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“Do I threaten you?”
“No,” she says, still huddling farther into the wall. She’s so squished up against the wall at this point, I think she could meld with it.
She would rather disappear or cease to exist than enjoy my company.
“How disappointing,” I say, moving away from her.
She has ended the conversation, and I’m stricken with sorrow. Watching her now, this would normally be the point where I eat her, enjoying a well-earned meal.
But I don’t want that.
I give her some space in an attempt to de-escalate, but I snarl as I catch sight of her sprinting in the opposite direction.
Hurdling through the cavern, I pursue her. I know that she doesn’t know where she would possibly go, and yet she insists on fleeing anyway.
“Stop!”
It’s spoken as a command. Insolently, she disobeys me and continues to flee, sprinting through narrow hallways and crevices to try to shake my larger form.
The thought of losing her and never hearing another one of her stories unsettles me. Why did I learn this language, if not to speak?
With some careful maneuvering, I corner her. She realizes that she has no more options and is terribly out of breath anyway.
Now, we will talk.
13
PENNY
“Of course, you are afraid of me,” Laiken says, raising himself on his tentacles to his full height. “Be as afraid of me as you wish. I’m used to it. But I will not return you to a world that has made you a slave. I will keep you here, and I will protect you, and you will be everything that you are meant to be.”
I turn away from him. The sand stretches away from the temple and down to the water. Above is the ocean, strange and teeming with life. I want to run away, but I don’t know where. Would I survive in the ocean in my state? Even if I could make it to the land, where would I go?
“Why are you running from me?” he demands. “Do you think you can escape me? Do you think you can live without me?”
I don’t know if I can. I don’t even know if I want to. He fascinates me in a way that few others have, but he also frightens me. I don’t know how to deal with that. If he could just be less terrifying, or less marvelous, then it would all make sense.
But it doesn’t, and he isn’t.
“What do you want from me?” I spit back. “Am I a pet to you? A fly to pull the legs off of? What am I?”
He seems genuinely startled by that. “I thought you already understood that.”
I start to walk away. Immediately, one of his tentacles wraps around my leg. “Wait. We are not done.”
I pull my foot away from his tentacle. For a moment, he tightens his grip, then changes his mind and lets me slip my foot away.
I take a few steps, then turn back around. He’s right. We do have things to talk about.
“Fine,” I say. “Whatever it is you have to say, say it. Why do you want me? Why are you doing this to me?”
“I’m not doing it to you,” he says. “I’m doing it for you. Have you really not been able to tell what it is I want from you?”
I stand there, looking up at his face and his eyes with their circles that blaze bright blue. He’s right. I have seen something in his eyes. I’ve heard it in his voice when he talks to me. But I’ve never been totally sure about it. Could it really be…?
“There’s a way you look at me,” I say finally. His eyes fix on me. “Yes. That’s it. I mean, it’s usually there. Whenever you look at me.”
“Are you good at reading others’ emotions through their eyes?”
