Chapter 17

I was dead tired, hungry, and sore from the kind of physical work Gitgo forced me to do. I had never worked this physically hard in my life. At some point, Gitgo walked past me, back upstairs to assumably his bedroom, and I collapsed onto a somewhat-cleaned beanbag chair where I instantly fell asleep.

Not into a deep sleep though. Every little noise startled me, but at least I got some shut-eye to let my tired mind and exhausted body rest.

I wasn’t sure if it was day or night, or how many hours had passed, but it was dark in the house and quiet. My stomach twisted painfully from hunger and I wondered if Gitgo was ever going to feed me, or if he intended to starve me to death.

Carefully, I extracted myself from the beanbag chair—it was easier to get in than out—and walked the few paces into the kitchen.

The fridge opened silently, allowing me to peruse the contents. The salami thing he had eaten earlier caught my eye and I broke a piece off, sniffing it carefully before I stuffed it into my mouth.

It was brittle and tasted salty, but my empty stomach welcomed it. I broke off another piece, and then another. Before long, I had stuffed nearly half of it into my mouth and forced myself to stop.

I poured a glass of water, praying the slightly grayish liquid wouldn’t make me sick, and thirstily drank it down, where it mixed with the salami. I felt as good as possible under my given circumstances. There was no way Gitgo would miss that I had eaten half of his food, but I was prepared to face the consequences because I wasn’t ready to starve to death.

Next, I walked to one of the windows and peered out through a narrow slit where the metal covering the glass hadn’t been aligned properly.

It was dark outside. Well, lights were on, pushing most of the darkness out, but it was night. Maybe around the same time as I had been taken yesterday. That thought made my eyes water, allowing desperation back in. How many nights would I have to endure here? Or would this be all I would see for the rest of my life, however long that might be?

For the hundredth time, I tore at the neck collar, felt for any clasps that weren’t there, and tried to pry it off, but only accomplished chafing the tender flesh on my throat and gave up.

As long as I wore this thing, there was no way for me to escape. Even if I got my hands on Gitgo’s remote. A small shadow darting through the darker parts of the street caught my attention. Serthia?

For some reason, thinking of the little girl gave me hope. If a kid managed to survive out here, I should be able to too, right?

I grabbed the old, worn blanket I had used to trap the trash from the living room in and knotted it up, hoping Serthia would be by the incinerator again. I made my way through the kitchen and stopped by the fridge.

I had no doubt I would get in trouble for having eaten half of the salami. I didn’t think I would get into any more trouble if the whole thing was gone and it might buy me an ally.

Before I lost my courage or thought better of it, I opened the fridge and grabbed what was left of it before I unlocked the backdoor to step back out into the alley.

Moving toward the incinerator, I watched the shadows and tried my best to ignore my thumping heart. If the little girl could hide out here, so could other things or people. People whose intentions might be more sinister.

Perhaps I should have waited until daytime, but I was sure it had been Serthia creeping through the streets. Chances were she would be back here and I didn’t want to miss this opportunity.

“Hel-lo!” I called out tentatively.

Was it my imagination, or had I heard a small scraping sound?

“Hello?” I called again, a bit louder, ready to bolt back for Gitgo’s door if I had to.

“You are so stupid human,” the girl whispered from the shadows.

“Hey.” I forced myself to smile and calm my racing heart which had picked up a notch at her words.

“What do you want?” she hissed.

“Do you know how to get this off?” I asked, grabbing at my collar.

She stepped out of the shadows, a look of derision on her small, dirty face. “What if I did?”

Wordlessly, I held up the salami.

She cackled like an old woman. “Lady, you’ll have to do a whole lot better than offering me a quarter of a seshsquad.”

“What would it take?” I asked exasperated.

“Fifty credits.” She shrugged.

She might have asked for fifty million. “I don’t think you’ll allow me to pay you later?”

She cackled again.

“I didn’t think so.” I stared at her. “Look, I can get you whatever you want, but I need to get out of here first.”

“Yeah, and I need to meet the emperor.” She guffawed, turning.

“Please don’t go.”

Rolling her eyes, she faced me again. “You’re wasting my time.”

“Please, how do I get this off?”

She held out her hand.

Reluctantly, I gave her the seshsquad.

She ripped it from my hand and jumped to the other side of the incinerator. “You really are stupid,” she cried jubilantly, and hopped over the wall, out of sight.

With a sigh, I threw my bundle of trash as close to the incinerator as possible, muttering to myself all the way back to Gitgo’s house. My stomach rumbled in protest for having given away the food and I called myself stupid just like the girl had.

“Where is my seshsquad?” Gitgo bellowed the moment I entered.

“I ate it,” I informed him, closing the door. “I have to eat.”

“Not the whole thing,” he complained, rummaging through the fridge.

“If you let me go, I’ll buy you a hundred seshsquads,” I promised, not holding my breath he would take the bribe.

“Can you protect me from the imperial guards?” he snickered.

“I can.” I nodded eagerly, with a flash of hope.

“Even if you know the emperor himself, you wouldn’t be able to protect me,” Gitgo grumbled. “That lying calleio owns me until the rest of my days.”

Was he talking about Lady Natoi? Was she the one behind my abduction? Suddenly I remembered seeing her with that other woman, and their short interaction took on another meaning.

“I’m about ready to leave,” the other woman had said before Lady Natoi could give me her name. She had looked, if not familiar, like someone I had seen before. In my mind’s eye, I watched her again petting Lady Natoi’s shoulder. “Don’t worry.”

And I remembered asking, “Don’t worry? Is everything alright?”

And Lady Natoi’s ominous answer, “Nocc, but it will be.”

Was I reading too much into that short interaction? Or had they plotted against me? But why?

Because nobody wanted you for their mekarry and you were becoming a burden to her, my mind whispered. It’s possible, I allowed. But why would she do this now? She had seemed thrilled that Daryus had shown interest in me, and Sir Vodin.

My head was beginning to hurt and I asked Gitgo outright, “Are you talking about Lady Natoi?”

He didn’t even look up from the fridge. “I have no idea who that is.”

Was he lying?

Gitgo found something in the fridge and brought it over to the table. “You stink.”

I probably did, and he could probably now smell it since I had cleaned out all the filth from his house, which was the reason I smelled. I didn’t reply.

“There is a bathroom upstairs. Clean it and then yourself,” he said, sitting down by the table.

My eyes fell on a large machine on the counter. I had cleaned and polished it yesterday, but still I had no idea what it was for, other than if I hit him over the head with it, it would be lights out for him. But then what? I wondered.

I would still be a prisoner in his house. I doubted the orange Pandraxian had left the key for my collar with him, if there even was one. As far as I knew it was completely controlled by the damn remote.

I could hit Gitgo over the head with it and take the remote. With my luck though, I would push the wrong button and electrocute myself. I might have chanced that eventually I would push the right button, but by then Gitgo would probably be awake again. Unless I killed him outright.

I gave the puss-encrusted alien a once over. Could I kill him? Could I kill anybody in cold blood to get free?

Perhaps, I allowed. The problem was that even if I killed him, even if I got the collar off, I would step outside into streets I didn’t know, and Gitgo had already implied that it was more dangerous out there than in here.

The metal covering his windows supported his claim.

Alright,I told myself, one step at a time. I needed to explore my surroundings first. I knew there was an alley on the back side of the house, now it was time to explore the front.

Once I had more of a plan for where to go from here, I would consider if I had it in me to kill Gitgo. You could tie him up, my mind offered as an alternative.

A shiver ran through me when I asked myself why I hadn’t considered that option first instead of going straight to killing him. I needed to do some self-reflecting on that.