Winter Fire

Ch. 18 [The Second Attack]

Winter Fire
Ch. 18
The Second Attack

I didn't move from the bed all the rest of that day. From the moment I woke up, noon I believed, to dusk I lay on my back, eyes on the ceiling, cheeks stained with my tears, thinking.

And finally, I was starting to make some sense out of all of this, though the blank spots were far too many to count. I was starting to understand this new alien species, starting to connect what I've been told to what I've seen. But that seemed to be the only thing I could connect to anything.

'I hope that one day, Winter, you might be able to change that.'

I couldn't get Aaron's words out of my head. For once someone was finally making sense, someone was finally explaining everything in a way I could get. And then he had to go and add that. What on earth did it mean? What did any of this mean?

Shzazi. Alien species. A lot like humans. Less reckless. Think a lot more. Less self-destructive. Amplified negative emotions.

Fohjek. First race. 'Left Brain.'

Elevej. Second race. 'Right Brain.'

But what exactly made them a 'left' or 'right' brain? And what did any of this have to do with me? Why was I pulled into their mess? Why was I a Compatible? Why was I the only one?

I was so sick of questions already, tired of all this confusion, of all this strangeness. I just wanted to go back home and forget any of this ever happened.

Only I couldn't do that. I wouldn't ever forget.

So I kept moving. Kept thinking. Kept learning. Until eventually I ran out of things to distract myself with, things to move towards, think about, learn of, until eventually I ran out of reasons.

The door cracked open, but I didn't open my eyes. I lay silent, unmoving, dejected.

"I'm really not in the mood right now, Aaron." I grumbled.

"I'm not Aaron."

My eyes snapped open, my breath catching as my eyes caught on a pair of hazel irises, bright with a startling amusement. I sat up quickly, my elbows on the pillow.

"Zach, right?" I breathed.

He nodded, a faint smirk playing at his lips. He didn't move from the bedside, but his eyes traveled all over my body. I shifted further back.

"And it's Winter, isn't it?" There was something in his tone, something heavy, something weighing down his words.

I just nodded. "What are you doing here? What does Aaron want?"

But he only laughed, a scathingly malicious laugh. "Oh, I'm not here on Aaron's behalf, sweetheart. In fact, if he knew what I was thinking right now, he'd probably kill me on the spot."

His eyes twinkled, pooling a heat so intense it burned the words from my tongue. There was that look in his eyes, a look I've only ever seen on two people in my entire lifetime, a look I never wanted to see again, not even were the situation reversed.

I tried pulling myself over the other side of the bed, but Zach grasped my ankle and gently tugged me back to the center of the bed. He climbed up onto the covers, his hands lowering to the sides of my head, his legs on either side of my own. He moved slowly, with a predatory grace that stole the breath from my lungs. I couldn't move beneath his fiery gaze, a captive to the animal beneath his skin.

"What are you doing, Zach?" I tried so hard to sound strong, but all that escaped my lips was merely a breath of air. "You need to get off me. Right now."