Echo Book 2

4. Shock

The next thing I know, I'm straddling Malax on a chair. We're on a balcony looking out over the ocean. I wiggle a bit and he rubs my back. "You ready for lunch, baby?" I shake my head and close my eyes.

The next time I wake up, we're on the balcony couch. He's sleeping under me. Omar and Tim are at the table. I watch Tim. He only has shorts on. He's a muscly as Malax. He is sexy. His long hair blows in the breeze. He has a short beard. He looks at me and I hide my face. I don't want to get caught checking him out.

Malax stretches and rubs my back. "Let's eat lunch before we sleep all day." He carries me to the table and puts me in a chair.

Omar smiles. "Good afternoon. You two seem a little better."

"Yea, we're getting there." Malax grabs a menu. "What do you want, baby?"

I stretch big. "Candy."

Omar nods. "Try the island food. Everyone loves it."

He hands the menu to the brain. "We'll have that."

"Yes, sir."

"And some candy."

"We are not doing the car thing again. We need some wine."

"Yes, sir."

"And candy."

"Woman."

I start sobbing.

"Fine. A little candy if you eat first and behave."

I stop and glance around. "I'm on another planet."

"Yes, you are." Omar takes the menu.

"I NEED DIRT." I run for it. "I NEED A BOX."

Malax catches me and puts me in my seat. "Food first. Then you can play."

Tim sits back in his seat. "What are you going to do with a box?"

"I put stuff in it from the planet. Then I can take it home and study it."

"What kind of stuff?"

"Dirt. I can figure out what the planet is made of. Sticks and rocks. I get good stuff." I nod. "I almost brought a dinosaur egg home with me once. Malax fixed it before momma destroyed the camp."

Malax tastes his wine. "Yea, she likes to dig and get dirty. I got the egg back to its momma in time. Something good please."

"Yes, sir. Would you like to try the gold wine?"

"Is it good?"

Omar nods. "Yes, it's good. Bring him a glass of gold and blood wine to try."

"Yes, sir."

"Nadine owns that wine you don't like. Do not tell her you don't like it."

"Thank you for the heads-up."

"Gold wine and blood wine, sir."

"Blood wine is amazing. Does she own this too?"

"No. Starlet owns those."

"Starlet knows what the hell she's doing."

"She's good with food too. She made the menus for the resorts."

I look around. "Is that where we are?"

"Yes, this is Tye's island resort."

"Not much here." I take a bite of food. "This is different. I do like it."

Eriska and Rye come in and sit with us. Then they order some food.

"I wonder if their ocean glows?"

Omar shakes his head. "I don't think it does. Lots of fish though."

I go back to eating.

Eriska looks at me. "They have nice bikinis here. We should shop."

"Our money is no good here girls." Malax takes another bite. "They are very good with food."

Tim winks. "I have money from here. You girls can each get a couple of swimsuits."

"Thank you."

Eriska chugs her wine. "I like the new boy. What are you going to do with him?" I shrug my shoulders. "I guess you could always make him carry your box of dirt around."

Rye laughs. "I keep finding the box on Cru N in different places."

"Come on, let's go shopping."

Malax sits back. "Girls."

Omar puts his hand up. "They are trying, Malax. This is a lot to accept. They have to process, and it's going to be slower than everyone else because they are so young."

"Have fun shopping."

We get in and I hear Omar keep going. "We haven't even got to the spaceship, 2 mates, dragons, magicians. Let them understand this is a different planet for now."

We pick out a couple of swimsuits each and go to Eriska's room. We try them on and take pictures on the balcony. Then we send them to the boys to see which color is sexiest on us.

I lay on the chair and enjoy the sun.

"GIRLS, GET OVER HERE."

We laugh and go back to my room.

"Who did you send those to?"

"Victor, Tobias, and both of you."

Malax rubs his face. "Why?"

"To see which color is sexiest."

Eriska rolls her eyes. "I asked that first. Can you not read?"

I check my phone. "They said yellow. These 2 didn't answer. Glad I picked yellow."

"You do look good in yellow." Her phone goes off. "They're coming to visit."

Omar rubs his face and gets his phone out. "I'm going to remind them you're a queen with two high kings."

"What's a high king?" I find my candy.

