Chapter 6 - Polly

The man that is not Aloryk has us running through dark and twisting tunnels, barking over his winged shoulder for us to hurry, hurry, hurry .

Now, just because I'm a big girl, doesn't mean I can't run. But running for my life is a whole different bag.

I'm seriously starting to doubt that this is a dream. Muscles don't usually burn when I run in dreams, I can't normally feel my heart thudding in my chest like it's trying to escape, either.

But I can't face that right now because… well… the running .

A bright light bursts out all around us, stinging my eyes when we reach the tunnel's end. I fall to my knees, my wet pajama pants hitting coarse black sand causing a sensory nightmare that I don't think I can afford to fixate on right now.

Behind us, I can hear the echoes of those creatures screeching and baying now that we've escaped.

"Come," not-Aloryk clips. "They will be too curious not to follow."

" Polly ," a warm and raspy voice melts in over the sound of gentle waves and bellowing monsters. Aloryk leans down to help me up to my feet again and, God, now we're out in the open and away from that darkness, I can see just how truly beat up he is. I take his offered hand - it's just as huge as it had been when it was pressed up against the pane of my glass box. Except now I can feel the warmth of him when we touch.

"What is all of this?" I hear myself asking. "Where am I?"

"You're about to be in the belly of a mimyckah if you two don't hurry!" the other winged man growls as he takes flight with one determined kick, sending some black sand scattering as he launches. "This way," he calls as he loops back around us overhead. "The Great Waters will swell and cut this place off for the rest of this day soon."

" Come ," Aloryk says, taking my hand in his and urging me to start running again, even though my pulse hasn't recovered from our last sprint. He doesn't let go, even when I can tell my pace is likely a lot slower than he could accomplish, injured or not. His wings don't look up to the job right now, but he is super tall and his stride is long.

His breathing is just as labored as mine, though, and I get the impression the poor guy is really suffering. The guy in the sky leads us around the base of a steep, headland cliff, and, looking back, I can see the mouth of the cave we'd escaped from is carved into the rocks of a small, black-sanded bay. There's tide marks up the cliff, showing that when it's in, this little area really is cut off from whatever is around the corner. Hopefully, we'll cut off those monsters too, because I can see a small number of them gathered at the cave mouth, watching us as we flee.

When we round the headland, leaving those awful creatures behind, we enter another black-sanded bay, only this one is much larger and stretches further along this strange coastline.

"Come," the other winged man grunts, landing beside where Aloryk and I have slowed to take it all in. "Further along the cliff there is a climbable ridge." He pauses, dark eyes looking at Aloryk with an expression I can't quite place, particularly eyeing the way one of Aloryk's wings is drooping so low on his back, some of the feathers now trail in the sand behind him. He opens his mouth as if to say something but clearly thinks better of it and closes it again, the muscle in his jaw jumping before he gives a curt nod and starts to lead the way.

Aloryk's hand tightens around mine once, twice - as if twitching involuntarily, but he doesn't say anything as we begin walking, following along behind the other guy.

I can tell he's slowing his pace for me again, and for that I am grateful. And it's only when I finally let all the noise in my head settle that I start taking deep breaths of the crisp, sea air.

I don't think this is a dream anymore.

But if this isn't a dream… then what - the actual fuck - is going on?

"Where am I?" I ask, my voice sounding smaller than I had intended.

Aloryk's hand tightens on mine again. "These are The Great Waters," he tells me, "they lay at the very edge of Trixikka lands."

"No, I mean this whole place . What is going on? How did I get here?"

Aloryk sighs painfully. "I know. It is a tale that must be told, but it will not be an easy one to hear."

"Try me," I say, slipping my hand free of his and standing my ground. I fold my arms over my chest and wait.

And then, he says what I was afraid he was going to say. It's like, I kind of expected this explanation, but also… didn't .

Because that's crazy, right? That's utterly bonkers.

"You were taken from your planet in your slumber, bartered for, but have landed here…"

He's still talking, but my ears are ringing.

