• This is the second book of The Collected series •
"Those who bring pain are here to save, and those who bring hope will bring death. A great evil rests on the horizon, eating away at each setting sun. Nothing is as it seems while you beg for salva...
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I worked on repairing the ship alongside Zillah. The alien technology was more advanced than Earths. Still, a machine was a machine and I was easily able to learn the workings of it.
"He completely destroyed the weaponry system." Zillah said, coming back out from under the ship, "that boy of yours is causing more trouble than he's worth."
"Ya..." I forced a laugh, looking down at my feet.
"I'm sorry, that was insensitive of me." She walked over and placed her hand on my arm. I'd disliked Zillah for such a long time, but I could tell she was trying to be nicer to everyone. Probably because Max asked her to. Once I got to know her, she wasn't as bad as I originally thought. She just had a hard shell. "I'm glad he's okay, and we will get him back. I promise I will do everything in my power to make sure we don't lose him again."
"Thanks Zillah." I smiled, knowing she was uncomfortable with comforting people, "now what do we have to do to fix what Nico broke?"
"I don't think I'm going to be able to repair it, I'm going to have to head into town." She took a step back, beckoning for me to follow her into the ship, "I think you should stay here, as you have experience with first aid, yes?"
"Yes, you could say that."
"Good, you will stay with Jasper." I didn't miss the bitter she tried to hide from her voice when she said his name. It took all my willpower not to call her out on it, I felt protective over Jasper and the way she looked at him. I had to remember she was working hard to go against what she'd been taught since birth and accept him as one of us.
"You should take someone with you." Even though Zillah could protect herself, we didn't know what kind of aliens lived in this town.
"I'll take Max, as I'm sure Cate and Torryn would rather stay here with Jasper, and Estelle is, well, too young." I tried to hold in a laugh while she spilled out excuses to why she would take Max. We all knew the real reason. He was the only one she didn't have to force herself to like.
"Sure thing, want me to go get Max for you while you get supplies?" I offered, already making my way to the rooms.
"Yes, thank you, tell him I'll be in the cockpit." She turned on her heels and walked swiftly away.
I took my time walking to Max's room, taking the long way and passing by the medical wing to check on Jasper. He was still asleep, Torryn sitting on a chair, his back to me. He was speaking softly, I couldn't hear what he was saying to the unconscious Jasper so I moved on. Next I passed by Cate's room, her door was open and she was pacing back and forth like a large cat in a confined space.
"Hey." I gave her a small wave which she just barely returned and I moved onto Max's room.
I knocked lightly on the door, hoping he'd be in there. There was a sound of a crash, some muttering, and finally the door opened.
