His eyes widen as he stares at me. “Rolanda,” he says, perfectly. A little too perfect.
I raise my eyebrow at him as I watch him curiously. “What’s your name?”
I tap my chest again when he doesn’t get it. “Rolanda,” I say. I point at him and raise my eyebrows.
“Cookie Monster,” he says, tapping his chest with his strong hand.
My head jerks back as my jaw drops open. I just stare at him, breathless with a racing heartbeat. No way.
“Rolanda,” he says, pointing at me. “Cookie Monster,” he repeats, touching his own chest.
Cookie Monster. I mouth the words but nothing comes out.
My thoughts are fuzzy. I can’t seem to think straight. His name is Cookie Monster? How can that be?
“Cookie Monster?” I ask, eying him suspiciously.
His face breaks out into a smile and he nods enthusiastically. “Cookie Monster.”
My skin is tingling. I can’t believe this. “Where did you get that name?”
He slices off another piece of meat and offers it to me. “Where did you get that name?” I repeat, ignoring his offering.
It must mean something. Maybe there are humans on this planet with access to Sesame Street, although that doesn’t seem likely. Or maybe Mandy or Avery made it out alive.
This does seem to have Avery written all over it. It just seems like something that crazy girl had a hand in.
But why would that be his name? None of it is making any sense.
“Are there other people like me on this planet?” I ask, trying to mime my words. I’ve never been very good at Charades and I just look like a monkey having a seizure.
He just stares at me. Mostly at my tits.
“Do you know Mandy?” I ask, taking a shot in the dark. “Or Avery?”
“Avery!” he says, straightening his back and nodding. “Avery. Saku.”
“You know Avery?” I ask, my belly fluttering.
He nods. “Avery.”
“Please. Please. Please. Take me to her.”
He nods. “Avery.”
I smile as he hands me another piece of meat. Adrenaline is tingling through my body.
My friend is alive.
Hopefully.
four
This beautiful pink Sandroka knows the Saku, Avery. They must have descended from the heavens together.
“Krakalore,” Cookie Monster gasps. What if she has the kaleem as well? Turic’s Avery had the marking of the kaleem on her back, which meant that she was the one. The Saku. The one to kill the beasts of Zandipor.
But what if there is more than one Saku?
What if Rolanda is a Saku as well? The swift Cookie Monster leaps to his feet and pulls up the beautiful Rolanda’s strange animal skins to see.
“Fuck off!” she sings, pushing Cookie Monster away with both hands. “I appreciate the food. But touch my clothes again and I’ll knock you the fuck out.”
The gorgeous pink Sandroka has her hands in the air, squeezed together like a warrior before battle. But she is a Sandroka, not a warrior. It must be part of the mating ritual.
The powerful Cookie Monster lunges forward, this time moving around her hands as she swings them out. He bends her over and pulls up her shirt as she hollers. Nothing but soft pink skin.
She is not the Saku. Only Avery is.
But she is still a Sandroka and can warm Cookie Monster’s bed. He is excited for when the suns go to sleep and the moons come out to play. For he will claim his beautiful pink Sandroka and make her scream his name to the heavens.
“Let me go or I’ll kick you right in the dick,” she sings as she struggles to get free from the powerful Cookie Monster’s grasp. The sound is not warm and soft like a mating ritual should be. Perhaps she needs some more persuasion.
“What the fuck?” she sings when Cookie Monster releases her. She yanks down her odd animal skins and frowns. “Don’t fucking touch me again. That’s not cool.”
She is not like a Sandroka ought to be. She is fierce like a warrior with the temper of a many fanged beast. Cookie Monster looks at his bloody hand and grins. She has fire in her. She will make a fine mate.
“That’s right,” she sings like a bird. “Remember what I did to your hand if you even think about touching me again.”
The powerful Cookie Monster does not understand her words but the meaning behind them is unmistakable. She wants to mate.
The swift Cookie Monster’s soum starts thumping in his chest and his cock becomes as hard as the rocks in the yultine valley as he dreams of drinking the sweet nectar from Rolanda’s delicious culip.
“Are you fucking serious right now? Are you getting a hard-on?”
The Sandroka of Cookie Monster’s tribe all vanished many moons ago and the art of the mating ritual was lost with them. He stands up and unhooks his animal skin loincloth, letting it fall to the ground of the cave.
His cock is hard and towering, pointing up to the sky like the tallest enger tree.
Rolanda watches it with lust and amazement, staring at it with eyes as wide as lorentore flowers.