He Comes in Peace

Skye Cedona’s mood had not lifted; not even the slightest bit.

After Tay’s momentary lapse of adorability, she had sunk back into a brooding, halfway depressed stage.

Try as he might, Kartayon was not able to raise her spirits. Even when he found Cosmo hiding under the gigantic roots of an even more gigantic tree and coaxed him out. Skye barely lifted the corners of her mouth. Not even when Tay made friends with the Golden Retriever, and taught him how to stand on hind legs, bed, and do the army crawl on his belly.

“Skye, look! Please look, Skye. Come see what your dog is doing!” Tay hopefully called from the backyard where he was happily frolicking with Cosmo. Even the dog looked happier than Skye.

She ambled over after a moment, looking at Cosmo nonchalantly. “What?” she mumbled, gazing down at her pet’s unmoving body.

“I have just taught him how to ‘play dead’.” Kartayon beamed proudly. He took her hand, flinching when a shock-like feeling shot up his arm. He looked perplexed and opened his mouth to speak.

Before he got a single word out, Cosmo gave a loud bark, jumping to his feet, then crouching down on the ground, lips pulled back in a snarl to show a set of sharp teeth.

Skye and Kartayon both looked to where his gaze was directed at.

Though Skye failed to see anything with her normal human vision, she could perceive that something was wrong from the now-familiar stance Kartayon had just taken.

Skye obeyed without question when he reached for her. She stood behind him, and now had a full view of how he was fighting to keep his animalistic instincts under control. A row of tell-tale bumps had appeared under his shirt, and Skye edged to one side of him, not wishing to be impaled by one of his spikes.

The next moment, a dart whizzed by them, landing on the ground with a soft splat. If Tay had not shifted his arm over slightly, the dart would no doubt have pierced his skin.

Kartayon’s nostrils flared as he caught a faint whiff. His ears pricked back and he was starting to lower himself to the ground, the bumps on his back turning into pointed spikes.

His hand wandered behind his back. Skye placed her own in his and half a second later, she was sitting uncomfortably between the first and second spike on Kartayon’s back, her hands having been placed on his shoulders.

Cosmo, who know sensed that this was something he would rather not get tangled in, had enough intuition to bolt; he ran off to the Gardner’s house, and Skye was relieved when nothing shot after him.

“Tay,” she whispered softly. His ears flicked again. “Is it the ECI?”

Skye was suddenly jostled. The movement wasn’t huge, but it was enough for her to be thrown forward. Her forehead rested against the back of Tay’s head. He smelled faintly like Cosmo’s fur, but mostly like grass after a rainstorm and the pine needles that littered the forest ground.

Skye felt the same intruding feeling inside her mind, and inwardly groaned.

Yes/
Should we go to Stanley Park now? she suggested.

Men appeared on the forest trail they weren’t close enough to reach in one of Tay’s inhuman jumps, but they certainly were within shooting distance. Four out of the several there were holding tranquilizer guns.

I think that would be a good idea. Hold on.

The ECI advanced a few steps.

A flurry of movement happened all at once. More darts were shot from their guns, a net was thrown, and Kartayon jumped.

The net clattered against the stones in Skye’s backyard, the darts landed nose-down in the soft dirt, and Kartayon bounded onto the second-floor deck and from there onto the roof, Skye clinging onto his back for dear life.