Page 23

23

Olivia

I kept expecting him to want something from me. Kept waiting for that shoe to drop and for him to reveal his angle. Instead, he’s giving me what I want. It’s almost like… he sees me as valuable without considering what I can give or what he can take?

The thought stabs through me, a thrill rising, then quickly transitioning to pain.

Why do I feel like I’m going to cry? I rub at my aching eyes, but instead of making them feel better, it just gets worse. And worse. Soon after I’m hissing, then moaning out in pain.

Someone grabs on to my hands. “Stop, Olivia. They are changing. You’re just going to hurt yourself.”

My heart starts pounding. “I hate change,” I mutter.

“I don’t blame you,” Eli says in a soothing voice. “Just breathe through it, though.”

When I feel a wet pressure, then an odd suction and realize it’s probably a tentacle, the anger starts to build higher, but the pain overtakes it instead.

Long minutes later and multiple sharp intakes of breath and it's over. I blink once—then twice—and then not at all, as my brain expects the usual bleariness to set in, the normal sensation of sluggish eyes adjusting to a dim cave. Except… I can see everything. Clear as day.

What the hell?

It's disorienting, like waking up and realizing you've grown an extra limb overnight. I blink again, hard this time, but nothing changes. I can see the shapes of stalagmites, the blue glow of mushrooms faintly pulsing in the shadows, and even the tiny glimmer of water droplets hanging from the ceiling. All of it is sharp and vibrant.

Eli’s muted coloring is suddenly a canary yellow and the green of Rin’s markings are beautifully vibrant. So vibrant it's on the edge of pain.

What… is going on?

My heartbeat picks up, and I start to push myself up, but there's something warm and firm holding me down. I look down, realizing there is a tentacle wrapped around me. Supporting me.

The anger is mixed in with fear and panic.

"Okay, Olivia," I mutter under my breath. "No need to panic. You've survived worse."

Gingerly, I try to wiggle out of Eli’s grip and look around the cave, which is lit mostly by those damn, bright bioluminescent mushrooms. They glow a deep, serene blue, but as I move toward them, I wince, eyes stinging from the glare.

What the…? I raise a hand to shield my face, surprised by how harsh the light feels now. It's like I'm staring into the sun, except I know these mushrooms weren't this bright before.

Squinting, I turn away, navigating toward a small pool of condensation that's gathered on one side of the cave. The water is still and clear, just enough to catch a glimpse of the light reflection.

And that's when I see it. The pink glow.

The reflection staring back at me isn't entirely mine anymore. My eyes are glowing. Not just reflecting light, no. They are glowing. Bright pink, like two neon signs in a sea of darkness.

I frantically turn back to Eli and Rin. Eli is bouncing up and down in the water. “Oh, they are so pretty! And I can tell you are seeing better, aren’t you? Mine are really useful too, but they are scary, which I guess has other uses… but yours!”

My stomach does a flip. "What the hell is going on?"

A few strides and I am over at the stream to get a better look. The face is still me—still Olivia, same freckles, same slightly crooked nose—but my eyes…

I lean closer, my reflection rippling in the water. I wave my hand in front of my face, but the glowing pink stays, vibrant and unnerving. It's not… bad, exactly. Just unexpected. Kind of like a really creepy party trick I didn't ask for. Just like the weird fully green ones, though I suppose Eli is right. These are far more useful.

Okay, breathe. This is weird. But it's not the weirdest thing that's happened.

The moment of panic flares then dims as I see Eli’s one simple, undeniable truth: at least I can see. And, apparently, I can see in the dark.

"That's… something, I guess?" I mutter, staring at my reflection a little longer. "Glowing eyes and night vision. Yeah, okay. Not the worst thing."

Rin tsks . “Are things overly bright? I got braceaaer eyes and they hurt in bright light sometimes.”

“Yes,” I say distractedly.

Useful, yes. Still, it's unnerving. I splash a little water on my face, half-hoping the pink glow will fade. It doesn't. But at least the cold water feels good, grounding me. I can handle this. I can figure out what's happening. After all, surviving this planet has pretty much been one long string of weird stuff.

