“Why is the street cordoned off?” Kass blinked as the four Rethans walked down the road.
“That was not here when we left…” Retvik and Gath had been greatly enjoying their evening. Kass and Psiksi had invited them to the cinema and gotten them tickets to the best seats in the Dessaron Battle Arena, complete with mini buffet. Sure, the arena battle wasn’t great, but it was still pleasant. Everyone was happy, even Psiksi who had been fighting in the arena and had wanted a more challenging fight.
Afterwards, on the walk back, Kass had asked why Retvik hadn’t been out much. That was when he and Gath decided to invite the young couple round, to show them the reason why.
The second they saw the blockade though, Retvik immediately got worried. He pulled out his communicator and quickly called someone.
“Tenuk, are you at home?”
A voice whispered on the other end. “Yeah.”
“What is going on?”
“Er…” Tenuk’s voice trailed off. “It’s complicated.”
“Is…”
“It’s fine, Retvik. We just have a very sweet visitor here. If one of you guys can sneak around the back and get in, I can teleport out and bring you all here.”
Retvik was visibly getting upset, so Gath grabbed the communicator. “We will send Kass round. But you need to tell us what is going on.”
“There is a Rethan here, on the run from Cassids. A Vel situation.”
Kass drew a wristblade and stepped forward. “Tell Tenuk I’ll be at the back door in a minute.” He disappeared around a corner and out of sight.
Getting more and more worried, Retvik snatched the communicator back and tried to speak to Tenuk, but he’d already hung up. He snarled at Gath, who snarled back.
“Tenuk is handling this.”
“Tenuk let a fucking stranger into our home.”
“Calm down and-“
Suddenly, everything faded in and out of view. Before they could work out what was going on, they had all appeared in the middle of Gath and Retvik’s home. Before anyone could do anything, Retvik rushed to the living room and curled himself around a small, translucent egg.
“You didn’t tell us you were expecting!” Psiksi beamed as he skipped over to Retvik and gently patted him on the head. “You also didn’t tell us you were harbouring a Cassid-eating monster…”
“She didn’t eat anyone!” Tenuk protested. Cowering behind him was a very large, bulky Rethan, standing on all fours. A pair of curved horns stuck out of her skull, and her armour was covered in small spikes. The end of her tail was split into three long tentacles. “She’s a victim. The Cassids were experimenting on her and were transporting her to a place to be killed when the helicopter crashed. She’s been running around, starving and scared for the last few days!”
“I see what you mean by a Vel situation…” Gath muttered. “But we can not keep her here. We need to get her out of Vriskera and into Hertany as soon as possible.”
“Why?” Psiksi asked.
“Because the Cassids have no jurisdiction in Hertany!” Kass explained. “That’s how we saved Vel. He was a captured Rethan, experimented on like this poor vok here…” Kass headed over to the massive Rethan and stroked her head gently. “Does she have a name? Can you talk?”
The Rethan squeaked, then curled up behind Tenuk, her tail wrapped around his legs.
“I’ll take that as a no…” Kass sighed.
“She understands us though!” Tenuk tried to be optimistic, patting his newfound friend on the head. “It’s just hard for her because she, well, she has the ability to turn into like a goo sort of thing. That’s how she got in, she turned into goo and sneaked into the garden. That’s also why I want to call her Jelly.”
“No offense…” Retvik interrupted. “As much as I am normally rather welcoming of strangers, we can not have a vok who is on the run from various authorities hiding here in my home while I have an unborn kid here. Can you all please work out what you are going to do? The quicker you do so, the quicker I stop having a panic attack.”
Everyone looked at Retvik.
“Sorry, dear…” Gath sighed as he looked for a map and some paper. “Do not fret, we shall work this all out…”