Clever girl.
We had. And it was never a fun experience. I would tell her as much as I could without scaring her.
“I know a little,” I said. “They’re called Changelings. They’ve been abducting Titans for many years. They’ve probably been taking humans just as long. They try to keep their activities hidden as much as possible. You probably don’t even know about it yet.”
“We hear about people getting abducted all the time. We tend to think of them as crackpots and weirdos.”
“I guess your opinion of them has changed a little by now,” I said.
“You might say that.”
“Okay,” I said. “One day your species will come in contact with them—but not until they’re ready for you to. They won’t reveal that they’ve been abducting humans since the dawn of time. They’ll make deals with your leaders that sound good but then you’ll later discover they take a lot more than they promised they would.”
Maddy nodded.
“We’ve got some countries like that on our planet,” she said. “They’re the first to cry foul when they’re the ones that are really doing the fouling.”
“Right. So maybe you won’t be so badly affected by them the way we were. But they’re bad guys and should never be trusted.”
“What happens to the people they abduct?” she said. “Do they ever come back?”
What should I tell her?
Should I be kind and lie and say they’re never seen again? Or should I tell the truth and say the ones that do return are never the same again? That they’re no longer trusted by their own species in case they’ve been brainwashed?
I was glad she couldn’t see my face. I wasn’t a good liar.
“Yes,” I said. “Some return.”
Better for her to keep her hope, I thought. Robbing her of it wouldn’t help anyone.
I rolled over. It was surprisingly comfortable. Maddy had done a good job.
“Do you know what they intend on doing with us?” Maddy said.
Do I?
“Whatever it is, it can’t be good,” I said. “Sleep. The sooner we wake up tomorrow morning, the sooner we can get to work again on your tunnels.”
“Good thinking,” Maddy said. “Night.”
“Night.”
A moment later, I heard the soft thump of cloth as Maddy removed her nightgown and dropped it into a pile on the floor. I could see it through the gap under the bed.
Now she was just wearing her underwear…
I gulped, my throat turning dry. It would be so easy to slip under the covers and—
Thump.
Thump.
She dropped her bra and panties on the floor alongside the nightgown.
Now she was buck naked under the covers.
I wrapped the pillow around my head to block out the thoughts and images tumbling through my brain.
It didn’t work.
So, it wasn’t only Titans that liked to sleep naked.
I didn’t want to wake up. I much preferred lying adrift in that sumptuous sensation located between waking and deep sleep.
Sleeping on the floor might be traditional but it sure wasn’t common these days. Now I knew why. My leg ached and felt stiff. I lay on my back, head almost jammed under the bed. My eyes felt like they’d been glued together they were so hard to open. That’s when I caught her pleasant scent.
An arm hung over the side of the bed. The lights were already in the process of brightening—probably matching the color of the sun in the sky outside if only we could see it.
The arm belonged to Maddy. She had somehow managed to roll over onto the opposite side of the bed. Her face floated just above mine on the bed’s edge. Her hand was placed on the bare skin of my stomach. If we were laying together, she would have her face on my chest and I would be treated to the smell of her hair.
I felt myself stir as she squirmed in bed to escape the lights growing brighter overhead. She shifted closer to the edge. As she did, her hand slipped a little further down…
I swallowed what little moisture I had in my throat. As she—unconsciously?—reached further down, my little fellow was very consciously reaching up. Just a few more inches and she would make contact.
I watched her face. It was mostly calm, save for the frown lines on her forehead where she fought against the brightening lights above us.
I kept one eye on her face, the other on her hand.
If I were to shift up a little, would that count as a dirty act? I wanted to—who knows where it might lead from there—but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.
“Down boy,” I whispered.
Maddy grunted and rolled up, peering at the room with eyes that didn’t really see. The corner of her mouth was a little wet from where she’d been drooling.
She lay her face back down on the mattress and her hand slipped the extra couple of inches I needed. Her hand sat there, on top of my cock but not stroking it.
I shut my eyes and lay back. One step closer to heaven.
Then she bolted upright and moved so fast, I thought a snake had bit her.
My snake.
I sat up.
“Is everything okay?” I said.
Her eyes were wide. Realizing she was naked, she snatched the blankets up and wrapped them around herself.
Too late.
I’d already seen the gorgeous body she had under there. But I pretended I hadn’t.
She stared at me, looking for any sign of misconduct.
“You sleep naked?” she said.
“Guilty as charged,” I said.
“But… I didn’t know that!” she said.
She peered at her guilty hand and glared at it.
“I need to go wash my hand,” she said. “Be right back.”
She tugged on her underwear and nightgown, then hustled across to the bathroom, her hand outstretched like it belonged to someone else.
She never made it to the bathroom. She reached halfway before she stopped.
“No…” she said. “That’s impossible.”
She was staring at the spot where, until last night, a hole three-feet deep had existed. Now, it was gone. There wasn’t a single blemish or mark. I turned to look at
