One Awake In All The World-3
1009 Words
Though Stiletto wasn’t easily freaked, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up way too often as she, Candle, and Luma trudged through the city.
She was being stalked. By something she couldn’t see.
But she could hear it. The Skilla raised a constant clamor through the city, their distant whoops and yowls accompanied by the sounds of smashing and thumping and shattering. Close by, their claws clacked along the pavement, moving when Stiletto, Candle, and Luma moved...stopping when they stopped. Always, when the creatures were near, Stiletto smelled their heavy, vinegar-like scent in the humid air.
And the number of them that were close-by was growing. Flash-brain scans of the surrounding area revealed that more Skilla were clustering near Stiletto, Candle, and Luma with each passing moment.
“We’re drawing a crowd,” Stiletto said to Candle, keeping her voice to a whisper for Luma’s sake. “Maybe a warning shot’ll drive them off.”
“Don’t provoke them,” said Candle. “Not yet. We’re so outnumbered, let’s put off a fight as long as we can.” With that, he turned his attention to Luma. “So,” he said, shifting his voice to a less serious tone. “What’s your friend’s name?”
Luma looked up at him, a puzzled expression on her glittering, deep blue face. She looked down at her doll then, and understood. “Her name is Gala,” she said.
“How long’ve you and Gala been together?” said Candle.
Luma raised the doll to her ear. “Gala says we’ve been together since I was a little girl.”
Candle smiled. “Cool.” He still held on to Luma with his left hand and continually scanned his warflower back and forth with his right. “And how did the two of you meet?”
“Mommy and Daddy gave her to me,” said Luma.
“The last time you saw your mommy and daddy, what were they doing?” said Candle.
“They were sleeping,” said Luma.
“For a long time?” said Stiletto.
“I think so,” said Luma. “I woke up and went for a walk. I wanted to go home to get my dreambook, but then I couldn’t find home.”
“So your family was somewhere other than home,” said Candle. “What did this place look like?”
“Big,” said Luma. “And dark.” She raised the doll to her ear and listened for a moment. “Gala says Mommy and Daddy will be mad at me.”
“Why is that?” said Stiletto.
“I wasn’t supposed to open the door,” said Luma. “I wasn’t supposed to go outside.”
“Because of the Skilla?” said Candle.
“Uh-huh,” said Luma. “They’re holy, but they can hurt you.” Again, she listened to the doll. “Gala says they’re going to hurt all of us, and it’ll be my fault because I opened the door.”
“Try to help Gala not worry so much,” said Candle. “Tell her we’re going to take good care of you.”
“Okay,” said Luma.
Just then, something heavy and hard hit the ground near Stiletto.
Everyone stopped in their tracks. Luma gasped and threw herself against Candle.
Spinning, Stiletto threw light in the direction of the noise. A block of stone, big as a human head, lay in the street barely three meters away.
Suddenly, Stiletto heard a clatter of approaching claws and caught the smell of vinegar in the air. A quick glance at her flash-brain screen confirmed the evidence of her ears, and she whirled around.
Two blips had disengaged from the unseen crowd of Skilla and were charging directly at Candle and Luma.
Without a word, Stiletto fired her warflower, shooting a crackling bolt of energy into the fog. Immediately, she heard a wailing screech, erupting loud and close enough to hurt her ears. Through a tunnel burned in the fog by the warflower’s beam, she glimpsed shining silver eyes like a pair of coins suspended in midair.
Stiletto lashed the warflower around, seeking the second oncoming Skilla. She was rewarded with another raging screech. Then, with a flurry of clattering claws, the creatures hurtled away, their cries receding in the distance.
“So much for putting off a fight,” said Candle.
“These creatures’re pretty smart,” said Stiletto. “They staged a diversion by throwing that stone, then came at us from the other direction.”
Luma tugged on Candle’s uniform then, and he and Stiletto looked down. The little girl’s face was pinched in an expression of pure anguish. Her glittering skin was so fiery red that it looked like it would be hot to the touch.
“Gala says you lied!” Inky, black tears streamed down her face. “She says the Skilla are going to get us!”
“Tell Gala it’s okay to be scared,” said Candle, “but things can turn out fine no matter how scary they seem.”
Luma shuddered with sobs. “Gala doesn’t believe you!”Stiletto searched her mind for a plan to calm the child, then crouched down beside her. “That’s because Gala hasn’t heard the story of the girl with the invisible friend,” said Stiletto. “Have you?”
Still sobbing, Luma shook her head. The inky tears rolled off her jaw and fell onto her white shift, staining it with spatters of black.
“You think Gala might like to hear the story?” said Stiletto, ignoring a whooping scream-laugh in the distance.
Luma shrugged.
Stiletto got to her feet and scooped up the child in one smooth motion. “Once upon a time,” she said, “there was a lonely little girl. She didn’t have any friends, because her parents kept moving from planet to planet all the time.”
Luma’s tears stopped flowing. “No friends at all?” she said, her skin shifting from bright red to maroon.
“None,” said Stiletto. “Then, one day, she heard a voice. It seemed to be coming from thin air. ‘I’ll be your friend,’ said the voice.”
Luma’s face relaxed from a frown to an expression of wide-eyed interest. Her skin went from maroon to violet.
“The girl couldn’t see who was talking,” said Stiletto. “She was scared, but she was so lonely that she said, ‘Sure, you can be my friend.’
“So from that day on, the girl had an invisible friend. There was just one problem.”
“What?” said Luma. “What problem?”
“The invisible friend was mean,” said Stiletto, “but the girl didn’t find out right away.”
“When did she find out?” said Luma.
Stiletto raised an eyebrow. “To be continued,” she said. “If you’re good, I’ll tell you the rest of the story later.”
“But I want to know now!” said Luma, scowling.
“I’ll tell you after we’ve gone a little further,” said Stiletto. She lowered the child to the pavement and held her hand.
“But I can’t wait!” said Luma.
“Later,” Stiletto said sternly.
“All right,” said Luma. Though she sounded unhappy, the dark green color of her skin revealed her true feelings. Her terrified panic was gone, replaced by a calmer composure.
Candle leaned close to Stiletto and whispered in her ear. “Way to handle the kid,” he said. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”
Stiletto nodded without smiling, but she felt a rush of warmth at what he’d said.
- Writer
