No ‘innocent until proven guilty’ on Spurn; though they hadn’t just killed us, so maybe that was a little unfair. I also wondered why there was no real surprise that we just happened to saunter onto Spurn from First World. If ‘aliens’ had strolled on to Earth from another planet, I was pretty sure the leaders would have a few questions. Were we not their first ‘alien’ visitors?
“They cannot be allowed to roam free on Spurn, doing this adventuring.” The emerald-haired woman stepped forward, her movements awkward but controlled. “They cannot traverse the waters. They are unknown, and that is dangerous. We should just kill them now and save the future trouble.”
I was distracted by Brace, whose entire body had tensed. The muscles in his chiseled jaw started to twitch. Tick ... tick ... tick. He was not a fan of this woman. And here I was, finding her so delightful. His sooty fringe of black lashes lowered briefly as he fought for control. I placed a hand on his arm to calm him before he blew them all up or whatever he was planning. I still didn’t know exactly what his First-World powers entailed.
His eyes locked me in, his gaze intense.
As I pulled my hand away I reminded myself to breathe. My distraction had at least resulted in him looking a little less murderous, but it had left me all girly and flustered as usual.
“Quiet, Gladriel. I know you have history here but your first instinct should not be to kill.” As Ladre turned back to us, he missed the flash of hatred that shone in her cold yellow eyes.
If I was him, I’d be watching my back for sure.
I examined her more closely. What was up with her attitude? What had we ever done to her? Or was she just a bitch? I knew it happened; sometimes people are just ass-hats.
“We can’t leave yet; the energy we used to arrive on your world is currently unavailable to us,” I said, not without a little annoyance. “So instead of killing us, maybe you can just house us for a short time. You know, as a second option.”
“I will take responsibility for them while they are here. Until they leave, they will be by my side.” An emerald-haired male appeared from the middle of the group.
Gladriel spun around. Her pink features flattened into irritated lines. “Raror, what are you doing?” she hissed at him.
“They just said they cannot leave, and you say they cannot be allowed to roam on their own, so logic dictates that they will need an escort while they are here.” He stepped closer, his hair flowing behind him.
Ignoring the drama, I continued to observe closely. All of the Spurns had long hair, at minimum to mid-back, but those who spoke out and carried an aura of being in charge had hair that reached to their knees. There were four distinct hair colors, but no variances within their tone. And all of the four hair colors were exactly the same shade, none lighter or darker, none with streaks or fading. Did they age? I could see some discrepancies in their appearance, but there were definitely no very young or old present.
It was like watching an intensely three-dimensional movie. I had so many unanswered questions, but clearly flicking to the end wasn’t an option. And, although it had taken awhile, I found it less challenging now to understand the lisping way they spoke. Well, I’d at least stopped wanting to say ‘Huh?’ after every second word.
Gladriel appeared frozen, her eyes mere slits across her face. Her features remained stone-like as she turned around to speak again.
“My son has decided that the Earon clan will house these other-worlders.” She spat the words at us. “This is about Talina,” she muttered.
If I hadn’t had Walker hearing, I’d probably have missed it.
Who was this ‘Talina’?
My heart started to race as a woman stepped up to Raror and smiled.
Could it actually be that easy?
She was different from the average Spurn, taller than most – though still shorter than me. She had striking features. Her smooth skin was creamy rather than pink like the rest of the Spurns. Her face was round rather than elongated, and she had long lustrous emerald hair with flecks of black. Unlike the others, she had brown eyes in a sea of yellow, and eyelashes and brows, whereas the others had none.
Lucy caught my eye, her head starting a continuous nod in the unusual woman’s direction – in case I’d missed it the first five times she’d done it.
I laughed silently; subtle just isn’t in Lucy repertoire. And, if I wasn’t mistaken, we might just be staring at my half-Walker.
Chapter 3
When most of the arguing had subsided, they led us out of the clearing and toward the beach. During our time I’d noticed a few new Spurn characteristics. They were very cliquey, mainly staying in their hair-color group. My half-Walker was the only exception, sometimes crossing paths with Ladre, the blue-haired leader who’d first confronted us. Was something going on there? They certainly exchanged lots of quick flicking glances, but there was definitely no touching.