Chapter 8: Antos has a… What?
Kristina couldn't swim for some reason and the water was closing around her fast. She looked down and saw that there seemed to be some kind of rope around her, but it only appeared when light hit it.
She tried to reach down and grab it, but she felt it tighten and saw red seep into the water.
It's sort of like a neclen, she realized, did Antos say anything about how to get out of a neclen?
She tried to think if he did, but the lack of air made her memory fuzzy. She could no longer see the surface, but she did see figures above the surface.
Antos, she thought, but then remembered that the voice that probably pushed her in sounded like Antos, did you do this to me?
She suddenly felt overcome with loss and sadness; if Antos had betrayed her, then she really didn't know what to do. Then, she wondered why it even mattered to her, but as the darkness closed in, she closed her eyes and let her mind go blank.
The next thing she knew was that she was being pulled upwards; the rush of water running past her made her somewhat aware of this. She then felt a force above her, but it was quickly broken.
Feeling air enter her lungs so suddenly, Kristina started to choke on what was supposed to be keeping her alive. When she opened her eyes to see what was holding her, she saw that it was Antos.
Why would Antos betray me only to push me into the water? She wondered but then shook her head, deciding that maybe Antos wasn't the one trying to harm her. She looked back up at Antos and saw an angry and frustrated look on his face.
When she felt herself being lowered to the ground, she braced herself to land on the water again; only to be surprised when she felt soft grass under her. She looked down and confirmed her guess as she saw that she was at the water's edge.
"Seriously?" she heard Antos mutter angrily as he walked away from her and went to stand on the water. She then saw him look over at the other alien, which Kristina couldn't see from this far away since water was still obscuring her vision.
"Touch… her… I'll…" were the only jumbled words that Kristina could understand next, making her wonder why she couldn't understand as Antos dove back into the water. The other alien seemingly looked over at her with an angry expression on its face.
Kristina looked beside her and saw her bag sitting on the ground, apparently untouched by the water. She felt into her pocket and knew that the Ishi was no longer there.
That's probably what Antos went to get… she thought with a sigh, again.
Antos then resurfaced, standing at where the water path started and in front of her, almost protectively.
"Why… that…?" she once again felt confused by the jumble of words, as well as why she didn't have the Ishi back yet.
Probably just slipped his mind, Kristina thought as she went to tap Antos' arm from where she was sitting.
"Can I have the Ishi back?" she asked as he looked to stare at her. Antos shook his head as a "no", frustrating her a bit.
Fine, she thought angrily, but I want to know what you are saying.
She went over to the bag and grabbed the book she had gotten earlier; the noise of her turning to the page with the fragments making Antos and the other alien look at her.
Antos quickly looked at the book and got an amused expression on his face, as well as the other alien.
She quickly grabbed a fragment and held it, then focusing back in on Antos and the other alien's conversation.
Why isn't this working? She thought with anger when all she could make out were jumbled words again.
Antos and the other alien seemed to be yelling at each other again; Kristina could tell just as much by their volume.
"Why… you… her…?" she got out from Antos, not understanding the conversation at all. She looked over at the other alien to see that it had come closer now, looking quite angry.
"You… fall… for… human?!" the other alien shouted back; Kristina guessed it was a boy by its tone of voice.
Kristina then felt a buzzing in her head, knowing that she could not try and decipher Antos and the other alien's conversation any longer without the Ishi.
She put her head one her knees as the angry conversation faded into the common sounds of the forest, leaving her to her thoughts. Some part of her wanted to continue to listen in, but she knew that it wouldn't be smart; who knew what would happen if she did?
Her thoughts drifted back to the other alien and the conversation - well the part of it - she had understood.
Antos didn't push me into the water; the other alien did, Kristina reassured herself, now how does he know about me?
She glanced back up and got a few more bits of the conversation.
"You… mission…" she could tell her translation was getting worse by the words that came from the other alien. So she tuned out the conversation and went back to her thoughts.
What could they possibly be talking about? It's so hard to understand without the Ishi, and the fragments from the book don't seem to work either, she mused while thinking back to the conversation she had witnessed.
Suddenly she remembered something about what she had understood.
"You fall for human"? She remembered the other alien say, Does that mean that Antos…?
Before she could finish her thoughts, she felt the Ishi get pushed into her hand and a clearer translation of Antos' words came into her head.
"Sorry for the delay," he mumbled while she stood up, still keeping her distance from the other alien. She looked at him with some curiosity, but she knew that the alien would probably try and still kill her with the way that he was staring at her.
Antos, seeing the look on her face, seemed to sense her discomfort.
"Kristina, I would like you to meet my brother, Malron," Antos said as he motioned towards the other alien, "and Malron, this is Kristina."
The other alien, Malron, seemed to have a look of disgust on his face at Antos' actions.
"You are acting more like their species every day," Malron spat at Antos with disgust. Kristina wondered what Antos' brother seemed to have against him.
"That is a good thing, considering the circumstances…" Antos started to say, but was interrupted by his brother.
"Good thing?!" Malron spat, "how is that a good thing? You are going to be jeopardizing the mission if you keep…!"
Kristina didn't get the chance to continue to understand the conversation because Antos suddenly ripped the Ishi out of her hand, severing the translation.
"Hey!" she exclaimed as she tried to reach for it, only for her head to start throbbing again.
Antos grabbed her arm and led her away from the lake, back towards her house.
Why does Malron hate Antos so much? Kristina thought as she let herself be led, the steady stream of curses from Malron being blurred out by distance.
Sorry for not updating sooner; I'm actually on vacation now with limited internet access so this was hard for me to upload. So, Antos has a brother… who hates him… why do you think that it? To tell you the truth, when I first planned out this fanfiction, I didn't even give a thought about Antos having a brother, but the reason I put Malron in pertains to what will happen when this fanfiction is done. Either way, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review!
-AnimeWolfGirl9
