to forget one of the most important rules out of them all.
Rule #3. Appearances can be deceiving.
Just because the alien in front of her was stumpy and a foot shorter than she was, didn’t mean he was weak. Judging by the grip he’d had had on her wrist earlier—a hold she hadn’t been able to break—he may be short and squat, but he was also surprisingly strong.
Nova’s stomach growled. The alien jumped to his feet wide-eyed, appearing alarmed by the sound.
“Sorry,” she said, covering her midsection, only a little embarrassed by the crazy sounding yowl her stomach was continuing to make. She was fucking starving and her body had no problem telling anyone who would listen. It sounded like she had a hangry Chewbacca trapped inside trying to yell his way out. “Do you have anything to eat?” She followed the words with a few charades. Pretending to take a bite, she chewed and rubbed her stomach making yummy noises. “Food?”
“Psst. Psst. Pssssssst.” He moved away, taking the wand and disappearing out the door without another hiss or click to be heard.
“Well, fuck,” she mumbled with a frown. “I knew I wasn’t good at charades, but I didn’t think I was that bad.”
Swinging her legs over the cot, Nova was prepared to go after him and try again when the door opened back up. This time with her strange little friend carrying a tray.
“Is that for me?” she asked as he got close enough for her to smell some of the foods she’d been introduced to since her captivity began. There were a couple of piles that looked less than appetizing but enough of what she recognized to fill her stomach fuller than it had been in a long while.
Holding the tray out, he clicked.
“Thank you, Jesus,” Nova said, grabbing a stump of bread and handful of shredded meat that was sitting next to it.
The bread was bland and stale but missing the bugs that she’d seen in a majority of the food at the brothel, which meant it was more precious than gold. The meat—or what she assumed was meat by the texture—was strangely sweet, the flavor catching her off guard. She had no idea what type of animal it came from, but it was palatable and would hopefully give her the energy she desperately needed, so she gobbled it down as quickly as she could.
“So good,” she groaned between bites, unable to help herself. Her stomach was getting full quickly, but she didn’t want to stop eating. Nova had been surviving on the scraps that the twins had saved her, and even though she hadn’t slimmed down, she still felt as if she’d been starved.
When her new friend handed her the canteen she’d pushed away earlier, Nova accepted it gratefully. She had absolutely no idea why the alien was helping and didn’t want to question it. Even if she was being fattened up like a sacrificial lamb heading to slaughter, she’d deal with it later. Right now, she didn’t have the luxury of questioning the help she was being offered. She needed the strength from the food and water too badly to turn it away.
The alien clicked at her, wiggling its fingers at the forgotten water just in her hands.
“Sorry,” she apologized automatically, handing it back. “I’m Nova.” Tapping her chest, she repeated her name again. “Nova. No-vah.”
“Pssst.” Click. Click. Click.
“That’s your name?”
“Pssst.” Click.
“How are you making that noise,” she marveled, watching him closely as he responded.
The sound he emitted didn’t come from his mouth—or what she assumed was his mouth, considering he was an alien. Instead, it looked and sounded like he was making the noise with the gills lining his neck. When they fluttered, the sound of them opening and closing created the strange little clicks she’d been hearing.
“Yeahhhh,” she drawled, rubbing her neck. She was missing an essential component in making the noises needed to speak their language. “There’s literally no way in hell I’ll ever be able to make that noise, so I’m just gonna call you Clicky, okay?”
“Psst.” Click.
Nova took that as an agreement and gave Clicky a thumbs up before letting out a huge breath.
What the hell was she doing?
“This is stupid, Nova,” she said to herself, even as she gave him a big, exaggerated smile. “This alien doesn’t know what the fuck you’re saying and is probably just fattening you up to eat later.”
“Pssssssssst.” Click.
“Well,” Nova replied, her smile cracking a bit at the ominously long hiss he emitted, “that didn’t