Why stop now?

I turn my back on the puddle, deciding not to dwell too much on my new ocular upgrades. There's something else catching my attention now, and it's hard to explain exactly why, but…

Kroaicho's hoard.

I greedily look over at the pile of glowing rocks, twisted vines, and scrap metal that Kroaicho has obsessively collected. Up until now, I've always thought it looked like a bunch of junk—a magpie's dream gone horribly wrong. But now? Now it's like I'm seeing it for the first time.

The rocks are glowing more vibrantly than I remember, hues of orange, green, and violet blending together in intricate patterns that shimmer with life. The vines, too, have taken on a strange beauty, their twisted shapes creating delicate, interwoven designs that seem almost artistic.

And the scrap metal, the random bits and pieces I once thought were useless, now catch the light in a way that makes them sparkle, revealing layers of detail I never noticed before.

"Pretty…" I breathe out as I take a step closer, my eyes wide. "How did I not see this before?"

It's like someone turned up the saturation on the entire world. Colors I didn't even know existed seem to dance across the surfaces, every object in the hoard radiating with a sort of… well, magic. I crouch down next to it, reaching out hesitantly to touch one of the glowing rocks. It's warm to the touch, pulsing slightly beneath my fingers.

It’s almost like they are whispering to me. Trying to tell me something. Their story? Is this what Kroaicho means? Can he perceive even more than this? Is this how he learned my language so freakishly fast?

Even with these new eyes, I still don’t understand how that could work…

But I can’t deny the evidence before me. Everything has changed. Nothing in this pile is ugly anymore and each one teases me with the suggestion that there is… more.

What does he see when he looks at me?

There is this sudden, overwhelming desire to know what Kroaicho knows. For him to share what I can’t sense.

"Okay, this is seriously weird," I mutter, but there's a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth. Despite the strangeness of it all, there's something oddly satisfying about the way the light plays across the objects.

As if Kroaicho's random collection is more than just a hoard. It's a masterpiece.

I run my hand over the surface of a twisted vine, feeling its rough texture beneath my fingertips. "I'm starting to get why you're obsessed with this stuff," I say softly, glancing over my shoulder to where Kroaicho disappeared.

There's no logic to the assortment of rocks, vines, and random scrap metal, but there's something thrilling about it. Each piece feels alive under my fingers, glowing faintly with hues I didn't even know existed.

“Liv?” Rin asks hesitantly, but I ignore her.

Suddenly, the urge to rearrange things hits me, like a burst of inspiration I can't explain. Before I know it, I'm sifting through the pile, carefully stacking rocks and vines in new patterns, arranging them just so… everything should feel balanced. There's a rhythm to it, a flow, and I find myself humming softly as I work, completely absorbed in the task.

"Olivia the decorator," I murmur under my breath, amused at myself. "If only people could see me now."

“Liv?” Eli calls out, but I’m too busy to pay her any mind.

I pause for a moment, taking a step back to admire my handiwork. It isn’t quite right. Too much green on that side, I decide. Then I’m shifting it all over again.

The hoard looks different now, more purposeful. Like I've helped it become what it was always meant to be. There's a strange satisfaction in it, a sense of completion.

But then, reality catches up to me, and I realize I've just spent the last several minutes fawning over Kroaicho's hoard like it's a piece of fine art. I blink, pulling my hands away from the glowing rocks, a sudden flush of embarrassment creeping up my neck.

"What the hell am I doing?" I mutter, shaking my head as if I can snap myself out of whatever spell I've fallen under.

Eli and Rin are laughing and I feel my face flushing with my embarrassment. “Are you with us, Liv?” Eli says with her cheerful voice.

It helps soothe my self-consciousness. I gulp, and then try to explain. “Well, I’m guessing all of this looks like a pile of trash, right?”

They look around. “Well,” Eli drawls, tentacles waving.

“Yes,” Rin says, voice as decisive as always.

