Denied - 70. Chapter 70

“A cell is not a home!” I snapped. It was a hell. My heart was pounding, and my hands shook. I couldn’t walk, wouldn’t step forward when Anyas’ guard tried to push me to follow him out of the house.

“I’m quite aware,” Anyas said. He cast a sharp glance over his shoulder. “What are you doing? Just pick him up.”

The guard picked me up and tossed me over his shoulder. He was something… not human. Too big, too strong. Nothing I did had any effect on him at all. He just kept walking.

Danie walked behind us.

“Help me,” I hissed.

“That would be futile,” he said. “These beings are stronger than you and me put together. They have the rest of the crew. We know no one here, and we have nowhere to go and no place to hide. The planet is a frozen wasteland.”

“So you’ll just march along?” I asked, outraged.

“Yes.” He shrugged one shoulder. “Better than being carried. Or tranquilized.”

“Oh, I won’t tranquilize you,” Anyas said. “I wouldn’t want to damage the delicate balance of your systems.” His face hardened. “But I will have you neutralized if you do not stop fussing. It is tiresome.”

I wanted Captain desperately. My stomach heaved and I gagged. “I’m going to be sick.”

They must have knocked me out too, because the next thing I knew, I was in a cell. Alone. Guess getting sick all down the back of one of his guards was too much for Anyas. The difference with this cell from the one I was in before was the transparent front. A shimmer covered it, and I knew better than to try and touch it. I desperately wanted to, though.

Across the small, round room from me were several cells holding the others. I could see Captain on his back, one arm hanging off the thinly-padded shelf attached to the wall. My feet slid across the plastic as I sat up on mine.

Craning my head, I tried to see and count the people. I couldn’t hear anyone, even though it looked like Deke was up and pacing and shaking his fists. Soundproof.

That wasn’t surprising.

What was surprising was the utter lack of any feedback from the ship moving at all. Were we traveling? Still in port? I had no idea. Not knowing how long I’d been out was distressing.

Tiny taps behind my ear alerted me to the fact my nerves had disturbed the synthgar. It was on the move, and I held up a hand, letting it curl into my palm. As I stroked his small, smooth belly I calmed. I wasn’t alone, even if I felt like I was. This wasn’t like before.

We had a plan. Even if things hadn’t been exactly like we thought they’d go, this wasn’t a complete shift in the plan of how to get to Anyas’ home planet. Flexible.

Calm. Breathe. I could hear Captain’s voice in my head. I smiled slightly, ignoring how it wobbled on my face. It was a smile damn it. When I looked up, Captain was still passed out on his bunk. I felt a pang; I’d felt sure he’d have woken up and would be smiling at me.

Maybe he was smiling at me on the inside. Yeah, I’d go with that.

Anyas had informed us our onboard thrusters were terribly inefficient, and the trip would only take a short time. He hadn’t done so before because he hadn’t had the whim to visit his home planet. I snorted. “Whim. Right.”

A short trip or night, it felt like eternity. I watched intently but Captain remained out. When they came for me, he was still there, and I couldn’t see him, couldn’t touch him, couldn’t even mouth I Love You to him as they hauled me away.

Bravery was overrated. I fought them to get to him, hitting, biting, and kicking. Damn alien statue guys. When we walked off the ship—which had been traveling across space, even though it felt like it was sitting still in port—the air was as hot as Anyas’ house had been. Hotter, in fact. It was like being slapped with a wet cloth.

Hot, steamy, and even the spaceport was surrounded by green and big, spiky plants in a variety of speckled leaves with brilliant bursts of colors were taller than he was. Tall buildings pierced the skyline everywhere, and the people.

So many Elites, in all the colors of the rainbow, light to dark and back again. They moved with purpose or slow indolence, their clothes gauzy and barely covering their limbs.

“Man-eaters,” Danie said. He eyed them curiously.

“You aren’t a man.” The newcomer was in robes, his hands tucked away. “So you are probably safe.” His voice had no inflection I could hear, yet somehow he managed to emphasize probably in such a way to cast down on Danie’s safety. He raised an eyebrow when he gazed at me.

“Interesting, ever since the humans did their little raid, we thought we’d lost an asset. Now look at how you come waltzing back in our arms on your own.”

“He isn’t on his own,” Anyas snapped. “He has me, and his friends. I want an audience with the one in charge. In exchange, you can have him.” He waved a hand lazily in my direction, and I bit back a curse. We hadn’t talked about that. “When I get my life back, you can have the others.”

Anyas stepped into a new vehicle, this one much nicer than the one he’d had. He sighed and leaned his head back. “Ahh, this is what I was missing. Worth every second.” He glanced up. “I do what I must,” he said. “One day, you will understand.”

“No. No I won’t,” I hissed.