Kal
I had Lola at my right side and Jacob to my left when Sel reemerged from the ship. She looked…terrible. Ghostly pale, like she was about to be sick. Her hu-suit halfway down so that her top half was fully exposed.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as she dropped heavily onto a tree stump. Sel’s arms hung limp at her sides.
She looked at me with wide, saucer eyes, then shut them tight.
“They want me to stay,” Sel said.
Which didn’t make any sense at all.
“What are you talking about?”
Sel’s eyes snapped open, then narrowed in my direction.
“They want me to stay because they want you to stay,” she snarled. “Because somehow, even though you did something so monumentally stupid that it could go down in Xaerean history books, our supervisors are somehow impressed at your ability to integrate with a human population.”
I…what. What? How could this be happening?
Lola gasped and squeezed my hand excitedly, but I was still trying to take in the new information. My head was a jumble of conflicting thoughts, but the one that stood out the most: I could stay.
I could stay.
By some stroke of luck or destiny or both, all of my wildest dreams were coming true.
“I can stay!” I said, whipping around to sweep Lola into my arms. She laughed when I spun the two of us in a tight rotation, then pulled her into a kiss.
Jacob tapped Lola’s shoulder. “Not to interrupt your totally inappropriate make-out session in the middle of the woods, but can we go home now?”
My chest tugged at the word home. I was going home.
“Wait,” I said, stopping short. “What are we going to do about her?” I gestured to Sel, still slumped and pale, her face buried in her hands.
Lola grimaced and scratched at a spot behind her ear. “Well…” There was a pause. “I might know someone who could take her in for a little while. Especially if she’s open to learning how to garden.”
I tilted my head to the side, considering. “That could work.” I looked to Sel again, and finally, she lifted her head from her hands to meet my eyes. “For now.”
Then Lola smiled and kissed me once more, soft as a butterfly landing, and took my hand in hers to lead me back home.