The Invisible Planet

Part 11: Monster

Angeline stood petrified, staring at the red eyes in fear. They bore straight into her soul without blinking, reflecting the fire around vertical, cat-like pupils. Whatever it was stood taller than her by at least a few inches.

As suddenly as the eyes had appeared, they vanished. She heard light footsteps retreating slowly into the woods and breathed a sigh of relief. "What the fuck was that?" she whispered to herself. Part of her wondered if it was too late to rejoin the other passengers.

She backed away from the trees and stood on the other side of the fire, keenly watching for any sign of the creature returning.

"I thought I said not to wander off."

She shrieked in surprise and covered her mouth as she turned to Shay, walking toward her along the sand with his face still obscured by his hood. "You scared the shit out of me," she scolded.

"Yes, apparently I have that effect on people. Why did you leave the others?"

She looked away. "One of them tried to kill me."

"What? Why?"

"No, I don't blame him. You were right. The crash was my fault. I hijacked the ship and stranded them here."

"Why would you do that?" he asked.

"Well, for one, there were supposed to be enough escape pods on board. By galactic fucking law, passenger ships aren't supposed to carry more lives than they have escape pods. I was going to send them all off safely to Glacia, where they would have been rescued within the hour, but there were only three pods for thirty passengers."

"Why did you hijack the ship?"

"Because, they— they were going to catch me."

"For Star's sake, do I really have to pry it all out of you? We're alone. Who am I going to tell? Come on, I haven't heard a good story in a hundred years."

She frowned. "A hund— how old are you?"

"Two hundred and—" he paused, cocking his head to the side. "Thirty something, I think. I've lost count. How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

He snorted. "I can tell when you're lying, you know."

Her face grew hot and she instinctively reached for her left wrist, running her fingers over the skin where her ComWatch had been.

"How old are you really?" he asked.

She hesitated. It had been nearly five years since she'd shared her real age with another soul. "Twenty."

"Two years younger than I was when I became immortal." He sat down beside the fire and patted the sand next to him. "Come on, then. What made you choose the life of an outlaw?"

She crossed her arms. "I killed a man on Midelian and I hijacked the ship to escape. I wasn't counting on there being a fucking planet here. That's it."

"Why did you kill him?"

Her mind went to Benji. "None of your business. You're immortal?"

"Something like that. Who were you protecting?"

"Protecting?" she repeated.

"People like you don't just kill people. He hurt someone. Someone you care about. A... sibling? Brother?"

She felt her blood run hot. "How the fuck are you doing that?"

"I can sense your thought patterns."

"You can read my thoughts?"