Of Monsters and Humanity: The Genesis

Chapter 72 - Terra

Three days after....

"You're welcome," I had whispered back after I saw his tall frame whisk through the room and behind the closed door. I felt a sort of peace as sleep pulled me in.

The room was lit in some form of burnt orange sunlight when I woke up the next day.

I could tell that it wasn't early before I even looked at the clock hanging on the wall next to the bed. I didn't panic at first, like how one does when waking up in a hotel room the first night of a trip when realizing that they are not sleeping in their own bed. I knew that it wasn't my own, but it was oddly similar. The white sheets, the comfort, the clean smell and feel. Unused. I felt myself physically missing home.

When I pulled myself from the bed, I noticed the complete silence. The door to the attic was closed, and I heard absolutely no noise. I turned to the clock and realized that it was nearly seven-o'clock in the evening. I turned, rubbing my eyes, and looked out the windows above the big white bed. It was twilight, the night sky draped in warm colors against the setting sun.

My sleeping schedule was messed up.

I yawned and started to stretch my muscles when I heard a soft rapt at the door.

I quickly rushed over and opened it, happy to hear someone else alive in the strange, foreign house.

Xander stood outside of the door. He was dressed in a brown sweater and dark jeans with a blue bandana draped along the side of them. A silver and turquoise necklace hung low from his neck, down to the middle of his torso, and had a square emblem of feathers engraved into the metal. He smelled intoxicating--this rich cologne I could only smell on the men at the Project X facility during balls. It was nice seeing him in a different color than black, the brown really bringing out his skin tone and eyes. He looked like he had gone through rehabilitation. The warm glow of the sunset shining through the windows allowed me to see him in a different light than I had the night before.

"You look...." I drifted off. Wow. A god was standing in front of me.

"Do I look that bad?" he chuckled. He cracked a crooked smile as his eyes glistened. There was genuine happiness within them. It was like meeting a stranger--I had never seen that kind of happiness in his eyes before.

"No," I disagreed, leaning against the doorframe as I stared at the man I thought I knew. "You look good. Healthy."

The smile grew as he looked at the floor. The darkening of his cheeks came again.

"Is that what happens when you blush?" I asked.

His head snapped up and he laughed. "You're surprisingly very observant," he smirked.

"Am I supposed to be stupid?"

"No. Just oblivious to deorum and our bodies."

I shrugged.

He squinted his gaze. "You're strange."

"And you're a wendigo."

A sweet smile grew on Xander's face just as my stomach rumbled loudly. My insides writhed and I felt suddenly nauseous. Oh, crap. I forgot the last time I ate. Xander and I had been so busy driving around half of the country that I forgot to look out for my own personal health.

Xander's smile dropped as his eyes traveled down to my stomach. "You need some food," he observed. "Luckily, Alistair is the best cook I know."

I smiled, happy that Xander had friends who had such handy knacks. But then my smile became sour. "Xander--I.... I eat--human food--I don't--"