Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. All characters in sexual situations are 18 or older. Thanks for reading!
It was good that Anna had chosen to wear dark colors for their sortie. She tucked her legs up into her shortened skirts so that her alabaster calves wouldn't stick out amongst the oak's verdant foliage. She also tried to keep her head out of sight from below. Both her pale face and blond hair would surely contrast with the darkened room.
The creatures prowled the large, forested area for what seemed like eons. She knew it was indeed a long time, because her adrenaline left her while the creatures remained.
I'm shaking like a... well... like a leaf on a tree.
Maybe it was a good sign that she could still make jokes. Her husband was a monster, and she didn't know if her children had survived. But she'd always been indefatigable. La Belle Île en Mer didn't change that. She cast dark thoughts aside and worked on affirmations. Her children were alive, and she would see them soon. Her husband... maybe she could get him help. They would find the eye and leave. Anna put a bit of her bodice in her mouth to keep her teeth from audibly chattering.
The thump of heavy footsteps sounded on the boardwalk below. The ivory creatures grunted and snarled, their vocalizations echoing off the floor-to-ceiling windows. It didn't sound like language to Anna. They made the noises of dumb beasts. Maybe they weren't even individual animals. What had her husband said about the "collective?" Maybe the creatures were all part of the Newest Guest. Whatever in Hades that was.
Even after the creatures left the arboretum, Anna stayed in the crook of her oak tree. She was thirsty, tense, and completely wrung out. But she kept sleep at bay. Eventually, she felt safe enough to whisper, "Océane, open up a communication to George Zaal. Only audio. Keep the volume quite low on my end. I don't want to attract attention."
"Trying him now," Océane whispered.
"Hello, Mom?" George sounded worried.
Relief flooded Anna's body.
My son is alive.
Her muscles relaxed so quickly that she nearly fell out of the tree. "I'm okay. I'm in a tree in the arboretum. Are you okay? Is Lillian? Can you come get me?" Anna was so excited by his voice, she could barely keep hers to a whisper.
George told her that Delores was gone and that Kapnos had saved them all with her light. They were supposed to meet Nossy at the top of the tower. Lillian was in the autodoc with internal bleeding, and it would be no less than twelve hours before she would be well enough to leave. Anna processed all this.
Twelve hours is a long time to hide in a tree.
When he finished the debriefing, there was silence on the line for several beats.
"Stay with your sister. Make sure she's protected." Anna didn't have any weapons. Should she leave the tree? Would the creatures come back and do a more thorough search? "When she's well, cut that hardline and come get me. We'll go up the tower together. I'll stay safe. I love you, sunshine."
"I love you, Mom." George's voice faded away as the connection was cut.
"Okay, now how do I climb down this thing?" Anna bit her lip as she eyed the tree. After a moment, she left the crook that had kept her hidden.
~~
"It feels insane just sitting here." George paced in the autodoc waiting room past the barricade he and Constance had placed on the door leading into the hall. "My mother needs me. At the very least, we should cut the power line while we're waiting on my sister." His pistol was in his hand, his trigger finger tapping against the barrel.
"Firstly, you're not sitting anywhere. You're pacing." Constance sat in a waiting room chair, her long legs stretched out in front of her. She was slouched a little, trying to relax. Her gun belt hung from the chair next to her. "Secondly, your mother told you to stay with your sister. Thirdly, she's right. We can't leave Ms. Zaal. We need both guns ready if the creatures find us here." She nodded at his pistol. "You can put yours away, though. I don't believe there is any imminent threat, and you're making me nervous."
"Gods... I'm sorry." George holstered his firearm and sat near Constance. "Dream vacation, huh?"
"The fabulous and inimitable Belle Île." She lilted her voice like she was selling timeshares. She cleared her throat and regarded him. "It was a nice hotel until
that
guest arrived." She paused before asking the chief question bounding about her mind. "Mrs. Valentine isn't like the Newest Guest, is she? I mean, I'm not sure what happened to her. But it wasn't... normal. She went up like a supernova."
"She's not like the Newest Guest." George shook his head.
"But she's not human. Some sort of security bot? Is she here to protect us all in deep space?" Constance wasn't sure she wanted the answer. Maybe it was best not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Not that Gwendolyn was a horse, far from it.
"She's an alien, Mrs. Haversham. She can mimic people she touches. She loves people. She's nothing like the Newest Guest." George shrugged. Kapnos would forgive him for outing her. It was inevitable at this point. He continued, "It was her bad luck, and our good fortune, that she was here when this all happened. I call her Nossy. She saved all our lives with that light show."
"Oh, I'm well aware that she saved us." Constance thought things over. How odd that she would discover life from outside Earth. That hadn't been how she'd imagined her legacy. "We'll be famous when we return to Earth."
"You can't tell anyone! They'll put her in a cage." George tensed, he reached over and squeezed her muscled leg.
"Okay, I won't tell." She put her gloved hand on his bare one. "But it is an odd coincidence that we should find two unparalleled life forms here. If indeed the Newest guest is alive. It's a bit like finding two needles in a haystack."
"We never would have found Nossy without the Newest Guest's arrival." George withdrew his hand from Constance's leg. "It's like the Newest Guest burned down the haystack, and there was Nossy left all alone. A shiny, lovely needle." He ran his hands through his hair. "I just wish I could go get my mom now." He unbuckled his gun belt, took it off, and hung it next to Constance's. "This wait is going to kill me."