Rescued by the Alien Warrior by Hope Hart (motivational books for students .txt) 📕

carrying a cage full of animals that look similar to chickens. He must be eight or nine feet tall, and his long arms wrap around the huge cage, making it look effortless.

“Zoey.” Tagiz’s voice is amused as I stumble. “Pay attention.”

I grin at him. “I can’t help it. You’ve been here before. I barely got to travel on Earth.” I’ve only been to Canada once with Mom before she died. “This is like something out of a movie.”

Tagiz’s dark eyes search my face. “I don’t know what a movie is, but I am…glad you are enjoying yourself.”

He tucks me close and acts as my shield, keeping me on the right path while preventing me from running into anyone.

I can smell some kind of nuts roasting, and a vendor calls out to us as we walk past, shaking a bag at me. Tagiz takes one look at my face and gestures to Hewex to stand close while he hands over a couple of coins before bringing the bag to us.

“Mmm,” Vivian says as we pass the bag amongst the three of us. “They’re spicy and sweet at the same time.”

While we’re acting like we’re wandering the streets of Europe, the warriors are examining anyone who gets too close.

“Okay.” Sarissa nods as we convince the warriors to let us examine a table holding gleaming silver knives. “I’m still not happy about the whole alien abduction thing, but I’m glad I’ll at least be able to tell my grandchildren about this place one day.”

Vivian elbows her. “Told you,” she says, and they both crack up. I smile, but my attention is currently focused on the four Braxians walking toward us. They’re dressed entirely in black and gold, and they seem more…groomed than the Braxians we see every day.

“We received word you had arrived,” one of them tells Tagiz. “We have been instructed to take you to the king.”

Ooh.

I know nothing about Arix—except that when Dragix almost died, and Charlie was falling apart in front of our eyes, Arix’s healers managed to save his life. They used something they called cava berries, and Moni’s eyes lit up when she was told about them.

I’m itching to learn more about them.

The one and only time I saw Arix was when we were in the healers’ kradi after the battle. Vivian and Dragix were recovering, and Arix offered his city as a place we could find help to fix our ship. Here’s my problem with that: we know nothing about the guy. He’s been ruling his territory on this planet this entire time, and yet the Braxians only just heard of him, the first time they made it across the water.

Plus, the way he looked at Vivian made it clear he wouldn’t be helping us out of the goodness of his heart.

The guards are still waiting, and I can’t help but examine their coal-black uniforms with the shiny bright-gold buttons and polished boots and the swords on their hips, the handles gleaming in the sun. They look nothing like the Braxians on our side of the water.

One of them runs his gaze over us all curiously, and then they murmur amongst themselves before leading us further down the street and to the right.

I gasp. If I thought the dock and the streets leading here were exciting, they have nothing on the castle. The first time I heard about this place, I made the other women tell me everything, describing it over and over. But nothing could have prepared me for the gleaming obsidian castle, its huge spires shooting into the sky in the distance.

The sight of it makes me shiver, and I’m once again reminded of how little I know about this planet. I thought it was all as undeveloped as our side of Agron. But if this medieval-looking town is just a few hours away by boat, could there be an even bigger city on another continent?

The guards have been waiting patiently for us as we stared down the hill at the castle. We follow them down the long street, and within a few minutes, we’re walking through wide black doors.

The temperature is much cooler in here. Sarissa surveys the huge entrance hall and then practically presses her nose against one of the walls as she examines the silver threads running through the black stone.

I glance up. And up. And up. High above us, as if suspended in the air, a network of corridors weave around one another like silver scarves. A long staircase leads up to those corridors, the white steps contrasting sharply with the black walls.

It feels like a cathedral, with the hushed silence that reminds me of a museum on Earth.

“This way,” one of the guards says, gesturing to the left, and we follow him through the doors to a throne room.

Natural light fills the space, pouring in from the huge windows on both sides of the large room. It’s empty, save for the Braxian king who sits on a polished black throne and another Braxian with burning silver eyes and a face like stone who stands beside him.

Arix doesn’t look at all surprised to see us. But he does look…pleased. In fact, his expression is perilously close to smug as his gaze slides past me and Sarissa and lands on Vivian.

“Hello, lovely,” he purrs.

Chapter Four

Zoey

Vivian stares at Arix, and trepidation, interest, and curiosity all cross her face before she settles on indifference.

But I know Vivian, and I can tell by the way her hand is smoothing her dress that she’s nervous.

I thought I would let her do the talking; after all, she’s the only one of us Arix seems to tolerate. But she’s clamming up, her gaze darting around the throne room.

I’ve never seen self-assured, controlled Vivian like this before. It’s like we’re in some kind of twilight zone. Sarissa obviously feels the same because she shoots her cousin a wide-eyed look before turning to address the king.

“When you came to Rakiz’s camp, you offered to help us fix our ship.”

He