StarPyre by Jade Waltz (ebook reader 7 inch .txt) 📕

childish to punish this alien for his leader’s actions, but that didn’t mean I was going to let my guard down around him.

Who knows what else they could do?

“Or-o?” I licked my lips. “Auro?”

Grinning, he nodded before tapping my foot with his toes once again.

I shot a glare at him, pulling my foot away. Though he was treating me gently, I still didn’t feel comfortable with him, no matter how carefully he acted.

“Tori,” I replied, cringing at his confused expression. While his name was short and simple, mine sounded like an afterthought, like I wasn’t willing to give out my full name.

Tori. More-y. Bore-y.

Growing up with a rhymable name had made it easy for my classmates to tease me. No matter how long ago I’d graduated, I still cringed whenever someone called me anything other than my name.

Who wanted to be called Bore-y?

“Too-Ree.”

I shook my head and watched disappointment and frustration flood his features.

“Tori,” a new voice said. The other emerald male sat down beside him with a smile on his face. “Tori?”

Smiling, I nodded my head. I named myself, and then Auro, before pointing to him. He dared to grab my hand, giving it a light squeeze before pulling away. “Luwyn.”

“Luu . . . winn?”

He titled his head to the side, lavender eyes full of mirth, and repeated his name once more.

“Luwyn?” I cringed, hoping that I didn’t offend him.

He nodded and smacked Auro’s arm in celebration.

Auro pointed to each one of us while reciting our names, and Luwyn and I repeated the process. Now that they were sitting side-by-side, the differences I’d spotted earlier stood out starkly. While they had the same base skin color, their pattern of coloring was unique. At first glance, all I could see were their similarities, but once I looked closer, the differences were evident.

Now that we had opened communications, we were getting somewhere; I hoped they were good at charades because I was a master.

The urge to get clean resurfaced. I needed to scrub off all the grime that had built up on my body in the past . . . I didn’t even know how many days. Removing my makeshift blanket hood, I let the fabric pool around me, instantly shivering at the sudden temperature drop. Perhaps washing up wasn’t such a good idea if that meant getting wet in this freezing room.

Cleaning up would have to wait. I needed to know whether these aliens were the ones who’d abducted me. From what I could tell, they seemed to be trapped in this room with me, because none of them had attempted to leave so far. Why would all three of them need to stay and supervise me?

I had already had sex with Luwyn and smacked the one-who-will-not-be-named. What other damage could I do? I wasn’t planning on touching Auro anytime soon.

I pointed at Luwyn and Auro while calling their names, to recapture their attention. They both nodded and shot each other a confused glance.

“What a great start,” I muttered to myself, but I didn’t know how else to explain.

I made a fist and gestured to it while speaking my name. After a few rounds, I pointed to them and then covered the fist I’d named after myself. I repeated this process a few times, feeling more hopeless with each attempt. I could see the frustration and confusion etched on their faces.

The sapphire male’s honeyed voice called out, saying something to Auro and Luwyn in their language. They both shook their heads wildly, repeating my gesture back to me but naming their fists after themselves.

They were prisoners, like me.

I tried my best to keep up as they responded with random gestures, but the message came out jumbled in their excitement. Grabbing both of their hands, I stilled their haphazard attempts at communication.

Who knew two aliens would enjoy playing charades? If they improved, perhaps we could create a way to converse with each other.

Using our names as a springboard to get my point across, I pointed to Auro, calling him his name while nodding and saying ‘yes.’ Then I repeated my gesture, but called Auro by Luwyn’s name instead, shook my head and added the word ‘no.’ After a few iterations, I’d successfully taught them the meaning of ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ This would help me ask about the necessities until I figured out how to break out of this cell.

Taking a deep breath, I braced for the consequences of my next request.

Feeling like a preschool teacher singing the “Itsy Bitsy Spider’ song, I raised my arms in the air and wiggled my fingers like an insane person as I tried to mimic rain. By the bewildered looks on their faces, they had no clue what I was doing, which was disappointing. I tried once more and then pretended that I was washing, acting out scrubbing the skin on both of my arms.

Luwyn’s eyes brightened as he smacked Auro’s arm, babbling in their language. Auro repeated my scrubbing motion as he replied to Luwyn, who nodded in return.

“Yes. Yes. Yes,” Luwyn chanted, standing.

Auro followed him, reaching down to help me to my feet.

I hesitated.

They had said they were also prisoners, trapped like me in this dark room. Yet it bothered me that I had yet to meet the ones who had captured us. Other than their sapphire leader, they’d been nothing but kind as they gently tried to communicate with me.

Was I foolish for trusting them?

In a sense, I needed their help to survive in this prison, since I’d woken up without direction in this room. Any number of dangers could be lurking in every corner. What if this cell was actually a flooding death trap? What if angry insects invaded from an air vent, and we needed to hide under one of the blankets to survive? I could use a warning from these aliens.

Until I found an opportunity to escape, my life was now in their hands. Therefore, keeping these aliens happy needed to be my priority. Luwyn and I had