Chapter 9

Adira, Simone, Harlow, and Prince Leonidas strolled through town, walking past stalls and vendors selling all kinds of interesting things. The three eldest had a hard enough time keeping an eye on Harlow and dragging her back to the group, but when Simone and Adira were also dazzled it was nearly impossible. Leo yanked the three by the scruff of their cloaks as they crowded around a booth selling jewelry, crystals, and trinkets.

“But they’re so pretty!” Harlow whined as her oldest sister held her hand and Leo tugged the other two by their arms through the crowd.

“Do you even have universal currency? Or were you planning on stealing it and being arrested for petty thievery?” He demanded, irritation heavy in his tone.

“You have all those fancy gadgets, I bet you have a ton of money! You could buy it for us!” Simone proposed, her eyes glittering enthusiastically. Leo did a double take.

“Why, in a million lifetimes, would I do something like that?” He asked perplexedly, wondering where this little girl got the nerve to ask.

“You did invade our planet and kidnap us on a spaceship.” Adira pointed out, wrenching her arm away from the prince’s grasp. He stopped in the middle of the square as people continued to pass by, lost in their own indiscernible conversations. “They put us in tactical uniforms and made us shave our heads in preparation for battle. We haven’t had showers or a single thing to eat, and now we’re being dragged through an alien planet to buy spaceship parts.”

Leo rolled his eyes and groaned dramatically. “Fine, I’ll get us lunch after we get the warp core.” He relented, earning squeals of joy from the younger two which prompted him to seize them by the scruff of their cloaks again and hiss. “Keep your voices down! Don’t draw any unnecessary attention.” He ordered, releasing them and fixing his hood to cover his hair.

“Why, exactly, are you being hunted by the Galaxy Alliant, or whatever?” Adira asked skeptically, folding her arms over her chest. Leo pushed the girls along to keep them moving.

“Galactic Alliance, and it’s not important.” He grumbled, marching the group past more vendor stalls.

“I think it’s pretty important, we hardly know anything about you. You have crazy tech, can fix and fly any ship, can speak any language, and have a bunch of scary weapons. Is that normal for people from space? Not to mention the necklace…” Adira was cut off as Leo hissed like a feral cat again, baring his teeth. She glowered back at him, “Your words, Leo! Use your words!”

Leo stopped abruptly and jerked Adira back by her arm, gripping it tight.

“Ouch! What’s your…”

“Listen to me.” Leo tone was livid between his teeth. “Anyone might be listening. Do not say my name, do not discuss our business, and never speak about Magik or this pendant around my neck. Understand?”

Adira swallowed hard under the intense look in Leo’s eyes but eventually found herself nodding along.

“I don’t give you details for your own wellbeing. Just know nowhere is safe and to trust no one.” He warned, nudging them again to keep moving.

Simone gave him a suspicious look. “So we shouldn’t even trust you?”

“Never said you should.” Leo replied curtly. They continued for several more paces with the girls continuing to ogle curious things out of the corner of their eyes.

“What else is out there? Or is everything controlled by that alliance?” Adira inquired, bringing up a good point.

“As of now, it’s basically governed versus ungoverned planets. There are a few independent federations left, but those who haven’t joined the Galactic Alliance risk being taken over by pirates and Allistair is the most infamous on this side of the universe.” He explained, finally spotting a machine shop in the distance.

“Pirates?? What’re they like?” Harlow asked, a tad too enthusiastically which caused Leo to give her an odd look.

“They’re ferocious, blood-thirsty, vile savages. They attack innocents and wouldn’t hesitate to eat you, bones and all.” He answered, reaching into his robe pocket and removing a folded piece of paper. He opened it and attempted to remedy some of the creases before handing it to Adira.

“They’ll eat me?? What’s wrong with them?!” Harlow exclaimed, earning a glare from Leo to keep her voice down. She immediately clasped her hands over her mouth before whispering “Sorry.”

“What’s this?” Adira asked, scrunching her nose as she accepted the paper with weird symbols drawn on it.

“It’s a list of parts I need. You’re going to give it to the mechanic, he’s going to give you a price, I’ll nod if it’s a good deal, and then you’re going to hand him this.” He explained simply, pulling out a thin metallic card with a button on it. Adira also accepted it hesitantly then accidentally pressed the button, bringing up a hologram with a long string of characters. Leo had a moment of panic as he snatched it, turned off the hologram, and handed it back to her with a cross look. Adira gave him a weird glance.

“What was that?” She asked, flipping the card over in her hand.

Leo gritted under his breath. “My currency account.”

“Does that big number mean you have a lot of money?” Harlow blurted out, reaching for the card to try and see it again.

“Nevermind.” Leo answered, pushing her hands away and leading the girls into the shop.

Outside was an assorted collection of garbage, or at least it looked that way to the untrained eye. Broken bits and damaged pieces were stacked on top of eachother in mismatched ways. Metals weren’t sorted, shapes blended into each other, glass fragments littered the ground, wires and nails stuck out haphazardly, and oil stains pockmarked the stone floor. As they entered, they had to sidestep piles and when Harlow tried to poke something, Leo swatted her hand.

