Choosing Theo: The Clecanian Series Book 1 by Victoria Aveline (i can read with my eyes shut txt) 📕

sharp pain deep in her ear made Jade bolt awake. Just as her vision cleared, she noticed one reptilian alien backing out through the force field. She scrambled toward it, hoping that whatever allowed it access was still working.

Bam! She ran headlong into the wall and bounced back, toppling onto her bed. Rubbing her ear, she yelled at the alien, who was still staring at her from outside the cell. “What did you do to my ear, you scaly son of a bitch?!”

Instead of answering, the alien hissed low and lumbered away.

***

Jade had been on this stupid ship for more than a week at least. Apart from the painful ear wakeup call she’d gotten a few days ago, not much had changed.

From her cell, she could study the console where the two aliens sat. It must be where they drive this thing.

While watching them man the controls in shifts the past few days, she’d learned some things. One, she was pretty sure she was being sold. One of the aliens, whom she’d started calling Thing 1, had come back and flashed a device at her. Later, she was able to make out a picture of herself being pulled up on the console screen and heard them speaking with someone not currently on the ship.

Her heart hammered in her chest when she guessed at what someone buying her would do to her. Why would they want her? Was she some kind of alien delicacy? Would they display her like a lobster and then boil her alive? Jade had spent a good half hour rocking herself in the corner after that particular thought had occurred.

The second thing she’d figured out was that they were getting close to their destination. Alien number two, aka Thing 2, had thrown a large dress that resembled a sack with arm holes in her cell today.

Looking for any reason to defy her abductors, she’d refused to change into the dress. The gray fabric of the dress was thick and reminded her of wetsuit material. One glaringly obvious pro to wearing the dress was that it was clean. Taking a sniff of her unwashed clothes made her question whether this was a stupid battle to fight.

After finally accepting the water they’d provided with her food, Jade had been disappointed to learn that the small sink in the corner dispensed some kind of cleansing foam, rather than water. The foam dissolved the dirt on her hands, and she’d used it to clean herself as best she could, but the pajama set she wore hadn’t received the same attention, and the smell was starting to get to her. Her battle to remain in her dirty clothes had been short-lived, however.

Thing 2 had hissed at her and lowered the temperature in her cell incrementally. Before long, she was forced to wear the dress to keep from freezing to death.

The final, and most troubling thing she’d learned, was that she was pretty sure she wasn’t the only captive on this ship. She’d noticed Thing 1 holding more than one gray dress when he’d thrown hers at her. She’d also noticed they’d carry more than one food tray when delivering her food.

She’d thought the other tray was for them. Even lizards have to eat, right? That idea was put to bed when she caught one of them walking by while swallowing a small, squealing, two-headed animal whole. After watching that, it was hard to imagine they’d also eat the green goo they’d been feeding her.

Rapid beeping sounded from the console, drawing Jade’s attention. Thing 1 and 2 stood up and walked to her cell. Before she could figure out what they were doing, they’d deactivated the force field and dragged her out kicking and screaming.

They each gripped one of her arms as they half escorted, half carried her down the hall. Their hands were rough and scaly but also somehow cold and moist, making Jade cringe.

At long last she was outside of her cell, and all she wanted to do at this moment was return. The air in the ship was sweltering and smelled vaguely sweet, like rotting fruit. Jade began to sweat. The heated metal of the floor made each step burn against her bare feet.

“Where are you guys from, the sun?” She panted, trying to slip out of their slimy hands.

At the end of the hallway stood a group of three large egg-shaped structures. When they neared, a rounded panel opened up on one of the eggs, revealing a small compartment with a single seat. As soon as she understood what they meant to do with her, she started to struggle frantically.

“No way are you putting me in that thing by myself. I can’t fly a freaking spaceship— space pod— space egg— whatever that thing is!”

Ignoring her protests, Thing 1 lifted her over his shoulder and carried her the rest of the way to the pod, shoving her inside and knocking the wind from her. Inch by inch the door of the pod closed until it was sealed.

She watched through the small window in horror as the lizards typed something into a control panel on the wall that she hadn’t noticed before.

The pod started moving backward, away from the two reptilian aliens. She could guess what that meant.

“Shit! Shit! Shit!” In desperation, she scanned every square inch of the pod for an escape but the interior was bare, save for the solitary seat. She was about to get shot out into space and then to who knew where. “Well.” She sighed, looking down into her hand at the small bottle of sleep spray she’d grabbed during the struggle. “Let’s hope this spray works on everything.”

Chapter 3

If Jade had ever wondered whether she’d missed out on a career as an astronaut, she now had her answer. Flying through open space in an egg was terrifying. Her fear had caused her to somehow experience both intense claustrophobia and agoraphobia at the same time.

When a large planet came into view, her