Chapter 9: One Important Question

"Sorry about that," Antos stated when they were back at the house. Kristina currently had a death grip on the Ishi, considering the fact that she didn't want Antos to take it away from her again.

"It's fine," she stated coldly as she stared at the wall. Some part of her was mad at Antos since she felt he had no right to treat her as he did: rushing her out of his home and nearly getting drowned by his brother.

What have I gotten myself into? She thought with a bit of a headache, I should probably go talk to Martha or something…

She looked back at where Antos was now standing in her house, a somewhat saddened look on his face. Kristina sighed before staring back at the wall, glancing at Antos from time to time from the corner of her eye.

"Why does your brother hate you so much?" Kristina asked, wondering about why Malron seemed so hostile towards his brother. Now it was Antos' turn to sigh.

"For multiple reasons," Antos stated, almost uninterested. That caught her a bit by surprise; sure, no one really liked talking about their families –well, everyone except Martha- but Antos was usually one who would speak openly to her.

"Like what?" she prodded, not trying to be rude, but her curiosity was getting the best of her.

"For one, apparently I am going too slowly on my mission," Antos said as he stared at the floor, but his eyes widened when he realized what he said.

"I heard you mention that before. What is your mission?" Kristina asked, but then realized that Antos had an almost sad and panicked look on his face.

"I would rather not say," he said quietly, making Kristina wonder if she had upset him.

"Does he also hate you since you are becoming more like 'my species'?" Kristina asked gently, trying to change the subject.

"I guess so," Antos said as he looked at her, "he's got too much pride if you ask me."

Kristina laughed at his remark, finding that statement was turning out to be true. Antos looked over and smiled at her response, but that quickly changed to a forlorn look.

"He also hates me for what I am," Antos said, making Kristina realize that some regret was in his tone.

What he is? Confusion made her mind wheel a bit.

"But you are the same species," she said as she glanced over to see that he was back to staring at the floor.

"Yes, in a sense," Antos said, not really making sense.

Kristina felt somewhat frustrated at never getting a direct answer from him. She stood up, surprising Antos from where he was standing. She started to walk over to the door, stopping with her hand on the doorknob when Antos spoke.

"Where are you going?" he asked with a hint of caution in his voice.

"To Martha's," she replied with no further answer. Just as she opened the door, she felt something urge her to go back into the house. Instead of obeying the feeling, she stopped in the doorway with the door to outside ajar.

"You seem to depend on her a lot," Antos said from his position in the house.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" she asked while not moving from the doorway. What Antos had just said made her somewhat curious as to where he was going with the conversation.

"You seem to go to her almost all the time, even when the times aren't stressful," Antos said with a hint of curiosity in his voice.

"We are best friends. That's what best friends do," she said as she turned around to stare at him. He had this strange look on his face, and Kristina realized with dread that it almost looked murderous.

"Are you sure about that?" he asked while slowly walking closer to her. She knew that all she had to do was run out the door to escape him, should anything happen. But the strange part was that no matter how much she wanted to run, she couldn't. Her body wouldn't move.

Antos seemed to notice this because, a moment later, his eyes widened and lost their murderous glint. He turned away from her and made a frustrated noise, jumping out the open window the next moment.

She stared after him for a moment before going to look out the open window, seeing that he was pacing the floor.

She decided to listen in to what he was saying, but that then proved to be a bad idea with the steady stream of curses among other things that she guessed she shouldn't have heard.

Just as she was about to head away from the window and into some quiet happy place, Antos looked over at where she was standing and stopped, looking as if he had just done the worst thing possible.

Upon being seen by Antos, Kristina started to quickly back away from the window before going to sit completely still on her bed. She heard Antos come to the doorway and stop; their positions now being completely stopped.

"Sorry about that," Antos said before adding, "again."

"It's ok," she whispered, feeling genuinely creeped out now even though that was the last thing she would have felt with Antos near her.

She heard Antos take a deep breath before coming over to pull her up off the bed.

"Come on," he said as he started to lead her out of the house. Kristina planted her feet firmly into the ground.

"I don't want…" she started to say, but then her feelings swapped on her, making her feel like she wanted to go, "ok."

She looked at Antos as he led her through a section of the forest she didn't know; he seemed to look sorry about something.

Probably about the way he treated me earlier, Kristina guessed as she continued to be led.

The moon was already in the sky when Antos stopped. Kristina was going to ask him why he stopped, but she didn't because of something she saw ahead.

A glowing light seemed to be coming from beyond a line of trees that Antos had stopped before. Kristina suddenly began to feel afraid.

"Look, if you moved or something, I don't need to see where…" she started to say, but stopped when Antos started to drag her forward.

"We didn't relocate," he said with some amusement in his voice, "I just thought you would like to see this."

See what? She thought as she continued to be led towards the light, no longer afraid of what Antos had to show her.

She gasped in a mix of delight and awe as she saw where Antos had led her.

They were now standing in the middle of a small clearing, lit up by different colored lightning bugs. In the middle of the clearing was a small pool of glowing water.

"What is that?" she asked as she pointed at the water.

"It's an equivalent to a hot spring for our species," Antos explained as they walked over to the water. Kristina took off her shoes and dangled her feet in the water, realizing that Antos was right by the heat that was produced beneath her feet.

"It's so pretty," Kristina whispered, remembering about the times when school was out, and Martha and her would go walking in the woods, finding little springs of warm water.

She looked behind her and saw that Antos was standing awkwardly apart a few feet away from the water.

"Aren't you going to come in?" Kristina asked him, confused when he shook his head.

"No," he said as he came to sit beside her, "but there is something I would like to ask you."

Kristina glanced over at him, wondering what he was wanting.

"What is it?" she asked, thoroughly confused. Antos looked at the water for a moment before he looked back at her, a sense of uncertainty in his eyes.

"Would you like to come with me?" he asked softly, "back to my real home?"

She sat straight up, feeling a sense of unease enter her.

"Your real home?" she asked quickly and uncertainly, "as in 'planet'?"

Antos nodded, making her feel alarmed. He somehow seemed to sense this, since the next thing he did was try to explain better.

"I am going to need to leave soon, and I was wondering if you would like to come with me," he explained, looking at her, "you don't need to decide right away…"

Kristina started to stand up and back away from him before he could continue.

"I'm going to need some time…" she started to say, but then she knew her voice would fail her. She turned around and sprinted into the darkness, trusting her emotions to lead her through the unfamiliar part of the forest.

She heard voices behind her, but she didn't want to make them out. She continued to run, ignoring the ache in her side, wanting nothing more than to be home, for this to have all been a dream.

Why couldn't Martha have been right? She wondered angrily as she continued to run.

Somehow, she made it back to her house at the edge of the woods. She immediately went and lay down on her bed, knowing with her jumbled emotions that she would get no sleep.

I know, two chapters in one day might be overwhelming, but this is sort of to make up for the other late chapter (that, and I have next to nothing to do). I do have to ask though: did any of you think that Antos was going to ask her to marry him? I would like to know what you were wondering when you saw the chapter heading though, so please tell me in a review, as well as any other comments or suggestions. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review!

-AnimeWolfGirl9