He Comes in Peace

Lips trembling and eyes wide, she stared at him while his head shot up and his eyes connected with hers.

He looked like he had gone through a huge battering in a wind tunnel, or maybe perhaps, had an unfortunate experience with a fast-moving sky train. He looked more disheveled and scrawny than ever. The spikes on his back stood up straight as ever, and his face looked somewhat alarmed.

"W-What did you do to my dog?" Skye said in a shaking voice, doubting he would understand.

His eyes blinked a couple of times, but he did nothing else.

Skye pointed a trembling hand at Cosmo.

A blunt flash of realization came to the boy's face. Taking a sure step forward, he knelt down amidst the glass. His bare knees crunched against the broken shards, and Skye could not help but wince.

Raising one hand, the boy touched Cosmo with the tip of his forefinger.

Cosmo leaped up as if electrified, and his barking became even more frenzied than ever. The boy squeezed his eyes shut as if in exasperation.

Just as the Golden Retriever was about to leap at him with jowls wide and teeth bared, the boy reached out and shocked the dog again.

And again, Cosmo fell limp.

"What are you doing to him?" Skye whispered in a hoarse voice, kneeling down too, where there was no glass.

Confusion crossed the boy's face briefly before he opened his mouth. No sound came out, and he licked his dry lips. He stood up, brushing the glass from his knees. The skin didn't even seem to be broken. He took a step towards Skye, his hand extended.

She shrieked and backed away from his fingertips, shuddering when she imagined the agony she would go through if she were shocked like Cosmo.

"Get away from me. Get away from me, or I swear to God I'll beat you to death with this..." Skye scrambled to look for something that would cause enough pain to scare the boy away. Her eyes fell upon a lamp. "Get away from me or I'll hit you with this lamp." She yanked at the metal base and the plug dispatched from the outlet. She waved the heavy lamp menacingly. "Take one more step..."

The boy tilted his head to the side in confusion. He looked at Skye oddly, and fixed his gaze on the lamp in her grasp. He reached out with a darting motion and plucked it from her fingers.

Skye leapt back, recoiling from the near contact with him.

The strange boy looked curiously at the instrument he know held, and with the slight curiosity of a puppy, gazed at the glass that covered the small light bulb. He pried it off and started to unscrew the light bulb.

"Okay...He's getting distracted. That's good," Skye mumbled to herself. She reached behind her and started to search for something else to defend herself with.

The boy's curiosity was mounting. He held the small light bulb up to his face so that it almost touched it's nose. His eyes, ever so calculating, flickered to the different parts of the bulb. A moment passed, and it glowed.

He flinched back and dropped the bulb, blinking his eyes heavily and trying to rid himself of the blue spots the light had imprinted on his eyes. He raised his fingers and rubbed.

Skye seized this chance, and holding a flashlight she kept by the door, she jumped forward and smacked him on the head as hard as she could.

The boy yelped and his eyes widened. He shoved her backwards and grabbed the light from Skye as she tumbled back.

It's over. He's going to rip me to pieces and feast on my flesh.

He held the flashlight in his hands and examined the bulb. His eyes brightened when he recognized it, and he directed the flashlight carefully away from him and pushed the button.

Small dust motes could be seen floating in the air as he waved the flashlight around, as happy as a dog with a bone.

His delight was dampened when the beam of light fell upon Skye, who was sitting pressed against the wall, looking terrified.

He stepped forward again. Taking a deep breath, he started speaking.

"Mis disculpas para imponer su casa. Yo no podría ayudar pero podría advertir que usted vivió aquí. Los humanos en los uniformes con armas; ellos entraron en el bosque y descubrieron donde había estado ocultando. Yo—"

"Wha—?"

The boy paused, the beam of light falling down to the floor as he lowered his flashlight.

"I-I...Was that just Spanish?" Skye squeaked.

The boy said a few other words. "El perdón? Español?"

"Um, I-I don't speak Spanish," Skye stuttered, astonished, nonetheless. Was he going to slaughter her because she couldn't communicate with him? And he could speak Spanish?

The boy bit his lip and nodded once, closing his eyes again.

"Parlez-vous français?"

Oh great. French. Well at least it's more understandable than Spanish. And I learned French before too. If only I could remember…

"Er, non. Je suis…Oh, erm, no, that’s not it…Je parle, er, whatsit…" Skye groaned, shaking her head. "…L'anglais. L'anglais! Yeah, that's right. Je parle l'anglais."

The boy's eyes lit up and he nodded again, more confident this time.

"Do you speak English?" he said softly.