Liza walked over to the huddle of boys, threw her arms around them, and exclaimed, “We’re all helping. I can rustle up something for you to do.”
As Liza ushered the boys into the back, Jollies flitted around her, begging Liza to tell her stories about her and her husband’s exploits in VR. Liza laughed as she started to delegate tasks to the team, promising Jollies she would tell her all about them.
Alex watched as her two worlds blended seamlessly together. Chine probably would have fit in nicely as well if he could have fit into the house.
Liza and George instructed Alex’s team and Vardis on how to set the table. Dinner hadn’t taken too long to cook due to the many hands at work. Alex even offered a little bit of help, even though she was a terrible cook. Setting the table was something she knew like the back of her hand. She’d spent years doing it blind.
Once the table was set, she helped her family and her team cart the food out. She hadn’t had human food cooked by human hands in a long time, and she had forgotten how much she loved her parents’ cooking.
When they were all seated, Liza proposed a toast. She raised her glass of wine and said, “To new friends and new adventures. To the people who keep my daughter safe!”
Alex couldn’t help smiling and looking at Jim. The night was going better than she could have imagined.
Across the table, Vardis reached for the pumpkin pie.
George clicked his tongue playfully as he passed the pie to Vardis. “You know, most places on Earth, you have to save dessert for last. Not in the Bound household, though.”
Vardis smiled politely and nodded. “I greatly appreciate your hospitality. The last planets I have visited have not been…” He looked at Alex, who mouthed the word “normal.”
“What I mean to say,” Vardis continued, “is that this is a beautiful meal. Thank you.”
Vardis cut a piece of pie and placed it on his plate. He watched everyone eating for a second before grabbing his fork and cutting himself a bite. He tossed the pie into his mouth and chewed slowly. “Oh, that is delicious.”
Suddenly, he screamed. His body convulsed, and his screams grew shriller.
Alex stood to go to Vardis when her head erupted in searing pain. She grabbed the back of her head as she lost her balance and fell to the floor. Whatever had happened to Vardis was happening to her as well.
Chapter Four
Alex couldn’t see anything but red. The pain she felt was beyond anything she’d ever experienced. It felt like someone was slicing her open, starting at the spine, dragging the knife, taking their time, carving up her nerves until they got to her brain.
When Alex opened her eyes, she saw her family and friends crowding around her and Vardis, who was still screaming. She wanted to reach out, ask for their help, but she couldn’t speak. Her jaw was clamped so tight she thought she was going to crack her teeth.
Another wave of pain wracked her, her back rigid as her hands clenched, frozen as if she were trying to hold onto something.
More pain, and still more. Her vision was starting to blur, the world around her fading. But not into darkness—into something more troubling and confusing. She watched herself on the floor, convulsing.
If Alex chose to look away, which she felt the strong urge to do, she could see stars flashing behind her as if they were rushing to be someplace. There were suns and moons, and they watched as Alex turned away from the small girl on the floor, quivering in agony.
Instead of staying, Alex walked through the cosmos, looking at whatever caught her attention. She was aware that the girl was still on the floor. So was the alien, but it didn’t matter. The stars were more interesting.
Alex continued to wander, stopping here and there at an interesting planet, wondering what scurried across its surface or if it had life at all.
Then without warning, the universe went cold. It hadn’t been warm before, but now it was freezing. Her bones ached from the sudden temperature drop. She hoped the girl she’d left behind was going to be safe.
She headed in the direction of the vicious breeze.
It was not long until Alex found what she was looking for. There was a small boy, pale as the whitest snow, wearing a fox-skin robe that reached his bare feet and a mask made from a deer’s skull. The cold was not coming from the boy, though. It emanated from what he was staring at.
Ahead of him was something like a planet but nothing like one at the same time. It had mass, but the surface swirled and moved as if the skin were revolting against itself. Occasionally tendrils of the black skin-like substance shot out from the planet as if it were grasping for something around it.
The cold came from the thing.
As Alex watched the living black planet, she saw it shudder and expand. The expansion was slight, and as it grew larger, everything around it grew colder for a second as if it were sucking out the life of all that surrounded it.
Alex did not know why, but she wanted to reach out to the black planet, wanted to touch its slippery skin. She knew what would happen if they were to touch. It was a visceral knowledge, something that had been within her since birth and perhaps existed in all sentient beings.
Whatever that thing was, it would kill Alex if she touched it like it was killing that planet. One touch was all it would need. The black wasn’t part of the planet, it was the thing that was killing it, and it could spread easily.
While Alex was drawn to the planet, she was also disgusted. Whatever had caused this to happen was unnatural. It disturbed her
