Alien Tongues ~Humans Spines Book Two~

Emmy's Games-II

Dumaine

I lead Emmy up the stairs and into Emmeline's room. I help it remove all the extra layers, bring it hot chocolate, settle it into the bed. Then I lock it inside. I don't want to accidently ask it a question.

I quietly return to my room, climbing onto the bed. I need to figure out how to get a Translucent body without falling off the Earth. Lochlan said I needed to wait. To be patient and the bodies will come. It's hard to be patient when you're used to being around Emmeline.

I cuddle into my blankets and realize I haven't really looked at the rest of the paintings all around the room. I roll over and grab a stack of painted cardboard and plates off the dresser. This first portrait is quite terrifying. I had pictured this Translucent when Emmeline first described it to me but actually seeing it how she did when she was four years old is...eye opening. Emmeline has always lived in a horror story. The first 'Demon' she remembers, standing at the side of a lake, is much more grotesque than I had first thought. How did she not have nightmares?

I switch to the next picture-

What is this? I flip it over, looking for an explanation. Written in red cursive, Lodely's name of the painting sheds some light.

Amistifer's Last Request

I turn the plate back over, looking at the disorienting image. A very young Emmeline with wind ripping through her short hair has her arms crossed and hands on her shoulders, as she tips backwards in a trust fall, with nothing to catch her but the jagged valley rocks a hundred miles below. Her eyes are closed to the cliff she falls from but I can still see her fear. Amistifer wanted her to kill herself.

"He had a very good reason."

My head snaps up at Lochlan's comment. He stands in the doorway, casually leaning against the frame. I forgot to close the door.

"There is no reason to want someone to kill themself. If you need someone dead, you kill them. You don't wait around for them to do it themselves. That's just...cowardly."

"Well the Reaper-Mother did say that he's just a big baby. What else would you expect of him?"

"Something that makes a bit more sense. Or any sense at all."

"It makes sense. If she's dead she can become a Translucent, making her seem more like his daughter."

"Then maybe he should have just done a better job staying alive." I grumble.

"Whatever you do, don't ever say that around any Translucent." He warns, his eyes wide.

"Like the one licking the walls downstairs?" I scoff.

"And the one ripping holes in the curtains." Lochlan is serious.

"Cecilia's gonna be livid."

"She won't be able to see them." I watch him begin to take a step into my room.

"I didn't say you could come in here."

"Oh, come on, give it a rest. You need answers and I can help you so just shut it!" He continues inside, closing the door. "This is what you're going to do."

It all happened in a sickening blur. I think I let it take over again. Good thing I'm not dead. The memories keep revealing themselves in quick flashes of sight or smell or adrenaline along with an instruction Lochlan gave me. I can't even remember why I agreed, like he used some magic word that hypnotized me into doing what he said. All I know is that now, I'm standing in front of a cactus like Translucent that I think I remember attacking me. But I don't remember killing it.