I smile. “I thought so too. But now I… quite literally have different eyes. And I think I understand Kroaicho a bit more…”

I trail off, not sure what else to say. It’s super weird and not something that can be explained.

I can't deny the weird pull I feel toward the hoard now. It's like something in me has shifted, like I'm starting to see the world the way Kroaicho sees it. I glance over to the same passage, my thoughts drifting to the alien's earlier words about hoarding and treasure. Maybe there's more to it than I thought.

With a sigh, I stand up, brushing the dust from my hands. The hoard gleams in the dim light, and I can't help but feel a small sense of pride at how neatly it's arranged now. Maybe Kroaicho won't even notice.

Or maybe he will, and I'll have some serious explaining to do.

"Great," I mutter. "Just what I need."

Still, there's a part of me that can't quite shake the fascination. I take one last look at the hoard, then turn away, the strange warmth of the cave settling over me like a blanket.

As I walk back toward where the women are. I can't help but feel like something fundamental has changed. Not just in me, with my new freaky glowing eyes, but in the way I see the world—and Kroaicho. There's something more here, something deeper than just survival. Something I'm only just beginning to understand.

And as unsettling as that realization is, there's a small part of me that's excited by it. Curious, even.

"One step at a time," I tell myself, glancing back at the pile of glowing treasures with a hungry look in my eye.

There’s a prickle of desire, then I berate myself that I’m being the same sort of materialist I’ve always hated. Then desire surges again.

“Okay, fuck it,” I grit out and head back to it, the sound of laughter starting up again.

As I sink my hands into Kroaicho's treasure pile, I can't help but giggle like an idiot. It's ridiculous, but it feels like I'm swimming through someone's junkyard in zero gravity.

There’s more laughter in the cave and I feel like it should matter, but it doesn’t

I pick up a twisted piece of metal that looks like it came off an ancient spacecraft and wave it around like a sword. "Captain Olivia, intergalactic pirate," I declare, grinning to myself. "Fear my junk saber!"

Another laugh bubbles out of me, uncontrollable. My brain knows this is absurd, but it's like something inside me just snapped—maybe the glowing eyes are making me giddy? Who knows. Either way, it's nice to let loose for a moment, to forget about the constant life-and-death stakes of surviving on this planet.

I dig deeper into the pile, uncovering a rock that pulses between shades of violet and green. "Oooh, pretty," I coo, holding it up to the dim light of the cave. My glowing pink eyes reflect back at me on the rock's smooth surface. For a second, I think about taking it as a souvenir, but then I remember it's Kroaicho's hoard. Even though I'm having a blast playing around, I'm not ready to start swiping things. Yet.

“Liv?” calls out another annoying voice.

A few more minutes pass in a blur of giddy giggles, rearranging rocks into little towers and vines into spirals. It's oddly satisfying, like organizing the world's strangest puzzle. Eventually, the high wears off, and I realize I'm sitting in the middle of a glowing mess, giggling to myself like a lunatic.

I stop and glance around. "Oh, God," I mutter, feeling heat rush to my cheeks again. "What am I doing?"

Then I hear the laughter again and look over to Eli and Rin clutching their stomachs and wiping tears from their eyes.

I scramble out of the pile, trying to regain some shred of dignity. “What the fuck, you two? Couldn’t you have stopped me?”

As I stand up, I catch myself almost drooling over the now perfectly arranged pile of glowing treasures. There's this nagging part of me that wants to dive back in, to lose myself in it all again. But no. I resist. I'm not a magpie—or, at least, I wasn't before today.

"Okay, Olivia, focus," I mutter, forcefully turning my attention away from the hoard and back to the two women still laughing at me.

“You think we didn’t try?” Rin gasps out. “Oh, I needed that laugh, though. Thank you, Liv.”

“Yes,” Eli says, still chuckling. “That was incredibly entertaining.”

“Dammit,” I mutter. “Did you pick up some seriously weird urges when your eyes changed?”

The two of them look at each other, then back to me while shaking their heads.

Of course not.