"Ask me in a few days."
Kaspar smiles at me, as if amused at my crankiness. "Come on, Sunshine. There's a large rock up ahead. Let's go climb it and see what we can see."
I expect him to run off half-cocked, but he holds his hand out for me again, waiting. I take his hand, feeling a little guilty that I'm being such a downer. I know he's just trying to have a positive outlook. I should apologize. Tell him I'm not normally like this. That I totally wasn't diddling myself in the bathroom either. Maybe I only do that when I'm anxious to self-soothe. Yeah, that sounds like a plausible excuse.
The ground is drier here, but slightly crumbly and still has that strange give to it. It makes me want to walk on tiptoe, as if it's all going to fall away underfoot. I watch my boots as we walk. "Are we sure it's safe here?"
"Nope," Kaspar says cheerfully as we make it to the rock. It's surrounded by ferns and looks like a little oasis amidst a sea of endless trees. It's too tall for me to climb up on my own, even if my hand wasn't hurt, and the edges look slippery, as if the humidity is covering everything in a fine coating of sweat, right down to the rocks. He turns to me. "Here, hold onto me and I'll heave you up there—"
I shake my head, taking a step backward. "Hang on. If all we're doing is having a look around, you go and I'll stay down here on the nice solid ground."
"You sure?"
I flick my hand at him in a shooing motion. "Go. I'm not going to run off into the woods like an idiot. I know it's not safe. I'm just going to stand right here."
He pauses for a moment and then nods, turning his attention back to the large, rounded rock. He shrugs off the makeshift backpack and heads for his destination with determination. I watch as he climbs the car-sized boulder, looking for toeholds in the rounded surface and inching his way up. His arms flex and his big shoulders bulge as he hauls himself up, and it makes me feel flushed all over again. Self-soothing, I remind myself. Tell him about the self-soothing.
"You should know that I'm not some sort of deviant, by the way," I call up to him as he makes it to the top of the rock. I shift my feet, because the soil feels more loose the longer I stand in one place.
He hops onto it and gets to his feet, tail lashing. Up there, he looks a bit like a superhero, ready to take on the world. "What's that?" he calls out, his back to me as he gazes around.
"The whole shower thing," I call out. "I'm not a pervert. It's just self-soothing. Helps with anxiety."
"Never said you were," he calls back, not looking over in my direction. He puts a hand to his brows and goes silent, staring off into the distance.
I wait for him to volunteer why he was touching himself, but he's quiet.
"Well?" I call out, impatient. Am I the only one going to bring up our awkward moment?
"It looks like there's some more rocks up ahead."
I roll my eyes, turning my back to him in disgust. Serves me right for trying to open up to an alien. He—
The ground crumbles underneath my feet. I let out a startled yelp as my body slams to the ground and I'm flat on my back. Everything around me seems to keep crumbling, and I sink forward a little more. It's like the dirt has turned into quicksand. Either that, or some sort of sinkhole has opened up beneath my feet. The soil continues to roll downward, making a pit and taking me with it.
And at the bottom of the newly formed pit? I see a massive set of pincers spring forth.
Oh, fuck.
15
KASPAR
Alice makes a startled sound behind me. It's probably some bug crawling across her shoe, or a drip of water on her face. She's made it quite clear she hates exploring, so I imagine everything will upset her delicate sensibilities. I turn around to check on her…and she's not there. No sunshine-bright hair. No delicate human form.
I race over to the side of the rock, peering over the edge. Alice is there below, sprawled in the dirt. As I watch, she slides forward, the dirt as loose as sand as it cascades down into a pit, taking the human with it. And at the bottom of the pit, a bug-like creature erupts, a beetle-like head with massive pincers emerging. They wave in the air as Alice continues to slide down into the newly formed pit, heading right for that thing's mouth.
She screams again, and adrenaline races through me.