Page 86

I cringe at the thought of mist coming out of my nose while a rumble of laughter vibrates against me.

“You are the treasure,” zha says with skin lighting green and orange. “Annoying, but very shiny.”

My own skin lights up orange. It’s the oddest compliment I’ve ever received, but I can tell by zha’s tone that zha means it.

“Wait,” I say, something suddenly occurring to me. “How is it that you know about a bunch of different aliens, that you had items in your hoard from galaxies away… and you don’t know that there are multiple genders in other species?”

“I wasn’t interested in them beyond the stories that came with the item or if they were the kind to steal,” Kroaicho responds.

“So you have no actual way to know if any of those stories are true or if they were just lying to you to get a sale?” I ask, dumbfounded.

Zha clicks dismissively. “They took items of no value in exchange. Ugly things. Why would they lie?”

I pinch my nose again, imagining all kinds of precious resources being handed over for plastic beads. I’m positive it’s happened and I think back to the stories zha told me before and throw all the information I thought I gleaned from them out of my mind. Useless.

I open my mouth to share that, but I just can’t get the words out. Kroaicho is annoyingly sure about all zhasie beliefs, and a large part of me wants to poke holes in them until logic prevails… but I don’t. Would I want my whole world upturned and every beautiful thing I thought I could rely on tossed out?

No way.

If zha truly does go with me—and I can’t let myself think of any other option now—zha will slowly realize. As many times as I wanted to poke those smug eyes out since Kroaicho snatched me, I just can’t bring myself to be the agent of that change. I’d rather be the support zha needs to weather it.

That feels right. Good, even. I’ve never served in that role for anyone, I realize. I’ve just been shuffled from one place to another once my “behavioral issues” became too much. It’s always felt like, no matter how much I observed, no matter how much I read, everyone always knew more about how to be human than I did.

Who would have thought it would take meeting an alien—someone even more socially clueless than I am—to finally feel comfortable in my own… suddenly glowing… skin.

The good feelings flee and my usual anxiety surges. What if zha just can’t handle being around all of us? What if zha ultimately chooses a cave. Alone. With a hoard. I’d probably never find another being as easy to read… or so completely oblivious to how fucking weird I am.

Well, I suppose everyone but a zhasie is weird to Kroaicho, but it ends up being the same.

The good feeling is back and I grab hold of it tight, the glow of my skin shifting back to orange.

“Is this uncomfortable for you, Kroaicho? Keeping up that pressure?”

“No.”

“Can we sleep like this again?” I ask. “That was nice.”

“I would enjoy that,” zha says and I settle in with a long sigh.

28

Kroaicho

Mymindistoofull of what just happened to sleep, but my skin is still lit up bright orange, despite the odd tangles of my thoughts.

At first I thought I was hurting zha somehow, but the bright flaring of green and orange zha showed where the black clothing didn’t cover helped settle my red fear. Now zha is sleeping… all of the confusing words and explosive energy settled and contained.

Zha is beautiful. The greatest treasure I’ve ever found. So I just keep staring, losing myself in the swirling shifts and odd, twitching human expressions.

But then the twitching becomes more violent and not long after zha is moaning out zha’s pain sound, skin lighting in reds and blues.

Wait… is that a steady purple on zha’s neck underneath the shifting colors? I look closer, my segments trembling as I watch zha’s usually perpetually amused white-brown skin transition to a rougher, purple… hide?

When zha starts moaning loader and thrashing, I fully panic, lighting the cave red as I shift my segments so I can lay zha on the purple grasses. Then I shoot up to my four back limbs, unsure what to do for a long moment before dashing out of the cave, looking for the nearest human to explain what is happening to Olivia.

Surely they will know?

Luckily the pink one is crouched not far from the cave, back turned, and then zha scrambles around, raising the metal weapon as I run toward zha.