AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I rolled my eyes. Seriously? That’s what he was going to fixate on?
The plastic tarp crinkled as I plopped back down. “So why were you licking my ass when I woke up? Cause no offense, but that’s borderline crossing a boundary, Ghost.”
He let out a huff, and I flinched as loud footsteps brought him closer. Whatever kept him invisible shimmered and the little light that dangled from his forehead appeared, flashing a dim yellow.
I frowned and reached for the light. “You don’t have to hide from me, you know. I already saw you.”
The hanging light flashed bright red, and a chorus of recorded screams began to play before I heard him scooting further away.
I blinked, trying to translate what he was telling me. “I’m not going to scream. You don’t scare me.”
“A dangerous monster,” he said in someone else’s voice, and in another voice, “Damn, that is one ugly motherfucker.”
Something twisted in my chest. “You’re not ugly. Actually, I think you’re kind of cute.”
Ghost’s antenna light bobbed back and forth, flashing between red and yellow. Was he considering? Maybe he thought I was lying, but I wasn’t.
It took a lot to scare me. I’d grown up around monsters, having many of them come and go from the RV me and my folks had lived in. Hell, my fatherwasa monster. I didn’t know exactly why so many monsters came to see us when I was a kid, but I’d always imagined my dad was some kind of monster social worker, helping those who needed it. Whatever sort of monsterGhost was, I’d never seen his species before, but that didn’t mean I was afraid of him.
To prove to him I wasn’t, I reached out and gently touched the bright bulb dangling from his forehead. My eyes widened as a sudden assault of foreign images flooded my brain.
Pain. Hot, searing, electrical pain. I’m in a small box with lightning flashing over my skin. Bindings wrapped tightly around my limbs, anchoring me in place while a tube pumped my blood out through a hole in my neck. The room is dark, and it hurts so bad. All I want is to die. Why is Papa doing this? What did I do wrong? Please let me out. I’ll be good! I’ll do the puzzles and get them right this time, I promise!
I was kicked out of the memory only because I somehow let go of the bulb. The pain from the memory was real enough I could feel the electrical current crawling over my skin. I winced and tried to scratch it away.
“Is that…” I swallowed, trying to contain the way my voice trembled with anger. “Is that what Parker did to you? He tortured you?”
Another section of the cloak shimmered away, revealing Ghost’s three-clawed hand. He held it out to me in a silent question. If I wanted to know the answer, I’d have to touch him again.
I swallowed and put my hand in his. His clawed fingers curled around my palm, careful not to grip tight enough to pierce my skin. Ghost lifted my hand back to the bulb dangling above my head. This time, when I touched it, I felt a strange chill rush from him into me, like a braided rope of ice water had been cast from his mind into mine. It was the only thing that happened. No rush of images, no feelings.
Maybe I had to grab hold of the rope? I envisioned grabbing it, and as soon as I did, there was another vision, this one of Ghost in his uncloaked form. He was much smaller, and bent over atable maze containing rats wearing a bunch of wires on his head. None other than Doctor Parker Grey paced around on the other side of the table while Ghost stared at the rats, watching them move through the maze. One of them was moving quickly while the other seemed to be struggling.
“Concentrate,” Papa urges.
I want to make Papa proud, show him I can communicate with these small beasts, but their minds are so different from mine. Touching their minds hurts them, confuses them. It’s killed them before. I must be gentle. Must not hurt the little creatures. Hurt only for food. Only the hunt. These are not for eating. These are friends. Very frightened, delicate friends.
I flinch as Papa slams a hand on the table. “Do it!”
His shout frightens me, and I send a surge of too much effort into the tiny creature. It squeaks and falls over.
Dead. Just like the others.
My chest hurts. Another little friend, dead, and it’s all my fault.
“Useless,” Papa snarls at me and waves to the guards in the dark parts of the room.
I try to stand, to tell him using his own words I’ll be good. I can do it. I just need more time. Another try! Please, Papa! Don’t put me back in the lightning box. I don’t want to be alone again.
I came out of the second vision with a gasp, the transition a little less sudden than the first time, and I understood. “They were experimenting on you,” I said, gently running a hand over his clawed fingers. They weren’t covered in black scales like I’d initially thought, but a tough black hide that shimmered and shone in the starlight.
My hand caught on a small bump on the underside of his wrist and a small, black tentacle about the width of a spaghetti noodle wiggled out of the bump to wrap around my finger. I laughed,but the sound must’ve scared Ghost. He immediately jerked away, shimmering and disappearing again.
“Wait,” I called. “I didn’t mean to scare you!”
“Dangerous monster,” he repeated.
“No, no. You’re not. That was a laugh. It’s a good sound. It means I’m happy, not scared.”
