35 Re
Reunion
Orion clutches Eldi as if she were the only thing saving him from drowning, and she burrows into his embrace unhesitatingly.
Orion keeps repeating that crooning sound.
They cling to each other with the desperation of people who have been to war and back for each other.
The intensity of their emotion makes me feel like an intruder.
Eldi has always felt like mine, but this is the moment I realize she was someone else’s first. I recall all those nights, her pointing to the stars and saying, “Orion.” Not a constellation, a person.
My first instinct is to comfort them both.
I must have made the slightest movement toward them, because a flash of protectiveness ripples over Orion’s expression.
I’ve never been afraid of Eldi, but Orion is terrifying at this moment.
His skin reveals that alien shimmer, and his eyes flash dangerously; he has claws and fangs that I have no chance against. Calvin tugs me back, and a primal thrill of fear skitters down my spine.
Orion would tear me apart without a second thought, with no remorse.
I think he’d do anything to protect Eldi.
Luca reaches a hand placatingly toward Orion, but then pulls back as Orion tenses. “Hey, hey, it’s okay, Orion. It’s just me.”
Orion and Eldi stay there, half-crouched on the floor for what feels like forever.
Finally, she gently reaches her hand up to pat his face.
“Orion. Safe,” she says. I can’t begin to understand why this simple phrase makes Orion look like he wants to die.
His expression crumples, and the tears roll.
I finally see that little boy I first met, the vulnerable toddler, in a cage.
“We came here to explain where you came from, what you are,” Luca says, kneeling in front of Orion, wrapping him in a gentle embrace, “to show them what you showed me, in case it will help.”
Orion nods, stroking Eldi’s hair gently as he seems to pull himself together. He makes that lyrical sound again.
“What did you say to her?” I ask Orion. He stares at me, uncomprehending. I ask again, “Is that her name?” He looks at me as if I slapped him. I don’t understand.
“I called her what she is, ‘Baby,’ and ‘seventy-three,’” he says, which makes no sense. But Luca’s eyes go wide, and he swears quietly.
“Eldi,” Eldi says to Orion. Pointing to herself, looking up at Orion. “Eldi,” she says again, and he nods in understanding.
“It’s nice to hear your voice, Eldi. And to finally know your name,” Orion says, his voice cracking.
“Goat,” Eldi says, holding up Goat for Orion to see. He laughs, surreptitiously wiping his eyes.
Meredith, sitting closest to Orion’s spot on the floor, reaches out a hand to pull him to his feet. He lets her and takes a deep breath, composing himself.
“I wore your baby clothes,” Orion says to Meredith when she introduces herself.
“That’s one hell of an opener,” she says with a laugh.
Orion blushes. “Reggie gave them to me when she rescued me from the dungeon at Agency 51.”
“A situation most of us at this table are all too familiar with,” Calvin says wryly.
Luca’s head whips toward him, and his eyes run over his scars before flicking down to Calvin’s and my intertwined hands.
“You seem to have a type,” Luca says to me, a brittleness in his voice that makes me flinch.
In a more neutral tone, he says to Calvin, “Was Reggie the one who locked you up, or was it her mother?”
“You mean the most recent time, or the first time in the Winnebago basement?” Calvin says, and I can’t tell if he’s mad or joking.
“Well, at least I got both of you out eventually,” I say. “I’ve spent my own time in that dungeon with no one to rescue me.”
There’s enough room to sit next to me, but Luca pulls over a chair instead and makes himself comfortable at the end of the table.
“I watch your channel, St. James,” he addresses Calvin without introduction, with the casualness of old friends.
“Knew something was fishy, but even I didn’t guess lycanthropy and aliens.
I cannot wait to hear what you have to say in your next episode. ” Luca sounds genuinely excited.
Calvin’s expression remains guarded but intrigued. I’ve told him what happened with Luca.
“I’m not sure where to take the podcast from here, to tell you the truth,” Calvin says.
Luca turns back to me, with a wry grin and a mean glint in his eyes. “Nice upgrade. He’s pretty and accomplished.”
Calvin flushes crimson.
“It wasn’t like that,” I snap, my own face burning.
“But the matter at hand, the reason we’re here,” Zara interrupts, impatiently rapping on the table with her knuckles, taking the conversational reins back in hand.
She nods at Eldi and Orion. Eldi tucks into his lap, with no sign of moving anytime soon.
Orion looks like he never wants to let her go.
He nervously twists a thick ring on his finger.
It’s metallic, but it almost looks like it’s moving on its own, rippling and changing.
It’s analogous to Eldi’s watch, but more appropriate for a teenager.
“You two. Extraterrestrials, I presume?” Zara probes. “And the lights, the crop circles, the race of rogue sentient electronics popping up all over the place. All that’s you and the rest of your people in the sky?”
Orion stiffens and meets Luca’s gaze for a moment before he nods.
“Are we talking about an invasion here?” Zara asks.
Orion looks offended at the very idea. “No. Not by us,” he says. “It’s easier if I show you.”
He pulls the ring from his finger, or rather it uncoils itself like a mini version of Doug or Dave, all tentacles and stretching and clicking metallic jointed appendages.
At this point, nothing surprises me. Everyone at the table looks apprehensive.
Wolff shifts nervously. Even impulsive Meredith looks like she has misgivings.
The little device reaches its tentacles out toward us all but waits patiently without touching anyone.
“It doesn’t hurt,” Orion says. “I’ve shown Luca.”
Luca huffs but doesn’t disagree. He meets my eyes, and I can see the pain in them.
Whatever Orion’s shown him isn’t pretty.
I’m the first to reach out a hand toward the grasping little tentacle, letting it wrap around my finger.
Its grasp is warm and deceivingly comforting.
Everyone else besides Luca and Eldi follows suit.
Orion’s hand hovers over the body of the little metallic creature resting on the table.
“Sorry,” he says, meeting my eyes across the table as he presses his hand down onto the device. “This will be intense.”