The Alien's Revenge - Ella Maven Page 0,44

dining hall. All the eyes on us made my skin crawl.

As we set off across the compound, my thoughts went to my room. When I’d been gone, I’d missed my friends, but now that I was back, I realized I’d been missing some other living things in my life—my plants.

I dreaded their state. Without my care, they couldn’t be in good shape. As Drak and I drew closer to the row of rooms, I glanced up to see my friends forming a line to block my view of my door. I stopped a few feet away and took in each of them. Frankie had a mischievous grin on her face. Tabitha tapped out a rhythm on her thigh with her fingers only she could hear. Justine stood with her arms crossed, an ever-present smirk on her face, while Naomi fidgeted, blinking at me from beneath her too long bangs.

“What’s this about?” I asked.

“We hope you don’t mind we took some liberties with your place,” Frankie said.

“Liberties?”

Naomi stepped forward. “We knew you’d come back, because… well you had to. And even if you didn’t, we would have always kept you alive through your plants.” She ducked her head. “Sorry that’s morbid.”

I blinked at her. “Wait, what?”

“Did you really think we would have let your plants die, dumbass?” Justine said with her customary eye-roll. “I could see the dread on your face the entire walk over here. What kind of friends would we be? These flowers were like your children.” With a wave of her hand, they all stepped aside to reveal your front door. “Reunite with your babies. Make your mate jealous.”

I sucked in a breath at the decoration on the door. Gone was my flower wreath—of course it was, those picked blooms would have died long ago. In its place was a wooden cup, hung on a hook with a thick vine, the container overflowing with a gorgeous arrangement of blooms and greenery. The annoyance I felt toward them in the dining hall went up in smoke. They hadn’t left me. They’d been preparing a surprise. “It’s… beautiful,” I whispered, almost too overwhelmed for words.

“That was all Justine,” Frankie said. “Her anal graphic design mind took over and she insisted on making it.”

My gaze swept to Justine, who suddenly seemed to find her fingernails super interesting. “I just figured I was the most qualified.”

“This took you hours,” Frankie said. “And you insisted on sending Gar out special for some different leaf things because you couldn’t find, and I quote, ‘the right concave shape to fit the aesthetic.’”

“Whatever,” Justine muttered.

I strode toward her and wrapped my arms around her, hugging her close. She went stiff at first, like she always did, but soon relaxed into my embrace. Her hand smoothed down my spine. “Glad you’re back, Miranda,” she whispered.

When I pulled back, she ducked her head to hide her eyes from me.

“The inside,” Frankie said, “was all Naomi. We helped but she was a drill sergeant.”

A blush rose up Naomi’s neck to flush her cheeks. She opened up the door and gestured inside. “I hope you like it. We tried our best, but no one can tend plants like you.”

I kept my expectations low as I stepped inside, Drak on my heels, but I shouldn’t have. The smell hit me first, the dirt and bloom fragrance that never failed to calm me. When my eyes adjusted to the dimmer light, I gasped. Naomi hadn’t just tended to my plants to keep them alive, she’d cared for them. Loved them. Let them blossom and grow and spread their mighty leaves. The room was a jungle oasis. A vine climbed up the far wall, clinging to a new lattice board made of wooden planks. My flowers were arranged around the room according to how they grew best—shade, half shade, or full sun. Everywhere I walked, it seemed a leaf or flower was there, reaching out to touch me.

I went from plant to plant, sniffing and caressing, checking soil dampness and stalk strength.

“Naomi,” I whirled around to find my friend still standing in the doorway, the others craning their necks over her to get a look at my reaction. “Girls, I don’t know what to say. This is absolutely the best thing I could have come home to.”

“We love you,” Naomi said. “We’d never let you tackle this on your own when you returned.”

I had expected to, and what did that say about me? Was it that I didn’t trust them or that I