I slipped out of the car and sprinted down the street in the direction of Celest’s car. Only, my muscles were still stiff and weak, so that ‘sprinting’ was more like a brisk walk. 

Mark easily caught up with me. “Hey, where are you going?”

“I- I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said all that stuff. It was just- just a story I made up. Forget I said anything. Better yet, forget you met me.”

He jumped in front of me. We stood nearly eye-to-eye, with him being an inch or so taller. He held out his hands like he was comforting a spooked horse. 

“Wait, wait. Why are you running off?”

“You’re going to report me.”

“No, I’m not.”

I stepped back, gauging whether I would be able to dart around him and speed up into a run before he could catch me. My chances of success were slim at best. “You’re a guardian. You have to report me.”

“No, I’m a guardian in training. If I fail to report something, it’s no big deal.” Glancing sideways, he winced. “If you don’t want to draw attention to yourself, this is the wrong way to go about it.”

Several people at the outdoor cafe tables were staring at us or not-so-subtly filming on their phones. This was the exact opposite of what I’d wanted when I came here--tons of attention and no results to speak of. 

“I’m not supposed to let people know-”

“Then don’t say it out in the open,” he hissed. “Get back in the car. I swear I won’t report you.”

My first instinct was to believe him, but he was human. Lying came easily to them. If Leah were afraid of a man, she never would’ve gotten in a car with him. Not that she was the best judge of common sense, given how she knew Kyle had at least one drink before picking her up, and she still got in the car with him driving. 

“Okay, but if you try anything, I’ll… use my oddity to knock you out.” 

“I’m not going to try anything.” He ushered me back to the car. 

Once inside, he started the car up. 

I grabbed the door handle. “What are you doing?”

“Taking you home.”

“To the portal?” I sat up straighter. 

“Hell no. I’m taking you to Leah’s home. You should explain you’re not Leah before they see those pictures.” He backed onto the road and started driving. 

I slumped in my seat. “I already told you, Leah’s dad’s the one who kidnapped me. He knows she’s dead. Well, I told him she’s dead, and he didn’t believe me, so he tried to drug me so he could experiment and find some way to make me keep Leah ‘alive’ without me controlling her. But yeah, he knows about me.”

“Right. And Leah’s mom?”

“She knows. She’s the one who drove me here.” 

“Is she parked nearby?”

“Yep.” I pointed at the cross street as we neared it. “She’s parked down there.”

He turned at the cross street. “Where?”

“The black boxy one.” I pointed out Celest’s car. 

He parked a couple cars down and got out. When I followed suit, he led me to Celest’s car. She was already getting out when we walked up, and she gave me a questioning look. 

I avoided her gaze. “He recognized my scent. Sorry, I didn’t foresee that being an issue.”

“I see.” 

Mark crossed his arms. “She told me everything, but I can’t get her to the portal.” He shook his head. “Even if I could, I wouldn’t.”

Of course he’d been pretending to be nice and helpful, but what did he even get out of lying? He could’ve driven me straight to guardians HQ, and there wasn’t any real way I could’ve stopped him. Not that he knew that. 

“Well, I apologize if she was a bother.” Celest took my arm and pulled me toward the passenger-side door. “You won’t have to worry about her anymore.”

“She doesn’t have to leave. I just meant that she shouldn’t go back to the Otherealm.” He looked to me. “Could you live on something besides a human?”

I shrugged. “Yeah, I can live on any mammal that’s large enough, but I’m not staying here. I have a duty to my colony.”

“You have a duty to the colony that would’ve killed you if someone hadn’t sacrificed their life to teach you? 

Celest gaped at me. “What’s he talking about?”

Rocking back on my heels, I told her what’d happened in as few words as possible. I tried to keep emotion out of it, but my efforts were for naught. 

She took me in a bear hug and spoke into my hair. “Oh, you poor thing. You can’t possibly want to go back.”

Of course I didn’t want to go back, but what other option did I have? Even as horrible as the colony could be, it was the only home I’d known. It was where I fit in, more or less. On Earth, what kind of life could I have once Celest asked me to leave Leah’s body? It wasn’t like anyone else would be willing to let me have their loved one’s corpse. And sure, I could live on an animal, but I couldn’t talk to humans telepathically or do anything with my life besides being someone’s pet or livestock.

Celest let go of me. “You have to stay, sweetie.”

“I’m not going to live as an animal.”

“No, no, you’ll live like this.” Misty-eyed, she patted my arm. “Leah wanted to donate her body to science, but Henry insisted against it. This is a way to honor her wishes.”

