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"I know, Kroaicho,” I tell him. “But it's not the same. You don't understand."

“I don't,” he admits. “I don't understand why you can't just be content with the hoard.

Then he looks at me with intensity. “I am starting to understand the… value of connection. I feel that value with you, and it helps me imagine how it might mean you need more than just the embrace of treasure and the whisperings of their stories. But… would you just stay?”

I look over at the scattered pile, once again annoyed that it always comes back to a pile of junk with him. “I just… can’t,” I reply, my voice rough. “I need more.”

It’s always things that are more important and I’m so sick of it.

“A human?” he asks, breaking me out of my thoughts.

“Yes, I—”

I break off with a yelp as he shifts from under me, mind reeling at the odd movements of a multi-segmented body with six limbs.

Next thing I know, he’s placing me on my feet and stalking out of the cave. It seems like the end of almost every conversation we have and this time I don’t have it in me to yell after him.

Instead, I huff out a breath and look around for the source of the terrible stench. It’s the damn carcass, I realize and steel myself to haul it to the stream and toss it in.

“Fuck,” I say, summing up the whole situation, pressing my fingers into my aching eyes.

***

I’ve finally cleared out all of the blood and gore and I’m trying not to gag as I toss the long green shorn hair into the water that I used as a mop when I hear screeching.

I freeze.

Human screeching… Farsi human screeching. It’s Rin. I recognize her powerful voice, as if she’s practiced yelling at people for years or something.

I groan, thinking back to the conversation with Kroaicho and how I didn’t pay attention when he didn’t say “humans,” but instead said “a human.”

She is going to kill me and I completely deserve it. Dammit. She’ll turn that practiced yell on me and I’ll fucking wilt.

I swallow hard, mind flitting over all of the failed social interactions I’ve had in my life. Then to the small bit of elation I felt when she called me her friend.

Ninety-five percent hates you, I think, with a grimace on my face.

By the time the yelling is close enough to let me know they are almost in this part of the cave, I have my mask firmly in place. Hopefully she won’t notice that my smile is wobbly.

I turn, body stiff, as Kroaicho walks in. His skin is the darkest purple I have ever seen on him, his pink eyes partially closed, the spikes on his head flinching to the side each time Rin’s voice reaches a particularly loud peak.

“He is going to cut you into so many tiny little—” Rin suddenly breaks off when she catches sight of me, mouth opening in shock.

“Olivia!” she cries out, voice completely different now. I flinch again when I hear the happiness there. It won’t last long.

It truly doesn’t, but it’s not on my account, but instead because Kroaicho takes a few more quick strides and then dumps her unceremoniously on top of a pile of trinkets.

She growls out her rage, then switches to a barking language I’ve never heard before. “I am going to enjoy it when he finds you.”

Kroaicho doesn’t respond, but simply whirls around, two of his limbs stumbling over the others in his haste, and heads back the way he came.

“Zhann knew best,” he mutters. “No pets. Terrible, terrible pets.”

Rin scrambles up, running toward me. “Olivia! I thought we’d never find you, thankAllah. Are you hurt? Did he hurt you? That… that—”

I cut her off before she can get rolling again. “I’m not hurt.”

“Good,” she says briskly, her new green, glowing markings thrumming under her skin. The braids are new, too. “Let’s go.”