know who.” He smoldered at Jordyn and cupped his hand on Jordyn’s crotch. He squeezed. “You’re turning into an animal. Letting
this
rule you.”

Jordyn returned the favor and put his hand on Viktor’s crotch. He squeezed harder, lowering his head like a tiger prepared to strike. “And let me remind you, that
you
, too, are half animal.”

Viktor thrust his face close to Jordyn’s. His black pupils split his blue irises in half. “You want to play animal?” he asked in a low tone. “Let’s play.”

Echidna pushed between them. “I agree. Let’s play.” She tossed her beautiful moon face at Kaila, her perfectly cut black hair swaying. “Do you want to have a party?”

“I—I don’t know.”

“We’ve never been out like this,” Toby said. “Let’s stay here, please.”

“Just be calm,” Kaila said, a pit in her stomach. “Relax. Um. Everyone sit down.” She felt incredibly nervous with the mounting tension while her family slept upstairs.

“Your family will stay asleep,” Jordyn reassured.

Echidna nodded at the television, telepathically changing the channels. “Look!” she exclaimed.

The cast from
Jersey Shore
danced in a club with music playing, the lights changing color. The hive observed the people in the club, moving their bodies.

“Could we do that?” Toby asked. “It seems like fun.”

Viktor studied the television, then contemplated Kaila with his reptilian eyes. He ran his hand through his red hair. “Do you have any alcohol?”

Before she could reply, he thrust two fingers below her wig, lifted the plastic.

“Stop!”

Too late. He’d peeked into her mind. He strode to the living room.

Kaila trailed after him. “We really shouldn’t.”

Viktor located the liquor cabinet, opened the door. “Oh,” he said, spying the bottles of Scotch, rum, gin, and tequila. “But we should.”

He loaded his arms with liquor bottles and brought them to the kitchen table. “Party time!”

“Oh, you dear!” Echidna purred.

Toby’s bald head was stuck inside the refrigerator. “What’s this?” he asked, pulling out a platter.

“Um, fried catfish, potato salad,” Kaila murmured.

“Don’t worry,” Jordyn said. “We can keep the mind-screen on your family. They’ll never hear or know a thing. We already put the Bourg down. She doesn’t know where we are.”

“That’s right,” Antonia snapped. “You need to stay with the hive. And you should use the word ‘we’ not ‘I.’ That’s what this is all about.”

“Well, let’s just have . . . fun . . . tonight, okay?” Jordyn said. “Our secret.”

Antonia considered. “Fun,” she proclaimed, as if trying on the word for size.

“This is delicious!” Toby cried, his mouth full of fried catfish and tartar sauce.

Echidna, busy clinking ice into glasses, said, “Not even a human animal, Toby. You’re turning into a full-fledged
pig.
”

“Say what you want,” Toby said. “But this tastes much better than what we eat.”

“What do you eat?” Kaila asked.

“Plump crying babies,” Viktor called, unscrewing the cap on a Scotch bottle. He actually smiled at Kaila then, revealing sharp incisors.

“Hush, Viktor,” Antonia said. Then to Kaila, “Do you think we could summon your friends Pia and Melissa?” She stuck her hands into the pockets of her silver bodysuit. “To interact at a party, I mean. This could be . . . educational.”

“Yes!” Toby cried. “Can Melissa come? Please. I like her. We can get her here in a second.”

Everything was spiraling out of control. Viktor and Echidna were pouring drinks. Toby piled food on the table, eating it cold. Lucius leaned back on the couch, transfixed by the television.

“What do you mean summon?” Kaila asked.

“Watch,” Toby said. He looked at Antonia, saying, “You—Pia. Me—Melissa. Go!” Then Toby and Antonia were no longer standing in the kitchen.

“Wait,” Kaila said to the air where they had stood.

“Have a drink,” Viktor said, pushing a Scotch at her.

Kaila never drank. Her grandmother did not tolerate foul language or believe in underage girls drinking.

The glass was in her hand.

“Cheers,” Viktor said, lifting his glass. He leaned closer, his lips and orange beard nearly touching her face.

“And,” he added, “now that you are awakening, I hope you will soon turn your allegiance.” His warm breath smelled metallic, like blood. “Then I may not be such a bastard. To you, at least. I’ll always be a bastard to every full-blooded human.”

He clinked his glass to Kaila’s, and then deeply swallowed the Scotch.

“Why do you hate humans so much?” Kaila asked.

“We don’t hate,” Viktor said. “Hatred is reserved for humans.” He narrowed his eyes and said, “Cheers.”

She sensed he toyed with her and would not be forthcoming with answers.

Kaila sipped the Scotch then puckered her lips, shaking her head.

“Wow,” Jordyn said, taking a sip. “This
is
strong. Like liquid fire. Tastes like poison. I don’t understand how people like this—”

“Try another sip,” Echidna said, putting her beautiful face close to Jordyn as Kaila twinged with jealousy. “Let’s try it. On the
TV
at parties, humans drink the poison fire.”

“Kaila!”

Kaila turned and saw Melissa and Pia. Toby and Antonia stood behind them. She realized that Melissa and Pia were not fully conscious. Their shoulders were slumped, their chins down, eyes vacant. Melissa wore a night shirt. Pia wore sweats. Both looked as if they’d been dragged from their beds.

“Kaila,” Pia said. “What are we doing here?”

“I don’t like this,” Kaila said. “Wake them up.”