Chapter 14
14
P ari awoke slowly. Everything was quiet, the lights dimmed. Was it morning again? Was it night? She didn’t know at this point, nor could she remember much.
Her vision began to clear, and she realized she was in her cell, on the floor again. A shape came into view. The alien man.
He lay on his side in front of her, on the other side of the thick glass wall.
Her eyes went wide when she remembered he tried to break through it yesterday.
Pari struggled to sit up and looked around. The lab was empty. It must be nighttime. She looked at the walls of the alien’s cell. “No…”
There were no cracks, no damage of any kind. Had they replaced the whole thing? She studied the wall, noticed how it went into the concrete back wall of her cell at one end and a concrete pillar at the other. “They did replace it.” Her eyes went to the end of the bed. A tray of food sat atop it with a bottle of water, like yesterday.
Pari shook her head. “No, the day before.”
Her stomach growled, letting her know she hadn’t eaten in over twenty-four hours. She looked at the man in the other cell. His back was to her. Had he been placed there or had he crawled? They would have had to put him on his bed to replace the section of wall.
She sat on her own bed and unwrapped the sandwich left for her. At least their captors were feeding them. She spied a similar tray of food on the man’s bed along with a couple bottles of water.
She looked at her arms. They were bare of the tats she’d gotten over the last few years. Pari put her sandwich down and ran a hand over her arm. The skin was soft, supple, and she swore it appeared creamier. “What’s happening to me?”
The man on the floor stirred.
She froze.
As if sensing her eyes on him, he turned his head toward her, his body following, and looked at her. His eyes were a brilliant blue, and he slowly raised himself up enough to kneel before her.
Pari met his gaze and stared at him in silence. To her surprise, he gave her a tender look and put a hand against the wall.
She looked at it.
He watched her and drummed his fingers against the wall in invitation.
Something fluttered in her chest, and she scooted to the end of the bed and put her hand against his.
He closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief.
She studied him. Why would he do that? “I don’t understand you.”
He opened his eyes and cocked his head. The look on his face was so tender, so gentle, it almost did her in.
He blinked and his eyes fixated on something. What was he looking at?
Pari looked behind her, but there was nothing there. When she turned to him, he was smiling, his eyes still on… “Are you looking at my hair?” She ran a hand over her head and froze. “What the…”
She had hair! Okay, so it hadn’t grown into long, luscious locks while she slept, but it was inches longer than it had been. She ran both her hands through it. “What happened?! Where did this come from?!”
The man watched her and continued to smile.
She gaped at him. “Did you do this? Are you like, magic or something?”
She grabbed a strand and plucked it from her head. “What?!”
The strand was a pale pink.
“I have pink hair?” She left the bed, picked up the steel tray and looked at it. Her reflection was blurry, but she could still see the pink color. “How in the…” her head snapped to the man.
He was sitting cross-legged on the floor now, watching her. “You did this somehow, didn’t you?”
He said nothing, his bright blue eyes locked on hers. He was looking more than a little pleased about something.
“You gave me a pink pixie cut?”
Still, he said nothing and tilted his head as he studied her.
They stared at each other for a time before he gingerly climbed to his feet. He stood at the wall and put a hand against it. His gaze on her intensified.
She knew what he wanted. Pari approached slowly and raised a hand. She placed it on the glass wall, the heel of her hand level with his. Pari looked up at his face in wonder. “You’re so tall.”
He cocked an eyebrow and looked down at her.
“I take it you don’t speak our language, right?” She kept looking up at him, but she was going to get a kink in her neck if she kept this up.
She moved away from the wall. His eyes got brighter, and he smacked the wall with one hand, then the other.
“Easy,” she said in a soft voice. “It’s not like I can go anywhere.” She crawled onto the bed and stood.
He moved toward her but didn’t put a hand to the wall. Instead, he stood and watched her.
A tremor of something ran through her, and once again, she knew what he wanted.
She slowly lifted her right hand to the wall.
He smiled and put his left hand against hers.
Pari put her other hand against the wall. He did the same. At least now she wouldn’t get a kink in her neck. Standing on the bed made her taller than him, but at least they could look at each other better. So long as he stayed standing, that is. She didn’t know how long that was going to be.
She gave him a sympathetic look. “Does it hurt, when they shoot you?”
He looked into her eyes and said nothing. His eyes roamed Pari’s face, then the rest of her. His head cocking right, then left as he studied her.
“Gosh, but you’re gorgeous,” she whispered. “Jeffrey wouldn’t dare harass me with you around.”
Her face fell at the thought of Jeffrey. If she got out of this, she’d still have that weirdo to deal with, and he’d gone from bad to worse. But maybe after what happened under the shuttle bridge, he’d be too afraid to get near her. That would be nice.
The man took on a satisfied look and sighed.
Pari studied him. “What was that for? We’re prisoners, and you… you look… happy?”
His smile was back, and he looked her in the eyes again.
“Why don’t you say something? Anything?”
His eyes softened and his mouth moved ever so slightly.
Pari watched him. “Do you understand me?”
