Aelyx pulled the napkin free long enough to warn, “Your ‘culinary Nirvana’ was bad enough going down, Cah-ra. I don’t want to taste it again coming up, which is what will happen if you force anything else on me tonight.”
“Oh. I didn’t think about that.”
Her cheeks heated as she realized pushing unfamiliar food on Aelyx was just as bad as not feeding him at all. The way his skin paled reminded her of the time Tori had double-dog-dared her to try raw oysters, which had looked exactly like mucus. Turned out they’d tasted like mucus, too. Cara had upchucked afterward, and the sight of those half-digested mollusks had spurred a pukefest that’d lasted the whole evening.
“You know what?” Cara said, sliding her plate aside. “I’m not hungry, either.” It was time to take her hostess swagger to the next level. “Let’s talk about something besides food. Tell me about your trip from L’eihr to Earth. How long did it take?”
For the next twenty minutes, Cara nodded intently, pretending to understand Aelyx’s tutorial on traveling at light speed and using wormholes as intergalactic shortcuts. By the time he finished, she was no closer to grasping the exact science of “space chronology,” as he called it, but at least his complexion had transformed from green to beige.
Mission accomplished.
Chapter Five
Aelyx awoke in a sweaty haze, the same way he’d begun each morning since his arrival on Earth. He pulled off his dampened T-shirt and used it to blot the perspiration from his forehead, wondering when his body would adjust to this unfamiliar climate. Probably just in time for his departure.
The bare taupe walls of his bedroom bathed in the gentle glow of the early morning sun reminded him of his quarters on L’eihr, exactly as his human hosts had intended. He indulged for a moment, closing his eyes and pretending he was there now. His longing for home made his chest ache and stole his breath. After eighteen years in the bustling Aegis, he couldn’t even sleep properly without his roommates snoring and rustling in their bunks an arm’s length away. Gods, he missed them.
Fortunately, three days had passed, so he could finally reconnect with Syrine and Eron. Even though he had no progress to report, his heart raced in anticipation of glimpsing their faces.
Aelyx pulled the com-sphere from beneath his pillow and whispered the passkey to unlock it. The brushed metal buzzed to life, tickling his palm as he spoke his friends’ names and waited for their own spheres to summon them.
Eron’s hologram was the first to appear on the bedspread, his miniature fingers stretching toward Aelyx’s throat in the standard greeting. Judging by the tile wall and shiny chrome fixtures in the background, he’d locked himself in the bathroom.
“Quiet,” Eron said, stepping into the porcelain tub and pulling the shower curtain closed behind him. “My human’s young cousin has taken a liking to me. I think he’s listening at the door.”
Syrine’s image flickered to life. Shadows darkened the skin beneath her heavily lidded eyes, and her mouth sagged—obvious proof that the French boy hadn’t given her much peace.
“Mother of L’eihr.” She rubbed her face with one palm. “Kill me now.”
Aelyx offered a sympathetic grin. “Remember what I suggested if he refuses to observe boundaries?” No living creature could tolerate a kick to the reproductive organs.
“I’ll never earn his trust that way.” Syrine shook her head. “What about your female? Is she as tolerable as I predicted?”
He considered a moment. Cara had made an obvious effort to be sociable in the past two days, filling their schedule with activities and conversation. He supposed talking with her was preferable to spending time alone.
“Yes,” he finally decided. “Fairly tolerable.”
“How about you?” she asked Eron.
“I can’t complain. My family is quite welcoming. I rather like them, especially little Ming. He looks at me like I hand-carved the moon.”
Syrine flashed an obscene gesture, not bothering to hide her jealousy. “When do you integrate with the others?”
“Next week.”
“I start tomorrow,” Aelyx added. He looked forward to his first day of school with all the enthusiasm of a man facing a lobotomy.
“I haven’t been able to sneak away yet,” Eron whispered. “Have you?”
Aelyx and Syrine both shook their heads. “We expected this,” Aelyx said. “But our host families will relax once we settle into a routine. I’ll try to plant my sh’alear in the next few days.”
“So will I,” Eron promised, “if the child will give me a moment’s rest. I swear by the Mother he wants to play alien invaders all—” Three quick knocks sounded from Eron’s bathroom door, followed by a child’s high chirp. After muttering a good-natured curse, Eron shut down his sphere, disappearing from view.
“We’ll have to do it soon.” Syrine paused to yawn. “It’ll take weeks to see results.”
“Get some rest,” Aelyx told Syrine. “This will be over before long.” She nodded and her hologram vanished into the air like a wisp of smoke. With a sigh, he stuffed his com-sphere into his top dresser drawer.
Raising his chin, he sniffed the air and recognized the stench of something humans called bacon. It was harsh, salty, and dripping with animal fat. He shuddered with disgust and grabbed his clothes. A cool shower would restore his body temperature, and if he hurried, he could claim the bathroom before Cara monopolized it for one of her hour-long grooming sessions.
He turned the doorknob as quietly as possible and stepped into the hall. He was within two paces of the bathroom when Cara rounded the corner and met him face-to-face. She sucked in a startled breath, clutching the front of her bathrobe. Her eyes widened, traveling slowly down the length of his exposed chest while a burgundy flush spread across her cheeks.
Fasha. What was he thinking leaving his room half dressed? Now he’d made the girl uncomfortable. He held the folded clothing high against his bare flesh, but that only seemed to make matters worse as her gaze darted to his abdomen and held there.
He glanced down, wondering what had caught her attention. “Ah.” The answer came, and he smoothed two fingers over his lower stomach. “I don’t have what you call a belly button.”
“Oh, right.” She cleared her throat and stared down at her slippered feet. “Because of the clone thing.”
“No. Because we’re all born from artificial wombs. Even the Elders.”
“Really? So it doesn’t matter how— Oh!” With a gasp, she pointed at his feet. “And your toes!”
He’d forgotten humans still had five toes, and Cara probably didn’t realize hers would appear just as odd to him.
“You’ll lose the smallest one in a couple thousand years,” he said. “Maybe sooner, if you stop mating like animals and reproduce with purpose.”
“What the—” When her eyes turned to slits, he knew he’d said something wrong. Perhaps mating like animals had sounded too harsh, even if it was true. She kicked off her slipper and pointed to her ivory foot. “I like my pinkie toe just the way it is, and I’d rather grow a second head than let the government tell me who to sleep with!”
“Of course.” He spoke in low tones, the way he’d seen humans placate domesticated canines. It seemed to work, because when he added, “Please forgive my rudeness,” she fingered her furry robe and gave a pardoning nod.
“I made breakfast,” she said curtly. “It’s just the two of us.”
Aelyx didn’t want breakfast, especially if bacon was involved, but he hated to anger Cara again so quickly. Besides, today marked the seventeenth anniversary of her birth, so he postponed his shower and prepared for the worst.