Taken from your planet.

Taken from your planet!

I'm feeling light-headed again. "Ok," I say to myself, bending at my waist to brace my hands just above my knees and catch my breath in more ways than one. "Ok… ok-ok-ok."

‘ Ok ,' Polly? Really?! Say something else - anything else - because this shit is not ok !

" Fuck! " I straighten and walk back the way we came only to instantly circle back. Is there another explanation for all this that I can't fathom right now?

The other guy is way ahead of us, but even he's stopped to look back at me having a little mini melt-down. And I'm reminded, yet again, that I'm currently strolling along with two seven foot guys who have wings and tails !

I cannot be on another planet, surrounded by aliens. That is certifiably insane.

Oh , that must be it. I've finally lost it, I think to myself, nodding as I squint and look around. I've gone insane.

My best friend, Niska always joked I spend too much time alone with my head in a book instead of getting out and meeting people. She said that I preferred fantasy to reality and my go-to response had always been ‘ duh! ' - I mean, have you seen the real world lately, and have you met ‘people'?

And now, I'm apparently having trouble deciphering what is real at all.

Great .

But maybe that's for the best? Because if all this is real, then I've been abducted by aliens.

"The mimyckah will follow us, we need to keep moving!" the bossy alien calls to us.

I look up at him and then my gaze goes north into the sky before pinching the bridge of my nose and screwing my eyes shut. "Why the fuck are there two suns in the sky?!"

"Should there be more?" I hear Aloryk ask from behind my closed eyes. I open them to glare at him, only to find the faintest of grins on his lips. That fucking smile . He knows he's teasing me. He has to. He shrugs but then winces at the movement.

"Are you ok?"

Ignoring my question, his hand raises - an offering to take mine again. Except, his hand is shaking now, and I look up to see those violet eyes looking a little glassy. "Come, my Polly," he says, his voice, a raspy whisper wrapped up in pain. I leap forward as he stumbles, bowing down, trying to keep himself from falling completely.

It's then that I see it while he's doubled over with pain; one of his ink-black wings is slick with blood. There must be a very deep wound somewhere beneath those feathers.

"Aloryk, you need to sit down," I tell him, hovering over his hunched form like a mother hen. He slumps and then collapses forward, his handsome face pressed into the sand, leaving little black specks to stick to his pretty skin. The groan he emits echoes in my chest, making me wince in sympathy. Those monsters really fucked him up. And he was protecting me . This man I'd never met - this stranger… this alien - had put himself between me and the monsters. The onslaught they'd wreaked over this body is unthinkable. "Aloryk?" I ask, kneeling down beside him and brushing off the jet black sand peppering his cheek.

His eyelids flutter before opening weakly. " Beautiful ," he murmurs faintly, his eyes closing again like keeping them open is too great an effort to endure. "Just like my dream."

"Aloryk, I know you're tired and hurting but we need to-"

"They are coming," the other guy comments gruffly as he lands beside Aloryk and I, sand spraying over my leg as he does so. "Quick."

Looking up, I see some dark figures lurking around the headland. They're not chasing after us, per se, but they are definitely curious.

"The longer we are out in the open, the more their interest in us will grow," the alien says, reaching down to grab Aloryk's limp arm. "Soon, they will not care that we smell like something a grakiphant threw up and will see us for what we are to them."

" What we are to them ?" I echo, taking one last look at the lingering monsters in the semi-distance. If I really have gone insane, why did my mind create those things ? I'm pretty sure I know the answer already, but it doesn't stop me asking, "and what is that, exactly?"

"Meat," he grunts, and I feel surprisingly numb to his answer. The winged man hoists Aloyk's unconscious body up and I quickly go to his other side, pulling his heavy arm across the back of my shoulders. It's not an even distribution of the huge guy's weight by any means, and I may be hindering rather than helping, but together, we start to drag Aloryk through the sand, trudging toward a large, slate-purple cliff.