He Comes in Peace

The crash through the window had dislodged Skye from Kartayon's back. She felt herself slipping quickly off of his first spike.

Thoughts were sluggishly whirring through her brain.

Whoever thought I'd actually hear wind whistling? she thought slowly.

Surely this would mean the end of her. And the end of Tay, too. They would end up like gooey little pancakes on the pavement below, and scare the living daylights out of the shoppers when they would fall, splat! on the ground.

Skye's brain kicked into gear then, and her heart started pounding wildly. No scream would leave her mouth before she hit the ground.

Then she was aware of something pulling her viciously through the air.

No doubt it was Tay, trying his hardest to jostle them so he could somehow protect her.

Such a gentleman.

All these things passed in slow motion, and seemed like a millennium to Skye as she fell, even though it was only one or two seconds. They were only on the fifth floor, of course, and they wouldn't have that much time in the air before meeting the concrete ground.

Things churned back into their actual speed, and Skye found herself frozen in mid-air.

What was happening?

Skye wriggled, and when a sharp hiss came from above her, she craned her neck back to see Tay, gripping her sides, his muscles straining. His face was glowing bright silver.

"Tay?" Her voice came out faintly.

"Do not move, Skye."

A small tidal wave of relief swept over her at the normality of his voice. She cleared her throat, only noticing then that it had ceased to work properly.

"Why aren't we falling?"

She was asking trivial questions, but the only thing that Skye could see in her field of vision was Tay, his silver blood flowing straight to his face because they were at a precautious forty-five degree angle.

Kartayon strained again, biceps bulging slightly under Skye's weight. He slowly lifted her up higher. His arms trembled from the effort.

Skye caught a glimpse of a shiny, metal pole sticking out from under Tay's shirt, which was in great tatters already. The seams were starting to rip and give way due to their combined weight.

Her eyes followed the metal pole to the very end. She gazed numbly at two pairs of hands holding onto it. Then they grazed over the four arms, then the shoulders, and finally their faces.

It was the ECI that was keeping them from falling.

But why?

Why not just let them fall to their sickly deaths?

The answer was passed along by Kartayon. His nose brushed against Skye's hair as he lowered her slightly again. A small tremor ran down her spine as he did so, making her head feel light.

Filthy creatures. They want to drug me and bring me back to their lab to experiment with.

His thought whizzed quickly through her mind, too quickly for her to grasp it the first time. But this thread of thought was different from the ones she had received before. This one rang and echoed slightly after Kartayon withdrew from her mind.

Skye realized that Kartayon had given her the thought; it was hers now, it didn't belong to him anymore.

Skye gave a small nod and closed her eyes, feeling the sickening sensation of dread.

"Hoist them up!" shouted a man from above them.

A small vibration passed through Kartayon, making Skye's skin crawl and become peppered with goosebumps.

"We need more people. Who knew he weighed so much?" laughed another. The other ECI joined in with the laughing.

What happened to the office people? What about the pedestrians below them?

Skye forced herself to look down.

Glass littered the street, but there was no blood; at least that was something to be thankful for. Nobody had gotten hurt.

But there were an awful lot of people gathered around the building now, snapping pictures with their cameras, talking wildly to their friends and relatives, trying to convince them that two teens, a girl and an abnormal looking boy with foot-long spikes growing out of his back, were now hanging, suspended, in mid-air by men in white suits.

News reporters and their cameramen had arrived on the scene quickly. As the thoughts were being processed through Skye's mind, a helicopter was circulating the building, a man holding a camera filming the entire thing.

Another vibration swept through Tay, making Skye's palms itch from the contact. She clenched her fists, yelping when she and Tay were jolted suddenly.

Slowly, they started to rise.

Up, up, up, higher and higher until a rough hand grasped Skye's upper arm. She squirmed at the vice-like grip.

Skye turned and wrenched herself from the grasp. She looked up, disgusted, into the face of an ECI member.

When a smirk appeared on his face, she turned from him, her eyes resting on Tay.

He reached out slowly for her.

All at once, four members of the ECI raised tranquilizer guns, pointing them at Tay.

"Get away from the girl or we'll shoot."

Kartayon let his arm drop slowly to his side, and stepped once away from Skye.

"He hasn't done anything. If you shoot him, I think you'll be the ones to pay."

The ECI members looked around in surprise to see who the voice belonged to. Skye looked as well, to see a beautiful woman, around as tall as Kartayon was, standing in the doorway.

The room had cleared of all people, briefcases and Styrofoam cups of coffee discarded and spilt on the tabletop.

"I thought I told you to lock and bar the door," said the man that had gripped Skye's arm. He was speaking to one that was holding a tranquilizer gun.

