Echo

17. Half A Body

We make it to dinner late and Azo is there with his family again.

I plop down and pull my hair out of the ponytail.

"That's a wonderful look, baby."

"Thanks momma."

Scotch smiles. "Hard day?"

"After we woke up, the phones rang for 3 hours."

Daddy perks up. "Why were you sleeping? And where?"

"I was sleeping in his office. He's got a nice couch there. Everyone else was in the suppra lab."

Malax nods. "We were on Cru N way too late last night."

"Everyone going to bed early tonight?"

"After we get done on Cru N, daddy."

Malax nods. "She wants a different color stick."

"And some more dirt."

"Mr. Phade, Rye is here and yelling."

"UGH."

Momma rolls her eyes. "Send him in." Then she looks at Azo. "We seem to be the headquarters for Phade now."

Rye runs in and grabs a servant before he knocks her over. "BIG ASS THING IN THE CAMP." He runs out. "IT'S RIPPING PEOPLE APART, AX."

I run out with them. I lay on a bed and the servants stick things on me. I hear Ax say, "Lure it away from the humans at all costs."

I open my eyes and hear it roar. It's close. I step out of the box and the storage room is clear. The suppra are safe. I run outside, and it's by the stage. It has to be 30 feet tall. It's dark red with scales. The teeth are huge. It's got half a person in its mouth and blood is running down it. I freeze for a minute. I know I have to save as many as I can.

I look at myself. I have a shorter skirt on and a button-up white shirt. I have a white tank top under the shirt. I take off the outer shirt and wave it around. I have to get his attention. "HEY!" I wave it around some more. "BIG THING. AAAAHHHHHH!"

He tilts his head and looks at me.

I take a step back, and he focuses on me. He wants to chase. He likes the hunt. I jump out of my shoes and run for it. He chases me right out of the camp. I was right.

But now I don't know where I am or where I'm going. But I'm going there very fast. These suppra's are a lot faster than humans. Sadly, it's not fast enough. The big thing is keeping up no problems.

I run out of the tree line, and I'm on the beach. It's an ocean. Well, this is terrible. I run the beach. I push it and see how fast I can go. I don't know how fast it is. But it feels like I'm flying. This is the most amazing feeling. I'm not losing him though.

Only 1 option here. I run into the water and hope he doesn't follow. I run until it's over 30 feet. If he has to breathe he can't follow. I just have to hope because suppras are not the best swimmers.

I see something lit up deeper in the water. Like an entire area is lit up. As big as a city. It's weird. It should be dark down here. Yet, something is giving off light. I go deeper.

The entire ocean floor is covered in coral and plants. Millions of fish. None of the fish are bigger than my arm. But they are amazing and different. The most amazing part of this is that every single thing is bioluminescent. A fish swims by me, and it looks like a glowing leg bone with glowing fins. I touch a bright pink coral and the bioluminescence stays on my fingers. They light up in bright pink.

I get picked up and spun in 7 circles, then hugged.

We can't talk underwater. Malax seems relieved though. I see the pink moved from my fingers to his arm.

I jump up and down and shove his shirt over his head. Then I stare at him. This man is so hot. His muscles are carved. He must work out a lot. His chest and stomach are perfection. His shorts ride low on his stomach.

He crosses his arms and puts an eyebrow up.

I remember where I am. I put my hands into a blue coral. Then I trace his muscle lines on his chest with it. It's like I can paint on him with glowing paint.

He shivers hard then relaxes. He grabs some pink and touches my shoulders.

It sends a shock through me. I can only imagine what that would have felt like in my real body. I definitely like it with the suppra. He gives me tingles this way. I trace his stomach muscles then turn him around and color his back. I paint a design on the back of his neck then spin him around.

He goes after my stomach. He lightly touches my lower stomach and this gives me tingles in a different way. I jump a little and grab his arms. He smirks and keeps going. He spins me around and does my back and arms.

We see a very pissed off Eriska at the same time. She points to the shore and shakes her head.

We follow her out. "NOT APPROPRIATE WHEN THERE IS A DESTROYED CAMP. YOU HAVE TO FIX THAT BEFORE YOU SWIM." We walk back to camp. "YOU ARE THE MOST SIDE-TRACKED PEOPLE I KNOW."

I watch Malax. The muscle definition is still there, but the glow is gone. He has no color on him anymore. It makes me sad. But I can't pry my eyes off him. All those muscles. His frame. His shoulders. Those shorts are sitting low.

"STOP LOOKING AT HIM LIKE THAT."

I see him chuckle, then I run for it. "I'LL BEAT YOU THERE."

"WHY IS EVERYTHING SO FAST WITH YOU PEOPLE?"

We get back to the camp and it's horrible. Buildings are knocked down. People are moving the dead around. The bottom half of a man is lying by a stage. There is blood everywhere.

Malax looks at me. "See if you can get some servants or anyone to link into the suppras that are here. This is a mess. We need help. I don't even know how many were killed. The press will get word of this very soon. I don't know where to start."

Eriska pulls him towards the stage. "Rye is over here directing."

I lay on the stage and wake up as myself. This is a mess.

I go to the dining room not even knowing what to say. They're done eating.

"Welcome back, sweetheart. We didn't wait."

"What's wrong, baby?"

"We need help."

"From who?"

"Anyone I can get."

"What do you need us to do?"

"Link into a Phade suppra and help sort out the disaster on Cru N."

Daddy stands up. "How bad is it?"

"There's half a body lying beside my suppra. Buildings are down. Body parts are everywhere. The place is covered in blood. It's going to be on the news very soon."

"I'm in." Scotch stands up.

"YOU HAD US AT HALF A BODY." Sanya and Casdy go under the table and out the door.

"Those 2 scare me sometimes. But any servants as well."

Daddy fixes his tie. "I'll do my speech on Crucorix North."

Azo shakes his head and stands up. "The kids are calling it Cru N now. You had better do that too."

Momma nods. "Well, at least we had dinner. Guess we can go deal with c*****e now. Cleome and Bettly, please remain with Rune. The rest of the servants need to report to the suppra room. Some of you will be setting us up. The rest will be going." Momma shrugs her shoulders. "I think all of them are gone for the day except maybe 10. Not sure how many will be able to go."

"Even 1 is helpful, momma. Thank you."

Syca smiles. "I've never been in a suppra. I'll go, but I'm not sure how much help I'll be."

"Even if you only figure out how to move around this time, next time maybe you can help more."

Momma nods. "I'm sure there will be more emergencies. We need to figure out what to say to the press too. How many survivors are there?"

"No idea. We got rid of the monster things, and now we're spinning in circles."

"Still in shock. It's ok, baby. You have us. We'll figure it out."

We get to the suppra room and everyone is getting hooked up. 4 servants are hooked up as well. Hope this is enough help. Not sure where else I would look.

I lay on the bed and feel the sticky things getting put on me. I relax and close my eyes.