He sits his phone down. "Alden is the high king for Kehlani." Eriska sneaks his phone and deletes the message. "The other kings have vowed their lives to serve under her." Malax coughs and nearly chokes.

I jump up and pat his back. "You know vows aren't real, right?"

"To some they are."

"No. Idiots." Eriska rolls her eyes. "Echo, I vow, on my life, to never steal anything from you." Then she steals my candy and shoves it in her mouth.

"THAT'S MINE. MALAX SHE ATE MY CANDY."

He finally gets his wind pipe clear. "You can get some more later."

Eriska swallows hard. "I didn't die. Vows aren't real."

"Well..."

"No." Malax sits back down. "Vows like that aren't real. They mean nothing. It's a medieval practice used so long ago. Move on."

"Would have been f****d up if you choked to death though." We crack up laughing.

"They don't do anything?" Tim scratches his head.

Malax reads a paper. "Not a damn thing. It's more about the people taking the vows. They want to prove they're honorable by always following them. They do their best to keep them but nothing happens if they fail."

"Well, the king may take off their heads."

Malax points at Omar. "Except that."

I order more candy quietly. "People are better off signing contracts."

Eriska nods. "They make more sense."

"That's kind of what they are." Omar rubs his head.

"Yea, but the penalty is death. That doesn't work, they're not going to drop dead. They could show up and let the king kill them, but they're not going to. It's mostly an honor thing. Where does their loyalty lie?"

Tim sits up. "Kehlani mines a lot of black ore. It's used for powering the hyperspace drives on the ships. I have no idea why she's stockpiling it like she is. Other than that, she has a lot of ships. Maybe she's trying to get it all before you find out about it."

I smile. "Why are you telling us this?"

"We took a lot of vows to never tell."

"Are you waiting to die?" Eriska fixes her boobs.

"Kind of."

"You won't. And we already know."

"We do?" Omar goes to pick up his phone.

Eriska blocks it. "Yes. Dipak is mining it already. Do not leave an electronic trail talking about black ore."

"Electronic trail?"

She rubs her face. "I'm only explaining this once. You should get together for that."

"We can do that later." I look over the edge of the balcony. "This place is beautiful."

"You need a picture like that. Unlock your phone." I unlock my phone. She pushes my shoulder. "Bend over the edge a little more. Now look back at me. Perfect. Do me."

She stands the same way I was. "Push your ass out more." I get her picture. Then we send them to the boys.

Malax checks his phone and his eyes turn dark. "Be careful around that rail."

"Why?"

Omar looks up and laughs. "Vampires' eyes will go dark if they see something they want."

I look at Tim and his eyes are black.

Eriska laughs. "We are sexy. But we knew that already."

"Where else can we take sexy pictures? WAIT." I grab her phone and send her pic to Rye.

He picks up his phone without thinking and his eyes darken.

She slams her hands on her hips. "OH... SO, NOW MY TEENAGE BOOBS ARE SEXY?"

"UGH. WOMAN, YOUR TEENAGE BOOBS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN SEXY. BUT THEY'RE TOO YOUNG TO TOUCH. NOW I HAVE TO WAIT ON MY DAMN SOULMATE."

Malax flips the page. "I tried not to touch teenage boobs. It didn't work well for me. He has more willpower."

Tim shakes his head. "You'll fail if it's your soulmate. Nobody has any power over that connection."

Tobias and Victor sit with us. "Assholes would not tell us what room you are in."

Me and Eriska grab our phones and send the pictures again. We stare at them.

Victor leans towards Tim. "What are they doing?"

"They figured out our eyes go dark if something turns us on. They are seeing how much you like the pictures."

Tobias elbows Victor. "They have to be new pictures. We already saw the old ones. It wouldn't work twice."

Omar rubs his eyes. "Her mates are right there."

Malax flips another page. "It's alright. I'm on their mailing list too."

"Tye likes boobs. We can add him too."

I shake my head. "He's Nadine's mate. It's weird to send him pictures of me."

Omar smiles. "Very good for understanding that, Echo. It wouldn't be appropriate to send them to your sisters mate."

Victor smirks. "We're not mated to your sister though. It's ok for us."

Eriska grabs my arm. "Let's go take more pictures on the beach."

"Ok."