Adira had been pushed to the front of the group and she cautiously wandered in, wondering why in the world this multilingual jerk wanted her to be the one to broker this exchange. She eventually found her way through the maze of parts to a front desk that looked to be empty, then turned to give Leo a look that conveyed the message “Now what??”

Leo huffed a grumpy breath, brushing past the younger girls and used his finger to flick a metallic bell attached to the desk. The noise rang through the room as he stepped back and lowered his head so his face wouldn’t be seen.

Silence followed for several beats until clattering could be heard from a distance as whoever it was made their way to the desk. Eventually, a large flabby, slimy being came from the back and stumbled through the door. It had to steady itself on a few surfaces, each one getting coated in slime, until it eventually plopped on the chair and made a sound from beneath the folds of its face that was a cross between a groan and a rumble. The three girls stared at the creature incredulously until Leo nudged Adira in the shoulder. She stammered, wondering if it was rude to stare, before handing the paper over to the person behind the counter. She then watched in disgust as the creature took the offered note in its tentacle and left a large glob of slime dripping down her hand. She made a displeased expression but quickly schooled it when she thought the creature was looking up at her. Instead, the thing inhaled a large breath before shrieking a loud noise and spraying goop everywhere as it let out a powerful sneeze. Everyone was coated instantly and Leo was the only one swift enough to completely cover his face.

Before the three could complain about the mess though, it let out another succession of groans and clicks then set the paper on the desk. Adira blinked, wondering if that was the price, and turned to see if Leo was going to nod or not.

Suddenly, the prince threw off his hood with a crazed look in his eye and marched straight up to the desk imitating the same grunts and noises as the flabby being. His eyebrows were angled down sharply, his eyes narrowed fiercely, his teeth bared, finger pointed, and the ends of his ears were turning bright red. He gnashed and bellowed along with the creature he was arguing with, holding the strangest sounding conversation they’d ever heard. The sisters had retreated and all exchanged looks of concern as they watched the odd goopy spectacle.

Simone imagined it went something like:

“That’s too much money! Lower your price or I’ll flush you down the toilet!” From Leo, then…

“How dare you insult my skin condition! This is a perfectly natural thing and I won’t be lowering the price because you’re so gosh darn rude!” From the blob, then…

“If you don’t lower your price I’ll get really scary and beat you up because I have a terrible temper!”

Harlow couldn’t help giggling as Simone narrated the exchange with funny voices. The three tried to stay quiet as Adira hushed her sisters, but when the blob person lashed out angrily with guttural moans and clicks, even Leo was stepping back. He growled low in his throat as he came around the sisters and made some noises in return, then clasped his hands over Harlow’s ears.

“Uhh…” Adira began, wondering what he was doing as he said some choice words of his own.

Simone leaned up to her sister with her hand clasped to the side of her mouth. “Did it just say a bad word?”

Adira blinked perplexedly, wondering the same thing as the blob quickly glanced between Leo and Harlow back and forth until it clasped its face in six of its tentacles and began grunting and clicking again. With that, it turned for the door and clambered back into the shop.

“What just happened?” Adira demanded quietly, plucking Leo’s hands from the side of her sister’s head.

“Price was too high.” Leo muttered, swiping his palm over his face where the creature had been spraying him with spittle. “But his kind prides itself on manners above all else so when I told him he was swearing in front of children he agreed to drop the price.”

Adira gave him an unsure look before she realized exactly what he said. “Children? What does that make you, some old man?” She asked, not quite believing he was old enough.

“I’m no child, if that’s what you mean.” He replied curtly, a sour look creasing his forehead. Adira snorted.

“So, you’re an adult?” She asked, amusement in her tone. Leo gave her a bitter frown.

“My age doesn’t define my abilities. My father has sent me numerous times on my own and I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.” He retorted impetuously. Adira chuckled.

“So that means you’re not an adult.” She teased, receiving giggles from Simone and Harlow as well. Blush tinged the young man’s cheeks before he let out a snarl. “I just had my birthday, so I guess that makes me the oldest one here and the only adult.”

Leo darted his eyes away sharply. “Big deal, who cares.” He muttered, not convincing anyone. He hadn’t paid much attention since the three wound up in his care, but Adira was fairly similar in height, maybe even a smidge taller. The thought only worked to sour his mood further and he was thankful when he heard the familiar clattering of the blob person coming back. When it took its seat once more, the creature pulled a device from the folds of itself before placing the goopy piece of tech on the desk. All three girls uttered the same “Eww…” in unison.

“What? That’s how you know it’s good quality.” Leo explained, giving all of them a strange look. He dug through a stack of boxes off to the side until he found one he liked, picked up the warp core like it wasn’t dripping in slime, placed it in the box, and closed the lid. He then held out his hand to Adira until she realized she still had the currency card and gave it back. A few other gadgets and doodads were lined up on the counter as well to complete his list and the two younger girls marveled at the interesting configurations of the devices. After Leo paid the blob person, they were on their way with the prince carrying an armload of boxes.