"Missy receives a message"
The image and the message come through while I’m sitting cross-legged on my assigned bed (number twenty-four, middle row, third bed from the right) and scrolling rather mindlessly through my phone. The device buzzes abruptly in my hand. A holiday...
"Where is this crowded spaceship headed, anyway?"
When I was sixteen years old, I had a crush on a classmate of mine. His name was Jimmy White and he looked like Andrew Keegan’s even dreamier brother, intelligent glasses and all. I may or may not have picked...
"“You owe me a wet spot, and I want to see you fly. Now, do as you’re told, you bratty little bird.”"
In a heated daze, she gets up from her seat. His hand falls away from her tummy and, just like when he let go of her hand before, her skin feels bereft. She feels bereft.Everything is clammy and cooled from...
"Val and Kay become acquainted quite thoroughly, not to Rune and Bane's delight..."
So. Drahta eat and drink basically the same things as Dryth. They also have zero table manners, but when they’re not starving, it’s possible to be in the same room with them while they’re eating... so long as you don’t...
"'Oh, please, make me chase you, Birdie,' Bhas purrs. 'You know I will, and I will like it.'"
The unapologetic hand on her thigh and his brazen words both seem to stick in her craw. “What?” she bites at him, forgetting all her good upbringing on purpose. In her head, her grandfather’s outraged voice echoes: “That’s ‘beg your pardon,’...
"The new passenger puts Val, Bane and Rune to an acid test."
Deviously using food as a distraction for my boys – works every single time – I provide myself with some time and space for my visit to the storage room, aka the female’s lair. The estrogen hideout. The lady cave....
"The tomcat, also in a human suit, observes her with piercing laziness."
The bird wants out.The bird wants out so bad.“Miss?”Paia flinches a little and turns her face towards the flight attendant, a lady in her forties with coral-colored lipstick and a little hat pinned to her blonde hair.The lady seems nice....
"Val, Bane and Rune have different ideas about how to deal with the stowaway..."
Shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh I don’t know how much time has passed in which I barely dared to breathe. My mind is spinning in panic, like a top. A top on amphetamines. A haunted top on...
"Val, Bane and Rune get more than they asked for out of that Tulun D'tel shopping spree"
My brain takes exactly one second to go through all the idiotic scenarios – Bane, naked female, hanky-panky, caught in the act, tears, screeching, it’s not what it looks like, denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance, let’s stay friends, blah, blah,...
"Even interstellar journeys can hit roadblocks, apparently."
“That’s a human.” I actually smush my fingertip against the screen where he had just been like I could pin him down. The static electricity of it tingles coldly against my skin and the picture warps slightly. “That was… a...