She’d been reluctant when Raak first suggested coming back to Xephron Five to get the process reversed. But the constant shooting pains in her most sensitive areas had convinced her that she would much rather have prominent fangs than the feeling she was being electrocuted all the time.
She had eagerly taken off her clothes to enter the invisible palace and had willingly swallowed the biggest, squishiest xanthos ball she could find the minute the invisible plant alien produced them. Anything to be rid of this awful agony!
“I want my fangs back,” she said, closing her eyes and concentrating hard. “Make them grow back just like they were.”
At once she felt the familiar itching-tingling sensation in her upper jaw right where her canine teeth should be. To her relief, when she explored the area with the tip of her tongue, she felt the long, sharp tips of her fangs just where they should be.
“It worked!” she told Raak, who was sitting, quiet and invisible beside her. “They’re back—now we can go back to normal!”
“I am afraid not,” Qi said with a rustling of its invisible leaves.
“What?” Kara looked up into the empty air, wishing she could see the invisible alien to get some idea of what it was talking about. “What do you mean? My fangs are back—everything should go back to normal, right?”
The invisible leaves rustled again.
“Regrettably, reversing the process may not solve your problem,” Qi murmured in its soft voice. “Only time will tell, but such a drastic physical change is not without consequences, even when you seek to correct it.”
“Are you telling me I got my fangs back for nothing?” Kara demanded, her heart sinking.
“Not for nothing,” Qi assured her. “For at least now you have the means to fix that which was broken.”
“What? I don’t understand. Oh!” Kara gasped. To her horror, she felt the now-familiar sensation of electrical shocks running through her nipples and pussy.
“What is it, baby girl?” Raak asked anxiously. Though he was invisible, Kara could almost see the concern in his dark, silver-ringed eyes. “Is it happening again? Another attack?”
“Yes.” Kara didn’t trust herself to say any more than that. She felt like crying. Why had she gone to the trouble to grow her hated fangs back out if it wasn’t going to solve her problem? And what was she going to do?
“It’s okay, Kara. We’re going to get through this somehow,” Raak rumbled. He squeezed her hand, offering her strength. “And I’ll be by your side, every step of the way—I promise.”
“But what are we going to do? Where are we going to go? If Qi can’t help me, who can?” Kara asked, her voice tight with tears. She felt sick with fear—she couldn’t live like this! But there didn’t seem to be any options left, since restoring her fangs hadn’t fixed the problem.
“Don’t know,” Raak admitted, squeezing her hand again. “But we’ll think of something—I promise you that.”
“There is a Tolleg hospital ship visiting our quadrant of space at the moment,” Qi said unexpectedly, breaking into their conversation. “One of their surgeons came to visit me—a female by the name of Silki. She asked for some of my leaves and xanthos for experimentation in her lab—a request I was glad to grant for the Tollegs have a fine reputation as healers of all creatures—both meat and plant based.”
“The Tollegs—of course!” Raak’s voice was excited. “Why didn’t I think of that? If anyone can help you, they can, baby girl,” he said to Kara.
“Oh yes—we have a Tolleg surgeon on board the Mother Ship,” she exclaimed. “Yipper is his name—he’s amazing.”
“Would you rather go back and see him, then?” Raak asked. “I mean, it’s probably a longer trip than finding the Tolleg surgical ship in this quadrant but if you’d feel better being at home…”
Kara thought of going back to the Mother Ship and being forced to admit to her parents what was going on with her and what Raak had been doing to help her with her problems.
The mental image made her cringe with embarrassment.
“No,” she said quickly. “No, I can’t wait that long. Let’s find the Tolleg ship, Raak. Let’s find it as soon as we can,” she added, feeling the electrical pain run through her again. “Please.”
“You got it, baby girl. Come on.” He rose and Kara followed him.
“Thank you, oh Qi,” she said, though she couldn’t help thinking that the plant-based creature had certainly done her more harm than good. After all, it could have warned her in a less cryptic way how badly her wish to shrink her fangs would turn out!
“You are thinking that I should have warned you of the consequences of your original wish more clearly,” Qi said, surprising her.
“I, uh…” Kara fumbled for a moment. Then she decided that she was through being polite. “Well, yes, actually,” she said boldly. “Why didn’t you?”
“It was not given me to see any more clearly,” Qi told her. “I warned you as strongly as I was able. But you meat creatures are so stubborn in your desires I do not think that anything I could have said would have dissuaded you.”
Reluctantly, Kara had to admit he was right. She’d been so set on shrinking her fangs that she’d barely paid any attention to the warning Qi had tried to give—she’d even brushed off Raak’s misgivings without a second thought. Maybe she would have gone ahead, even if Qi’s warning had been clearer.
I did this to myself, she thought ruefully. I can’t blame anyone else. I let my own vanity and my wish to look “normal” get in the way of my common sense. I should have just learned to live with my fangs instead of trying to get rid of them or shrink them.
“Kara? You okay? You’re awfully quiet over there,” Raak murmured, pulling her out of her self-recrimination.
Kara sighed and then winced as another bolt of pain shot through her.
“I was just thinking that this is all my fault,” she
