“Tell me why you’re wearing it,” he demands, keeping tension on the hem in a threatening way.
I’m just barely keeping him in check. In a rush, I explain, “I sort of set your cottage on fire.”
His hand stills. “You did what?”
“I torched your chair.”
“Why?”
“I thought the doors would open if I started a fire.”
“They didn’t, did they?”
“No. The sprinklers went on,” I reply.
“So you got wet.”
“Soaked.”
“And instead of having something made for you by Oscil, you chose to wear something of mine?” he asks, as if I’ve done something harebrained.
“This is comfortable. What is this, Egyptian cotton? It’s so soft.”
“No one has ever worn my clothes before.”
“No one would dare,” I murmur. “You’re a scary beast.”
“You dared.”
“I did, but I have a problem with authority.”
He smoothes the shirt back down over my hip and rests his hand there possessively. “What would you like to do today?”
“Not die,” I reply.
“Other than that?”
I would say go home to Earth, but I don’t want to make him mad, so instead, I reply, “I don’t want you to be scary today.”
“That’s entirely in your hands. If you obey me, I won’t have a reason to scare you.”
“I don’t obey. It’s not something I do well.”
“You’ll have to learn . . . quickly.”
I want to hit him. He’s so arrogant. I sigh instead and try again. “You said you want to know who I am. Is that true?”
“Yes.”
“Well, then, let’s try to act normal. Why don’t we do what you normally do when you’re here alone so that I can see who you are?”
“You mean do something I like?”
“Yes.”
“The two of us.”
“Yes.”
“I want to teach you to swim.”
“I don’t think that’s a—”
“It’s not a request,” he snarls. His body is rigid against mine.
I ignore his snarl. “What if I’m really bad at swimming?”
“Then it will be a long day.”
“This should be fun,” I say under my breath. “Okay . . . so you’ll give me a swim lesson today, and then you can teach me to use a jet pack or a flipcart—something I want to learn.”
Kyon relaxes against me once more. “You don’t know how to operate a flipcart?”
“I don’t even know what a flipcart is, but I’ve heard that it’s fun.”
“You don’t know what a flipcart is? How is that possible?”
I point to myself. “Raised on Earth, remember?”
“It would be hard to forget it. You remind me of it every time you open your mouth.”
“It’s that bad, huh?” It’s a rhetorical question. I know that my upbringing, or in my case, lack of a proper upbringing, makes me look like pond scum to most people from Alameeda, not to mention the fact that I’m half Rafian. That doesn’t help with their perception of me at all.
He surprises me as he says, “It’s not as bad as you think. You don’t cower, even when I frighten you. I attribute that to Earth. Someone there must have taught you not to back down.”
Did someone teach me not to back down? Was it my father? I don’t know. He tried to have my memory erased, so I can’t be sure what I learned from him or my mother. Without thinking, I blurt out, “Would you hide someone on Earth? Someone you loved?” I bite my bottom lip and wait for his answer.
“No. I don’t hide. I fight.”
“But if you did have to hide? Would Earth be a good place?”
Kyon is quiet for a moment and then he says, “No.”
“Why?”
“I would probably hide someone I loved in the Forest of Omnicron, but I would make it look like we had gone to Earth.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because it would be easy to convince my enemies that I’d gone there. Earth is the obvious place to hide. But Earth is hostile with primitive customs and medical care. There are so many ways to die on Earth. The probability that my enemy would succumb to one of those ways while tracking me there would be high.”
So if Pan could convince the Alameeda Brotherhood to search for us on Earth, maybe even leave something unimportant there for them to find, he could keep safe the person whom he holds most dear—someone who’s more important. He could hide her on Ethar, right under their noses. He could better protect Astrid if he left me behind as bait. I don’t say this aloud. I’d be killing them if I did. I’ve already said too much. Kyon isn’t stupid. He could figure it all out quite easily if he knew Pan