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“A ship landed. Explorers. They thought they’d discovered an uninhabited planet, but damn, were they surprised to see us there.”
“Where were they from?”
“Mars,” he says. “The Martians had welcomed refugees from Earth as the planet was dying. Their planet was full, though, and they began to scout for other spaces where the humans could go. They’d already secured assistance fr
om several other planets. Then they found Sapphira.”
“And you took in humans?”
“No,” he shakes his head sadly. “We didn’t. We didn’t want to. Didn’t want to share our world. We secured the planet, made sure no one would come close, made sure no one wanted to wander in. We made Sapphira a place that was perfect, but perfectly isolated.”
I shift my position and reach for his hands. Quinn grips them tightly, holding them for a minute. My wounds have healed nicely, thanks to the special ointment Quinn kept putting on me. Now my cuts are covered with thick scabs. No pain there.
He keeps talking.
“We sent those Martian explorers back and vowed never to allow others to the planet, but the younger generation on Sapphira didn’t like that. The younger people thought we should open our borders, open our planet. We thought Sapphira could be made even more incredible.”
“But the older people couldn’t be convinced,” I say.
“There was a war,” he says sadly. “A long-fought war.”
“About whether to let the humans in?” I ask quietly.
“About everything. The world is changing, and the young Sapphirans wanted out. They wanted to explore, to see the other planets. They wanted to open up trade between planets, to open up communication. They wanted to see what was out there.”
“What happened, Quinn?”
“A lot of people died. The side battling for the universe won, of course, but it was at a cost.”
“Did you lose someone?” I ask quietly.
“My father,” he says. “And my mother.”
“I’m so sorry,” I whisper. He lost his family. His parents. The people who loved him the most, the people who were supposed to be there for always. They’re gone.
“It was a long time ago,” he says. “And things are different now.”
“Were you alone?” I ask, reaching for him. This time, I wrap my arms around him and hold him for a minute. He’s stiff at first, but then he relaxes into my hug, and for just a minute, I feel a sense of belonging, of completeness. For just a minute, I feel perfectly at home with Quinn.
For just a minute, I’m not some girl who had something shitty happen to her.
For just a minute, I’m not a victim.
For just a minute, I offer him comfort, and then he pulls away.
“I have a brother and a sister,” he says. “Hayden and Ezra. Our aunt raised us. Luckily, she was willing to take on three little kids,” he chuckles. “We didn’t make her life easy.”
“She sounds like an incredible person,” and it’s true. “I’m an only child. There’s no one left for me,” I shrug. I don’t really want to think about the fact that I have no one to go home to. Even if I do go back to Mirroean, what’s waiting for me there? Nothing. There’s just nothing.”
Quinn is silent for a minute. I wonder what thoughts race through my big alien’s head. Whether it’s fair or not, I really do think of him as my alien now: my alien, my savior, my comforter.
I think of him as the one person I can count on, even if that’s not really true.
It feels true, and that’s enough for me right now.
“If you want to go home, little human, I can get you home,” Quinn finally says. “We will get you your vengeance. I promised you that and I’ll follow through, but I can’t take you yet.”
“We have to find whatever’s hidden,” I say.
