Chapter 4 #3
Emry held Gemma’s hand while she recited—again—the series of events that moved from blackmail to being abducted, waking up in a cage in a warehouse. “I didn’t catch any names. I told that cop all this already,” she told Ren.
Ren looked as if he had lots of opinions about the interview with the cop. Rather than spill any hot gossip, he simply said, “I must confirm details for—”
“For veracity,” Gemma said, finishing his sentence.
The repetitive questions got real old, real fast. “I know my memory is fuzzy and has holes. I don’t remember leaving Earth, or an auction, just waking up in that warehouse with the other girls.
” She paused, dangerously close to losing her temper.
“Are the others okay? How is Tia? Sarah? No one tells me anything.”
“Dehydrated and malnourished, much like you. One has a severe case of poisoning from the stasis chamber. Nothing they will not recover from,” he said.
“What’s going to happen to them?” Emry asked.
“They will receive medical treatment and be returned to their homes.” What he didn’t say was, As you will be. Regardless, Gemma heard it loud and clear. She couldn’t go back to Earth. She just couldn’t.
Emry grabbed Gemma’s hand. “Gemma is coming with us. It’s a big ask, but she’s not safe on her own.”
Ren remained silent for a moment. Gemma squeezed Emry’s hand, who squeezed back. They had an entire conversation without saying a word. Gemma wasn’t going back to Earth, no matter what this alien had to say about it.
Eventually, he said, “As you say.”
“Did you catch them yet?” Gemma asked.
“No. The traffickers had long departed before we arrived. Our efforts at tracking them have been delayed.”
Disappointing, but expected. She knew the cop couldn’t be bothered, but she hoped that Ren and the others would find the goons. Somehow. They found her, after all. How hard could it be to find the bad guys? They weren’t criminal masterminds.
“What about the Suhlik that took the other women? Ines, Maria, Scarlett, Amariah, Madilyn, and Jessica,” she recited their names, and she’d keep reciting them until someone listened. “You need to track them.”
Silence.
Wow. That went over like a lead balloon.
“You don’t believe me,” she said, slumping back into the bed.
“No,” Ren said.
Emry quickly said, “I believe you, Gemmy-bean.”
“Perhaps you saw another species. There are some who bear a passing resemblance,” Ren reasoned.
“I know what I saw. Most were Sangrin, but at least one of them was Suhlik. He was picking us out like puppies at the pound, taking a few and leaving the rest of us behind,” Gemma said, fighting the urge to shiver. “I got the impression that we were a special order.”
“The Suhlik do not purchase people. They slaughter, nothing else.”
“He knew who I was. He knew I was a twin.” Just speaking the words made her voice quiver. Now that the threat was long gone, the terror of being recognized sank in. This time, she didn’t fight the shiver.
Emry gasped. “What the hell?”
“You think there’s anyone from Earth who doesn’t know what the Suhlik look like?” Gemma asked, directing the question at the red jackass. Annoyance slipped back into her voice. Better. It was so much easier to be angry than to be scared.
“You have never seen one in person. Seeing one in the flesh is different from seeing a broadcast or a photograph,” Ren explained.
“How do you know I haven’t seen one in the flesh?”
“Because you live,” he snapped. “They do not leave survivors, and they do not take prisoners.”
Tension crackled in the room. Gemma looked to Emmarae, silently beseeching her for support.
Ren scrubbed his face. “Apologies. My tone was unnecessary. You have suffered greatly.”
“Oh, don’t pander to her,” Emry said.
“I do not pander, but thirst, hunger, or exhaustion can impair the senses.”
“I know what I saw,” Gemma repeated. “That cop didn’t want to believe me either. This is exhausting.”
“The Suhlik spoke to you.” It wasn’t a question, but the doubt in his tone was evident.
“Yes.”
“Wait, wait,” Emry interrupted. “How did you understand? You don’t have an implanted translator.”
Gemma touched a spot behind her ear. “They stuck one in me. Here.”
“Can the other females confirm what you heard?” Ren asked.
“I think I’m the only one they gave the implant to. They knew who I was and wanted me to understand.”
He huffed. His face was set in a scowl, like he wanted to continue being a stubborn ass, but maybe Gemma wasn’t good at reading alien body language. Cultural differences were a thing. Maybe that huff and scowl meant, “I hear you and acknowledge that you have made an excellent point.”
Maybe.
What Ren actually said was, “Rest. You have surgery tomorrow. When you are well enough to travel, we will journey to the Judgment. The warlord will want to hear your observations.”
Close enough.
“I’m staying with Emry,” Gemma said. Might as well push her luck.
Ren was slow to respond.
He was going to say no. Gemma just knew it. Rescuing his sister-in-law was one thing. Everyone would applaud. Such a great guy. Wow.
But that same sister-in-law announcing that she was going to move in? Hell no.
Gemma looked to Emry to gauge her reaction, but it was impossible to determine. Her twin’s face was as familiar as her own. She knew all the looks, the subtle tells that betrayed what she was thinking. Gemma could read Emry like a book.
Or at least she used to be able to. Now Emry was like a foreign language edition of a favorite book: familiar but fundamentally different.
Ren broke the silence and said, “I am unsure if the warlord will allow it. The other abductees are being returned to their homes.”
Not thrilled but polite enough not to crush Gemma’s plans. He’d let the warlord do that.
“I don’t care,” Gemma said. “Emry wants to stick with you, and I’m not leaving her side. I’m about to be codependent as fuck.”
Ren gave her a solemn look, as if taking the measure of her seriousness. “Understood.”
After Emry and Ren left, Gemma sat alone in her room. This didn’t feel like a victory. It felt like barely surviving.
She wouldn’t go back to Earth. She didn’t care what she had to do, what promises she had to make or break, she wouldn’t go.