I was fairly certain that Leah wouldn’t have wanted someone to walk around pretending to be her, but it wasn’t like she had any specific memories discussing the concept. Even ignoring that unfortunate fact, nothing about this situation was simple. 

“What about Dr. Swanson?”

“Don’t worry about Henry. I’ll deal with him.” She sent Mark a watery smile. “Is there any way you could watch her for a few hours? I have to take care of something.”

“Mo-” I narrowly stopped myself from calling her ‘Mom.’ It was like some kind of freaky muscle memory took control of my mouth for a second. “Celest, I assure you, I don’t need a babysitter. I’m not going to run into traffic or stick my fingers in the toaster.”

“I know, baby, but I’ve got to run a few errands, and don’t you think you would have more fun staying with your new friend?” 

There was something in her tone that made me uneasy. I couldn’t find it in Leah’s recent memories, but when I went much further back, Celest used it more often. Ah. It was the same voice she used when Leah was being stubborn as a child. If I had to guess, she hadn’t quite grasped the fact that a ten-year-old aryta and a ten-year-old human were very different things. 

“Perhaps, but Mark probably has plans that don’t involve dragging around a flesh pancake.”

“A flesh… pancake?”

Mark cleared his throat. “It’s an inside joke.” He shot me a look that said ‘back me up.’

“Right, an inside joke.” I repressed a laugh. “That’s what humans call it.”

“Uh huh. Could you give us a moment, Elva?” Celest shooed Mark a little ways down the street before speaking to him in a low voice. “I know this is short notice, but it’ll only be for a few hours, and she’s very low maintenance. I’ll pay, too. How much do you usually make?”

“Don’t worry about it. I can take her around with me today.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “If you have a reason you think she needs a babysitter, I need to know it.”

She waved away his concern. “It’s just that she’s new to the planet, and she’s a kid, and…” she spoke even quieter. “I’m afraid if she’s left alone, she’ll try to convince someone else to let her through a portal.”

“Probably.” His voice was a little strained. “What do you mean by ‘she’s a kid?’”

“She’s ten.”

“Ten?” He cursed. “Sorry, it’s just- I wouldn’t have guessed she’s that young. She got in my car and said she’d sleep with me if I took her to the portal. ” 

She gasped. “See, this is why she needs supervision. She says she’s mature for her age, and if she goes around talking like that, she’s bound to end up hurt.”

“I get what you mean. Don’t worry, I’ll keep her out of trouble.”

This was going just as poorly as I’d expected. What would he do next, take me to the playground? Though, I wasn’t entirely opposed to that idea. If I was going to be stuck here for a while, I might as well get a little exercise in and make these muscles more useful. 

Mark and Celest came back over. 

“Mark’s going to hang out with you for a while.” Celest gave me another hug. “I’ll see you later this afternoon. Call me if you need anything.” With a parting smile, she left. 

I turned to Mark. “To be clear, arytas like myself mature at a different rate to humans. I’m no more a child than an eighteen-year-old human is. I can keep myself out of trouble for a few hours.” If I tracked down Ethan, I could try and convince him to help me through the portal. Maybe he would be more open to my proposition of stealing his parents’ keys. 

There was only one problem. I wasn’t sure if I would go back to the Otherealm at all. What was waiting for me there, really? No friends, a weak host, disgrace for being captured--and that was the best case scenario. Being stuck without any host and being culled for it was unlikely but still a possibility. 

Mark touched my shoulder, jolting me out of my thoughts. “Elva?”

“Hmm?”

“You coming?” He side-stepped toward his car. 

“Sure.” I got in the car. Even if I wasn’t sure what I planned to do in the long run, staying on his good side was probably a good idea. “Where are we headed?”

He made an odd face as he started driving. “To the OOU gym, remember?”

“Didn’t hear, sorry. I haven’t been able to move much recently, on account of Dr. Swanson keeping me tied to a table, so exercising sounds nice.” My broken hand might be a problem, though. Wait, wasn’t Mark supposed to be a healer? “Could you heal my hand?”

“Probably. What happened to it?”

“I punched Dr. Swanson.”

He nodded. “I’ll check it out when we stop. So, what do you do for fun?”

I tried to come up with an answer, but I couldn’t remember the last time I did something purely for fun. “Hunting as a tachak--it’s like a tiger--is kinda fun. I don’t mind weaving baskets, either, but my fur always gets caught in the reeds.”

“You wove baskets as a tiger?”

“Yeah, tachaks have opposable thumbs.” 

“Handy.” 

I snorted at the pun. “So, what about you, what do you do for fun?”

“Sculpting, usually ice but sometimes clay.”