Part of her actually wanted to, but… “A jump from this height could injure me,” she admitted, almost regretting having to decline despite her fear of heights.
“Not in a dream.”
“Oh.” Really?
Ava liked holding his hand, the feel of his long fingers woven between hers, his thumb stroking her skin in an absent caress. “Are you sure about that? Because a lot of movies back home postulate that if you’re physically injured in dreams, your body will register it as if it were real and you’ll wake afflicted with whatever injury you suffered in the dream. So if you die in a dream, you’ll die in real life.”
“What are movies?”
“Entertainment vids.”
“Ah. Those vids were incorrect.”
“You seem pretty certain about that.”
“I am.” He gave her a boyish grin. “Ziv’ri and I used to do the most foolish things in shared dreams. Things we would never even think of attempting outside them. And we were always wonderfully free of injuries when we awoke.”
She couldn’t help but smile. “How foolish are we talking?”
Chuckling, he shook his head. “Very foolish. Perhaps you can coax me into sharing a few with you.”
“Will they make me laugh?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll coax you into sharing more than a few,” she said with a grin.
He nodded toward the cliff’s edge. “Shall we?”
“Not if you give me time to think about it.”
He flashed his teeth in a boyish grin. “One-two-three, jump!” he called and took off running, pulling her after him.
Ava’s eyes widened and her heart thudded hard in her chest as she ran alongside him.
Their feet hit the edge at the same time, and together they leapt off.
Jak’ri whooped as they plummeted toward the ocean, the sound so wonderfully carefree and appealing that Ava found herself grinning big even as she shrieked and squeezed the hell out of his hand.
He hit the water a split second before her. Cool liquid closed over their heads. Bubbles surrounded them as if they’d just jumped into a vat of club soda. Then he looped an arm around her waist and propelled them both to the surface.
“That was crazy!” she blurted, unable to stop smiling as she swiped water from her face.
“Crazy but fun?” he quipped, eyes sparkling with amusement. And once more his obsidian hair turned silver.
“Maybe,” she hedged. “But not as fun at this.” Propelling her upper body out of the water, she planted her hands atop his head and dunked him. As soon as she released him, she began a lazy backstroke.
Jak’ri surfaced with a sputter and a laugh. When his silver eyes found her a few yards away, they acquired a devilish glint. “Oh, you’re going to regret that, little Earthling.”
Ava shrieked when he dove for her. Rolling onto her stomach, she took off, swimming in earnest. But those webbed fingers and toes gave him amazing speed.
Jak’ri’s fingers closed around one of her ankles. “Caught you!” She swam harder, getting absolutely nowhere, breaking into giggles as he issued dire threats in a villainous voice.
When was the last time she had honest-to-goodness giggled?
She yelped when he gave her ankle a yank.
Then she was in his arms and he was grinning wickedly at her.
“Think you can get the best of me, do you?” he taunted. Then he tucked his hands under her arms and kicked his feet.
Ava laughed as he tossed her up out of the water. Through the air she flew, landing on her back several yards away. The water again closed over her head. When she surfaced, she quickly bent her head to hide her smile and rubbed her eyes. “Hang on a sec,” she mumbled.
Jak’ri immediately stopped laughing and swam toward her. “I’m sorry. Did you get something in your eye?”
“No.” She grinned at him. “I just needed to lure you closer.” Then she swept her arm through the water in front of him, sending a cascade over his head.
Sputtering, Jak’ri dove for her.
Laughter abounded as they played, even more so when he started sharing tales of his exploits with his brother.
Clunk.
Ava jerked awake. Pain inundated her. Damn it! She really hated to wake up. She and Jak’ri had been romping and playing like children. Having to come back to the reality of this cell and the assholes who’d put her in it sucked.
“Use the lav,” the guard grunted. “They want another sample.”
“Sick bastards,” she muttered. Apparently the high-tech toilet in the tiny lav was full of sensors and who knew what else. When she’d had checkups and physicals back home, she’d occasionally had to pee in a cup. But something about these guys collecting and analyzing everything that came out of her body just skeeved her out. “I don’t need to go,” she said louder.
“Use the lav or I’ll make you use it.”
Unfortunately, she’d learned the hard way that he was serious when he issued that threat.
Biting back a retort that would end with him tasing her or whatever the hell they called using the shock wand, she approached the lav in her cell. The opaque door slid up, allowing her to enter. When it didn’t lower, she glared at the guard. “Close the damn door or Doc Frankenstein won’t get his drekking sample.” They had tentatively agreed—that agreement mostly comprised of her insisting—that she would only willingly give them their samples if she could do so in privacy without the guard watching her like some freak with a fetish.
His red, slitted eyes narrowed. Then the door slid shut.
Yeah. She was going to regret that.
After peeing into an antiseptically clean toilet, she returned to her cell and found both researchers waiting for her.
The gleam in the tall, skinny one’s creepy eyes chilled her to the bone. “We’ve found some anomalies in your blood.”
The short one smiled. “We need to take more samples.”
And she knew those samples wouldn’t require her to pee in a cup. They would involve laser scalpels and more pain.
Son of a bitch.
CHAPTER FIVE
Jak’ri came awake slowly. His eyes burned as fever flayed him. His stomach churned. His thoughts rambled around sluggishly in his head as dizziness made the cell around him swirl despite his lack of movement.
“Jak’ri?” his brother called softly.
He sat up, then had to brace a hand on the floor to keep from toppling over. “How long did I sleep?”
“A few hours.”
Groaning, he crawled over to the bars that separated them and sat near his brother.
“How are you?” Ziv’ri asked, his silver eyes full of concern.
Jak’ri shook his head. “I think they gave me whatever they gave you.”
“Because they believe they’ve succeeded.” He lowered his voice to a barely audible whisper. “I’ve been feigning illness, but in truth am nearly recovered.”
“I’m not so sure they haven’t succeeded. I feel like death is only a day away.”
Reaching through the bars, Ziv’ri patted his arm. “It will pass, brother. Just don’t let them see that.”
“Their samples will tell them.”