Must get away. I can’t move. I must move. I beat at his chest with my fists, screaming whimpers flowing out of my mouth. “Stop it. Stop it. Stop it.”

Something must get through to him, because he releases me. The knife sits near my feet and I go for it, but I end up being held from behind with his arms wrapped around my chest. My head flies back and I hear a satisfying crunch and his arms drop. I pick up the knife again, but my hand is shaking too hard to use it. Fingers, get a grip! A giggle works its way past the terror in my throat. The shakes travel up my arms and down to my legs and I collapse onto the ground, laughing.

“Blazes, you must have hit your head harder than I thought,” says Alien Boy, one hand over his nose. “Calm down. I am not going to hurt you.” He reaches one hand forward, to put it on my shoulder? To put it around my neck?— I jerk backwards, moving out of his reach.

“Don’t touch me!”

He drops his hand and backs away. I move backwards too until my back hits a tree trunk. I close my eyes and concentrate on slowing my breathing. In. Out. In. Out.

When I open my eyes again, his gaze meets mine. The slim ring of gold around his pupils is such a vivid contrast to the brilliant green that I almost want to fall into them. Is that some alien thing? Some power in his eyes? I shift my gaze away.

He has removed his jacket and wrapped it around his arm, revealing a tight gray short sleeved shirt. The fabric shimmers in the light and I start to reach out to touch it, but quickly pull my hand away before he notices. I can’t draw my eyes away from the lean muscles of his chest showcased by the undershirt though. He catches me looking and I fight the blush trying to form on my cheeks.

Maybe his eyes aren’t the problem here. I raise my eyes to meet his. He stares steadily back at me, not lowering his gaze and not flinching away. A quiet anger simmers in those green gold depths, and I can tell he’s trying to hide the pain he’s in.

He speaks first. “Can we move past this now?” His voice drops. “I am not dead yet and I would like to stay that way.”

“I didn’t assume you would be,” I say. “I wasn’t trying to kill you.”

He laughs and shakes his head.

The dismissal grates on me. “What I meant was you were the one trying to kill me. I only defended myself. Nice to know you guys are able to be injured after all. Thanks for the intel.”

The muscles in his jaw clench. “Defending yourself from what? I was only trying to talk to you.” His glare grows colder. “Of course I should have known better than to reason with a human. Savages.”

I scoff, standing up and moving toward him. “If we’re such savages, then what the hell did your friends take my brother for?” The alien’s eyes widen, but he quickly hides his surprise, setting his face back into the stoic glare from before. “What? You don’t have an answer to that?” My voice rises, worry for Jace beginning to strangle my words. “Just came on down to harass the humans? Is that it? Couldn’t you leave well enough alone?”

“It was not my intention to harass you.” The calmly delivered words meant to placate me do the opposite and I can feel heat building in my face. These aliens— this alien just thinks he can come down here and do whatever he wants? This is my world, they don’t belong here and they certainly have no right to my brother.

“Intention or not, you don’t belong here. This is my forest, my meadow, my lake, my home,” I yell. “You can’t just come here and take…. Why here?” My voice breaks on the last two words and the choking burn of tears fills my throat, making me even angrier. Worry, adrenaline and anger collide, bringing me to a seat on the ground. “What the hell am I supposed to do now, Alien Boy?”

“Lir,” he says, shifting his eyes from me to his hands.

“Leer? I’m supposed to ogle you?”

His breath huffs out in something like a laugh. “No, that is my name, Lir.”

“Oh.” The single syllable pops my anger like a balloon. He might not be human, but he is human like and besides asking me questions and generally being rude, he really hasn’t taken any action to harm me. And I attacked him. “Sorry,” I mumble.

He raises an eyebrow. “What exactly are you apologizing for? Attacking me or calling me names?” The situation is so ridiculous, I can’t help but laugh. It’s more of a nervous laughter, but it seems to release the tension and even Lir chuckles.

“My name’s Jax. And I’m sorry for attacking you… and calling you names I guess.” My shoulders relax and I take a deep breath. “Why are you even here?” I ask, hoping he’s willing to help me. “I mean, why did you even get off the ship?”

“We landed for repairs.” Lir shakes his head when I open my mouth to ask what was wrong. I guess that’s more information than he’s willing to give.

“Why--”

“That is all you need to know” Lir shoots back.

My faces heats and I look down at my hands. My next words are quieter. “Why did they take my brother?”

“I do not know.” He sounds truthful, but I jerk my head up to look at him. There’s nothing but openness in his face. I don’t think he’s lying.

“Are they going to come back for you…” I look into his eyes, biting my lower lip, “and bring Jace back?”

“I do not believe so.”

I look away, clenching my hands in my lap. “I have to get him back. I’m not just going to sit here and…I’m going to get him back.” I stand up before Lir can respond.

He thinks for a moment, watching me. “Look, I understand that you want him back. But have you got this idea in your head that you can just walk up to the city and demand his return? It does not work that way. As a rule, we do not like humans and they are not allowed into our city.”

I think for a moment. “But they’ll let you in right?” I lean closer. “I’ll get you to the city if you get me inside it.”

Lir gapes at me. “You cannot be serious. Why would I need you?”

I almost laugh at his arrogance. “How long have I been out?” When he doesn’t answer, I look up and study the angle of the sun. “Around an hour?” Lir nods. “If you thought you could have handled it, you would have just left me here. Why is it that you stuck around?”

His chest rises and falls while he studies my face. What is he looking for? His eyes dart away when he finally answers. “The pulse knocked out my kitu.”

“Pulse? Kitu?”

“The energy force that knocked you over. It is a weapon. The kitu…” Lir holds up his arm and points to the cuff on his wrist. “It is… important.”

“So, without your fancy bracelet you’re pretty helpless,” I say. “You have no supplies. You don’t know where you are and you’re in human territory. I don’t know what they tell you in that city of yours, but humans don’t much like you guys either. Without me you’ll be lost in the wilderness with no supplies and no weapons. If you manage to escape the predators and avoid starving to death or dying of thirst and stumble into someone else that could help you… they’d more than likely kill you. I’ll keep you alive.”

“You are human. What guarantee do I have that you will keep your word?”

I roll my eyes. “Simply because I want my brother back. I don’t care about anything else. Once you’ve gotten me into the city. You can just be on your way, or whatever.”

Lir tilts his head to one side and furrows his brow. “You do not expect me to assist you in getting your brother? Only in getting into the city?”

“Right.” I smile. “Once I’m in, I can take care of myself.”

Lir doesn’t look very sure. He simply shrugs. “Fine then. We have an agreement.” He lowers his chin in a nod and then gestures at the wound on his arm. “I need to do something about this. How far is your residence?”

“Not far. Follow me.”

* * * * * * *

We don’t speak as we walk; me, preferring to keep my terror filled thoughts of Jace’s absence to myself and Lir because… Because he’s an alien I guess. They don’t seem big on small talk. My mind is lost in the images of the latest horrible scenario of Jace’s fate that it has come up with when Lir finally speaks.