Harwal, book 3

Chapter 26

"Candice?" Greece whispers, alarm in her tone. "Candice?"

"I'm here," I peep and struggle up against the door.

"A-are we at the motel? Where are you? I can't see shit!" Her voice raises in alarm.

"I'm here. We're here. You're safe." I trudge blindly to her bedside. I search for the lamp switch and snap the dim light on. "Here we go."

Greece looks teary and sobs as soon as she sees me. "You weren't in bed."

"Sorry, I was by the door," I say and hug her sideways to not squish the kitty. "Everything is fine."

My worries are in vain as the kitty climbs off my arms to the bed and rolls into a ball of black void right dab in the middle of the bed.

"What's that?" Greece whispers with a sniffle.

"A… pet I got from the lab."

"A pet?"

"It's a kitty, uh… an alien kitty beast called Payat."

"What kind of name is that?" She keeps whispering and reaches her hand slowly towards the ball. "Did you name it?"

"No, the… species is called Payat," I explain, and then tell her about the encounter I had down in the lab.

"So you're her mommy now?" Greece asks and rubs the belly of the kitty.

"I'm… her owner? I don't know," I also whisper for some reason. "Does it matter?"

"Of course, kitties must have a mommy, don't they? It's so cute."

I didn't exactly tell her what she's going to look like when she's bigger, because I don't want her to be skittish right now. I don't know if it would scare Greece or make her more infatuated.

"Candice?"

"Call me Sofia," I say and sit next to her. "I'm done with all this name shit. My real name is Sofia."

"Yeah, we figured you're lying about your name, or at least I did," she mumbles, still focused on the cat. "I don't care what you're called."

"Thanks?"

Greece turns to me with a sad gaze and wraps her arms around me. "I can only imagine what you went through," she mutters against my shoulder. "I was with that bastard for only two days… It was horrible."

I stroke and pat her back to comfort. "It was a long time ago. I was much younger and resilient back then. Now we're just old hags trying to get through anything."

"Hags my ass." Greece shakes her head. "Besides, you were worse back then. You lost your home, your reality, and then even your husband and got… got hounded by that monster."

"I know," I shush her, not knowing what else to say. "He's dead now, though. You're safe."

"Is he truly?" She lifts her head and searches my face. "Are you sure?"

I surprise both of us with a snort. "Yeah, he's dead."

She blows out a long breath and looks down at my neck and shoulder, and her face contorts in confusion. "Are those bites? They look horrible."

I groan loudly and palm the things. "Yes. Want to know the most disgusting thing about these?"

Greece looks hesitant for a moment but nods, so I tell her, and she gets equally disgusted.

"He didn't bite me," she says and inspects her neck with her hands. "Why would he bite you?"

"I must've been a favorite, who knows. I don't really want to know, if I'm honest," I mumble, remembering the woman down in the slave pens. "Kor… kept many women. We all had the same looks. Caramel skin, brown hair, and green eyes. I guess it was his type or something. You were mistaken to be me… and taken instead."