Micah wandered through Lainey's house. Behavioral scientists on Xanthia had been studying earthlings for centuries, marking their progress, the advance of their civilization. He wished now that he had spent more time learning about Lainey's world, but in his wildest dreams, he had never imagined that he would find himself stranded on Earth.
It took him only moments to figure out how to turn on the television, the stereo, the microwave. All were primitive by his standards, primitive but fascinating.
He thumbed through her books - romances and mysteries, the plays of Shakespeare, the poetry of William Blake, histories of the Old West, books on other cultures and peoples, on Eastern philosophy, maps and dictionaries, a thesaurus, a book on computers.
He stopped to smell the flowers that bloomed in the colorful clay pots on her windowsill, touched the leaves of the green plants that were scattered throughout the house. He tasted her toothpaste, ran his hand over the pale pink nightgown that hung on the back of her bedroom door.
Closing his eyes, he sprayed her perfume on the back of his hand and inhaled deeply. The scent, so much a part or her, only increased his longing for her.
He was conscious of time passing as he moved through her house on a journey of discovery. She liked flowers and plants.
There were a variety of odd-looking stuffed creatures on the foot of her bed. She collected unicorns. Pink appeared to be her favorite color. He thumbed through her collection of compact discs. The names of the artists were unfamiliar, of course, and he picked one at random.
"Yanni." He read the name aloud as he slipped the disc into the player and turned it on.
He liked the music immediately. It was beautiful, haunting, filled with passion, reminding him of a popular musician on Xanthia.
Going into the kitchen, he opened the refrigerator. The food on earth was vastly different from that of Xanthia, different but not unpleasant. He liked milk and cheese, apples, potato chips, Milky Way candy bars, chocolate chip cookies.
The water on earth tasted far different from that at home; the air was thicker, harder for him to breathe, and it reacted oddly against his skin, causing a faint blue glow.
He looked out the window, checking the time. She'd been gone for two hours by Earth's reckoning. He wondered fleetingly if she had left for good, and then dismissed the idea. This was her home, after all.
He never should have told her who he was, he thought, but he hadn't been able to bear the thought of hurting her, of letting her think that she wasn't important to him, that he didn't care.
Standing there, staring out the window, it occurred to him that she might have betrayed his whereabouts to the men who were searching for him. The thought gave him pause, and then he dismissed it. He would never believe that. Never.
He went into the living room again and sat down. Bored, he picked up a newspaper and began to read, wondering when the people of earth would learn to stop killing each other and turn their time and energy to more productive endeavors, wondering if they'd put an end to the pollution that was killing their planet and fouling their oceans before it killed them.
Where was Lainey?
He threw the newspaper on the floor and went to the window. It was dark out now, dark and cold. Closing his eyes, he let his mind search for her.
She was on her way home.
Walking rapidly.
Shivering against the wind.
She was hungry. And tired. And confused.
Micah let out a sigh of relief. She was coming home. He peered into the darkness, wondering if he should leave before she arrived, wondering if she had stayed away so long in the hope that he would he gone by the time she returned.
And perhaps that would be best. It might be easier to just go, to exit her life before his presence disrupted her existence any more than it already had.
But even as he considered leaving, he knew he couldn't go without seeing her just one more time.
Danger!
The warning jolted through him like an electrical charge.
Lainey was in danger.
Part One Chapter Eleven
The footsteps sounded closer, more ominous. Lainey picked up her pace a little, resisting the urge to look over her shoulder. She knew who was following her. She'd passed the two punks about half a block back. One of them had made a crude remark as she went by, and then they'd fallen into