He looked perplexed. "I did." He swiveled around, looking at the woman.

Her eyes were a luminous green, just like Kartayon's. And her clothes were simple; a long, flowing skirt with a neat blouse.

Skye stared at the woman and her timely arrival.

"Ma'am, please leave. You have no business here."

"I have every business here."

With that, she unbuttoned her blouse.

The men stared, and one even reached out to stop her. She reacted quickly, stepping to the side and closing the door with her foot, which, now that the man in front of her had shifted, was bare.

"Ma'am, please, or we'll have to—"

The woman was slim and built like a runner. A lot like Kartayon. She wore a black tank top underneath. Her arms were thin, but Skye had no doubt that she was strong.

Skye glanced over at Kartayon. His face had drained of his silver blood, which left him in a peculiarly dark colour.

He murmured something in a different language, eyes widening. The woman replied quickly, in a short succession of clicks and foreign words.

The ECI, along with Skye, were now aware of who and what this woman was.

As the ECI pointed their guns at the woman instead, Kartayon moved quickly.

His movement triggered panic within the men, and one wildly pulled the trigger of his gun, several seconds late. The dart imbedded itself into the wall.

Kartayon lifted Skye and pulled both of her legs around his waist, one hand placed on her back while he made towards the window; he did this in a matter of two seconds.

The men gathered themselves a quick moment later. While one stayed behind and trained his gun on the Quettalian woman, the others followed Tay's movement as he dove under the table, Skye instinctively screaming as the tranquilizer guns went off.

Faster than humanly possible, Tay scrambled between the chair legs, abruptly stopping and putting on bursts of speed as the ECI knelt down on the ground, trying to aim for him and Skye.

Skye wrapped her arms tightly around Tay's neck as he emerged on the other side of the large meeting room, still crouched down on the ground.

He dropped Skye gently on the floor before placing one hand firmly on the window sill. A low buzz filled the room, the electric currents that Kartayon was creating making Skye's hair frizz and stand up straight.

Before she could get a whimper out between her lips, the window had turned bright blue, crackling with energy.

A second later, while the ECI got up from their feet and started to run to the other side of the room, the glass pane of the window shook and fell away, creating a heap of sparkling dust on the ground.

"Skye!"

Without hesitation, she crawled forward and was scooped up into his arms.

Skye had a faint idea of what he was about to do, but she had no idea he was going to toss her out the window.

A roar of shock swept through the crowd gathered on the streets as they saw Skye hurtling down.

"Tay!" she screamed in hysteria.

A second later he shot out of the building as well, pushing off from window sill. It sent him down much faster than Skye.

Just as he had done in the forest the first time they had met, he ran along the wall, gaining tremendous speed before he launched himself from the building, timing it perfectly again and catching Skye.

They weren't safe yet.

Still free-falling, Kartayon looked around for some sort of ledge or outcropping. His eyes fell upon a bright red and yellow striped roof of a street-side stand.

He shoved Skye away from him, making her twirl in a circle before she hit the sturdy red and yellow fabric. She rolled down the slight slope, managing to hook one hand onto the edge.

She dangled for a second, heart pounding, before letting herself drop a few feet.

Her legs gave out underneath her a moment before the crowd converged upon her.

With a great effort, she pushed out from the throng, shouting Kartayon's name.

She was answered immediately.

"Skye!"

Looking around frantically, she spotted him climbing down from a van, having made a huge dent in the roof.

He slid to the ground, collapsing as well.

Skye was at his side immediately, looking pale and frightened.

"Tay! What happened? What's wrong?" she asked in a hoarse voice, bending down.

Kartayon shook his head, pushing her away slightly before reaching up, his fingers searching for a handhold.

Skye offered her hand and helped him to his feet. She noticed that he was putting all his weight on his left foot. Her gaze moved to his right leg, and the rest of the blood drained from her face.

"You've been shot!" she yelped.

"He's been shot!" someone echoed from several paces away. Skye turned and looked at the man that belonged to the crowd. They were standing at a distance, shocked and frightened of Tay. Flashes were released from cameras.

Skye turned back to her friend.

"You've been shot," she repeated.

"It is nothing. My blood runs on separate circulation systems. Nothing worse than this will happen."

"How is that possible?"

"Now is not the time for questions." As Tay started forward, he staggered slightly.

Skye gripped his arm tightly. "Does it hurt to walk?"

"No. My leg is weak, that is all."

"Are you going to be all right?" she asked, looking back at the building, now missing two windows.

"I will be fine." He started walking again, this time more gingerly, but still at a quick pace.

"Kartayon."

He turned and slipped his hand into hers, his spikes sinking halfway back into his skin. A small smile flitted across his face, and his eyes softened as he looked at her.

"I will be fine."