Alien Holiday by Tracy Lauren

Chapter 8

Resa

Lo might be a fool, but I am not. She’ll be back today. I already know this about her—the female is tenacious…determined. And it is utterly annoying. So, I arrive early and I arrive prepared.

The rain isn’t more than a light mist and it beads on my scales as I wait. Luckily, I don’t have to wait long. I straighten when I hear her coming and subconsciously shake out my wings—making them appear fuller. Bonito, she called them.

She is loud coming up my mountain, her breath heavy as she rustles through the thick foliage, making her own path—because, why use a trail?

“I figured I’d see you again,” she huffs as she pushes a long and curling fern leaf out of her face. Lo’s words are unintelligible to me and she seems to be aware of this fact, yet for some reason it does not stop her from talking. “Look, I don’t know what you have against me being here, and I sure as hell don’t know why you’re here, but—”

Her eyes catch what is in my hand and her chatter ceases. I push away from the rocks and stalk over to her, shoving her flowers into her hands. She stares at them, eyes wide, then looks back at me as if expecting something more. Greedy aliens. I shake my head at her then hold up my fingers and repeat her words from yesterday: “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.” Then I gesture back at the flowers. It is exactly what she asked for and now that she has it, and she can leave.

“You picked these? For me?”

I blink at her. She is terrible at communicating, giving me no frame of reference. So, I take her by the shoulders, turn her around, and give her a gentle shove. Back down the mountain you go, little alien.

She jerks away and rounds on me. “Hey, quit it, you Grinch! Why pick me flowers and then go right back to being a bully? What’s wrong with you?”

I shake my head at her and tap my chest. “Resa.” Rude little thing, didn’t even remember my name after making such a fuss that I learn hers.

“Yeah, yeah. Resa.” She practically spits my name. “You want me to call you Resa, stop being a Grinch.” That last word holds venom. I don’t like her talking to me in such a tone. After all, I’ve been more gracious than her kind deserves. I cross my arms over my chest and frown down at her. Hopefully, it does the job of conveying my displeasure.

Lo throws her hands in the air. “Ay, you bring out the worst in me. Okay, okay.” She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. When she opens them again, she’s smiling. “Let’s start over. Obviously, I’ve upset you in some way. Lo siento—that means I’m sorry. Though…I guess you can’t really understand any of this.” She pouts, looking around as if searching for words I might understand. Eventually she settles on the flowers. Pointing at them, she smiles brightly. “Gracias.” This time her tone is earnest. I grunt at her, causing her smile to falter and her eyes to narrow.

“I’ve dealt with your kind before, my friend. You’re a bully. Lucky for you I’ve got thick skin… Plus, it was nice of you to get the flowers for me.” She shakes the bouquet, a soft smile on her lips, and I find myself staring at her mouth. Not that I’m interested in Lo, or any of these awful aliens. I’m just vaguely curious. Before yesterday I’d never seen any of them up close before. She’s very different from me…very feminine.

Lo’s got hair that falls to her shoulders—it looks thick and sleek to the touch. Though I can’t imagine a reason I’d ever touch it. Her eyes are lined with dark lashes and her lips are full. She’s got high cheekbones and her skin is void of both scales and feathers, making her look unnaturally smooth and dangerously soft. If that tree would have hit her yesterday, she would have been…

Doesn’t matter. It didn’t happen.

I sigh. She really should be getting back. As much as I don’t like these alien invaders, I don’t want harm to come to this one. She’s at risk every time she’s out here alone. Determined as she is, she’s not qualified to be by herself in the wild. But I’m not interested in letting her entire settlement know I’m here. I need to get rid of her and make sure she never has reason to return to my mountain. I look down at the ground and find a stick.

“Lo.” I garner her attention. Squatting down on the ground, she follows suit—smiling up at me. I frown and shake my head. Stop that, I want to tell her. She rolls her eyes and motions for me to get on with what I’m doing.

In the mud I draw a square for the temple. “Lo,” I tell her. This is where she needs to go. Then I draw my mountain. “Resa.”

She nods and a stream of alien words pours from her lips, but she’s gesturing in the direction of the temple and my mountain. I nod. She understands. Good. But…she just sits there staring down at my drawing as if expecting more. No, that’s it, you simple alien. You belong in the temple, far away from my mountain. “Lo,” I say again. Tapping on the square temple. She looks up at me, smiling expectantly.

“Coere.” I nod down the hill. Go, female, get out of here. I reach out and poke her with the stick.

“Ay! Cabrón!” She jumps to her feet. “What is your problem? Did you really just poke me with a stick?” She yanks it out of my hand and jabs me once with it before snapping it in two and tossing it into the bushes. Then she’s spilling more words and wagging her finger at me. It takes a long while before she loses steam.

“What are you even doing up here?” she wonders, looking past me, up toward the location of my cave. I shake my head at her and stand in her path. Lo just scoffs! This female! She doesn’t even know me! Does she approach wild beasts like this? She’s going to be mauled one day if she isn’t careful. My thoughts are swirling, until she puts her hand on my chest. Then, everything grows still.

There’s a chill to her soft fingers. Is she cold? Looking to take refuge in my cave by the fire? No. She can’t come to my home. Then the others would know where to find me. But what if she’s too cold? What if her kind is not meant to be out in this weather for so long? What if she grows ill? Her soft hand pushes me aside and Lo starts marching up the mountain.

“Et, et, et.” Absolutely not. I try to tug her back but she yanks the flowers away.

“Cuidado! Don’t mess up my flowers.”

I grumble at her, but Lo just laughs as she proceeds up the path. I have to steer her away from my cave. I point toward the lookout point where I watch their morning exercises. Unfortunately, she wants nothing to do with my suggestions. I war within myself. She doesn’t belong here and… I shouldn’t be so curious about what she wants. It must be the cold driving her. Fine. If she is cold, I’ll let her warm herself by my fire. But after that, she’s out of here—for good.