Citrine (Deliverance #3)

32. Wroahk

32

Wroahk

The night is silent and long, but the morning brings chaos. The sound of her screams bring me to shore and right into the cove. I find her reaching for her sides, screaming unreservedly.

"Wroahk!"

"Silence!" I click back stridently.

Her screams disorient me, making it hard for me to navigate. She stops, but her eyes are still wide with fear, and I realize that she is showing more of her skin again.

She points to her sides, and I see that they're different. She now has bumps on the side of her bare chest. They looked somehow like…

I look down at my torso, feeling the same bumps on my side. Only, they aren't bumps. They're gills. My gills that I use to breathe in water.

"What happened?"

"My ribs were itching from inside my skin, like the bones were pulsing all night long. I finally managed to go to sleep with that incessant itching and just as I'm finishing up breakfast, I notice these bumps!"

"They're not bumps," I say, frowning.

"What are they then?" she asks impatiently.

"Gills."

"Gills? I have gills, Wroahk! I'm a fish? No, no, no. This is… This is…"

"You don't look quite as weak anymore."

"Seriously, Wroahk? Seriously?"

I don't really see why she's panicking. It is strange that she woke up with an extra body part, but she's a strange thing. Nothing surprises me about her anymore.

She falls to the ground and scratches at it, yellow eyes red and puffy. I sit by her, feeling a new emotion rise from my gut. I have no word for it, I just know I am feeling it toward her. It is not... unpleasant.

She suddenly screams again but this time, she runs behind the large tree in an instant. My tentacles reach around the tree and bring her back out, dangling her upside down by her limbs. She looks disgruntled but I wait for her to speak.

"I was naked , you dolt !"

I don't understand her words, but I hear the rage behind them.

"Put me down right now, Wroahk!"

I release her and she falls to the ground. She yelps as she falls and glares distastefully at me as she rises back to her feet.

"How very rude of you! I should… oh, never mind! I forget you're an alien sometimes. Men are all the same!"

"I am not the same as you."

She grunts and dusts herself, still glaring at me.

I reach out for her again and pull her closer, tracing my grasper over the bumps on the side of her chest, now hidden under her black layer of extra skin.

I prefer it when it is brown. The bumps feel rough and irregular against her, but familiar to me.

First, she stole my voice. Now, she's stealing parts of me.

"How can you steal my body?"

"Do you think I want this? I am now breathing through my torso, which last time I checked, isn't exactly human ."

"And you are… human ?" I ask skeptically.

"Yes, I am… I was… I don't know anymore!"

She screams again, wriggles out, and starts moving around me and mumbling.

"Oh, my gosh , how will I ever be able to go back to Earth now?! In a magical world where they rescue me, I'll be poked and prodded by the government. I'll be turned into a lab rat . A lab rat , Wroahk!"

"You sound concerned about that."

"Isn't it concerning?"

I have never seen emotions expressed so freely in a living being as I've seen in her. Her eyes, her nose, her mouth, and her entire body move with her change in emotion.

It's fascinating.

"I know you're not human , but I swear, you're just like a man who looms over a woman when she's changing a tire , telling her it's wrong but not offering to do anything. That stupid seniority complex that doesn't benefit anybody!"

"What's a seniority complex ?"

"It's you, right now, assuming you're just better than me."

I cock my head to the side and look at her. The fragile skin that holds her frame together would easily be punctured with a graze of my teeth. Her limbs I could snap with negligible force.

"But I am better than you."

She glares at me again and huffs, turning to the side. There are scattered plants by the tree, but she doesn't offer me some like the last time. She finishes it off, reminding me that I haven't had anything to eat yet.

She scratches at her side, twisting uncomfortably on the spot.

"This is madness."

"What?" I ask, still staring at her side.

"It feels like I'm… suffocating."

"Why?"

"It's these gills. It's the equivalent of covering my nose for no reason. But I don't know how to control these so-called clothes . If I think about breathing, then…"

The covering on her body disappears, casting her bare. She curls in on herself, covering her body. She sighs.

"It's hard to make them come back and I don't even know what to do to breathe. Isn't that concerning enough?"

I stare at her, not sure of what to say. Like most things with her, I don't understand it, but for some reason, she's hurt.

So I must stop it.

"You need to go into the water. You can't breathe on land for too long or you will dry out internally."

"What? I'm not like you. If I go in, I'll drown!"

"You won't drown," I say, staring at her gills.

"How can you say that?"

"I've had them since birth and I've never drowned before."

"Well, whales have gills, too. Wait. They don't, but I don't remember what it's called. They have to come up for air and die by drowning, eventually. What am I even saying? Basically, semi-aquatic mammals can still drown, even though they have the organs to technically float in water. Guess what? I'm not a semi-aquatic mammal ! I'm just a plain old mammal and I don't want to die on this strange planet , where my body can't even be found because I drowned!"

"You will not drown," I repeat.

"Well, how would you know that? I'm not like you."

"You stole my voice and can speak my tongue. You stole my body this time. You can swim."

She looks at me and I stretch a tentacle toward her, excitement rising inside. I was alone in the water since she wasn't capable of swimming. Now, I'll be able to have her by my side at all times, on water or on land.

"Come into the water."

She looks at me from the corner of her eyes. "You're like a siren , tempting me to jump into the water so you can drown me and feast on my flesh."

"I already said I won't eat you."

She's a different kind of delicious. I would rather savor her for a long time. For the rest of my life.

"Right. And I'm supposed to take your word for it. Perfect."

The sky crackles and she jumps again. We both look up to see dark clouds promising a destructive storm. She moves close to me, clinging to my arm. The skies darken, taking on a dark purple hue.

The clouds rumble and she squeals again, clinging tighter.

"You're afraid. Why?"

"Why wouldn't I be?! For all I know, the sky's about to split open!"

"Why would the sky split open? It is simply a storm."

" Gaaah ! Why are you so frustrating?"

The sky flashes again, sending a boom down to the ground. She jumps on me this time, holding tightly to my sides like quivering prey. My tentacles wrap around her this time, holding her close.

"Will you come with me into the water?" I ask again, even though she's secure in my arms.

I can't just take her. I have to have consent .

"Are you sure? I'm afraid of deep water."

I don't bother trying to make sense of something so stupid, though it occurs to me that she must fear water like I fear the open air.

She'll have to let it go if she plans to keep stealing parts of me.

"I'll be beside you. What could frighten you when you're with me? I'm going to keep holding on to you."

And I'll never let go. Her kind touch will always be mine.