The blue of his eyes intensified. “ Ayah trulah, Kahtala Miah .”
Pari almost fell off the bed. “You can speak!”
He took on a desperate look. “ Kahtala Miah .”
She pressed her forehead against the wall. His voice was heavenly. “I don’t know what that means.”
He looked up into her eyes. “ Kahtala Miah …”
She shook her head.
“Kah…” he said opening his mouth wide.
Their gazes locked. “Kah,” she repeated.
“Tala…”
She smiled. “Tala.”
He smiled back. “Mi-ah.”
Pari’s heart warmed. “Mi-ah.”
His smile grew as he put a hand over his heart and patted it a few times. “ Kahtala Miah .”
She stared at his chest. “Kahtala Miah.” Pari put a hand on her own chest. “Your heart?”
His eyes grew brighter still. “ Kahtala Miah.” He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and let it out. “ Te su mah, Kahtala Miah. Tu rey delah soh .”
She let go a small laugh. “Look, big guy, I barely figured out what the Kahtala Miah thing was.”
He smiled at her with his eyes, put a hand over his heart again, then pointed at her. “ Kahtala Miah .”
“Your heart, I get it.” She blinked in confusion. “Are you saying my heart?” Pari put a hand over her heart, then pointed at him. “ Kahtala Miah ?”
He smiled again and pointed at himself, his eyes turning fierce. “ Antalah .” His eyes bore into her. “ Bondrah .”
Pari’s heart shuddered. What was that?! It wasn’t fear, this was something else. She put her face as close to the wall as possible without smashing her nose against it. “ Bondrah ?” She tried to roll the “r” like he did but didn’t do a very good job.
He stood proudly. “ Bondrah Miah .”
She trembled at the words but didn’t know why. Something was happening, something… powerful. “Bondrah Miah…?”
He closed his eyes and sucked in a breath. A low growl escaped him, and he took a step back.
Unable to help herself, she said the words again. She had no idea what they meant, only that they affected him somehow. “Bondrah Miah.”
His eyes sprang open and were such an incredible blue, they almost glowed. His upper lip pulled back from his teeth, and she watched in utter fascination as fangs descended.
“What the heck?” she whispered. He reminded her of some huge predator—a wolf or a lion— as he turned toward his cell door.
She shouldn’t do it, but what the hey? “Bondrah Miah!”
His head snapped to her, and he roared once, then ran at the cell door.
“Holy guacamole!” Pari fell onto the bed. “No, they’ll come for you. They’ll shoot you!”
An alarm sounded within the lab and another in the outside hall. Pari could see a red flashing light through the windows of the doors, and she panicked. “Stop, please! They’ll hurt you!”
His cell door cracked on the second hit.
Pari’s hands flew to her mouth. “Oh goodness…”
The door to the hall flew open, and men ran into the lab, each armed with some kind of rifle.
“Don’t you dare shoot him!” she screamed.
They ignored her and approached his cell. She knew they’d have to get close enough to put the barrels of the rifles through the slits in the front cell wall and door.
He hit it again and another alarm went off.
She looked at him as he backed up, preparing to attack the door again. “ Bondrah Miah… ”
His eyes brightened even more as he looked at her. Unfortunately, it was the opening the men needed. They shot him, multiple times with tranquilizer darts.
He took the hits, never once taking his eyes off her. Then he smiled.
Without thinking, the word slipped right out of her. “Bondrah?”
He ran at the door, cracking it further.
“He’s going to break free!” a man cried.
“Shoot him again!” a familiar voice yelled.
“No…” Pari said. “Leave him alone!”
Dr. Charles strolled up to her cell. “Quiet, you.”
Pari glared at him. “I said leave him alone!”
The doctor gave her a passing glance and laughed. “Fire!”
The men shot off another round and their prisoner went down.
Pari pressed her face to the glass. His bright blue eyes locked on hers just before they closed.
“No…” she whispered as tears streamed down her face. Now what were they going to do with him?
Dr. Charles looked at the busted door and shook his head. “I see I’m going to have to whip up a new cocktail for our guest.” He glanced her way then did a double take. “What happened to your hair?” He came to stand in front of her cell. “Come here, girl.”
Pari didn’t move.
“Now!”
She swallowed hard and slowly made her way to the cell door.
Dr. Charles looked her over. “Incredible.”
She ran a hand through her hair then hugged herself.
“Did you feel anything?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I woke up this way.”
Dr. Charles looked her over again then laughed. “Absolutely fantastic!” His eyes raked over her. “You know, it suits you.” He gave her an appreciative look, then held up his hand and made a circular motion. “Shackle him, get him onto his bed, and let’s get this door fixed. He won’t be out for long.” Dr. Charles turned to her again. “His body burns through those sedatives at an incredible rate. You’d better hope we don’t mix up what we give him with what we give you. It would kill you in an instant.”
She gulped.
He took one last look at her hair, smiled, then left the lab.
Pari backed to her bed, sat, and watched as the remaining men bound their prisoner with heavy irons and chains. A tear made its way down her cheek as they placed him on his bed. “ Bondrah Miah …”