Free Birthright: Book I of the Temujin Saga by Adam J. Whitlatch Page A

eyes fell on his face.
    Alex’s shoulders slumped. “That bad, huh?”
    “Your eye looks like it really hurts.”
    He reached up and touched the flesh around his left eye. It was indeed bruised and swollen.
    “They kind of failed to mention that,” Alex grumbled.
    ::Sorry,:: said Lomaant’s voice in his mind. ::It’s really not as bad as she’s making it out to be.::
    ::Shut up,:: Alex hissed mentally. ::Just shut up!::
    Crystal sat on the bed next to him. “You really had me worried back there.”
    “Yeah. I’m sorry about that. Look, Crystal, there’s a perfectly rational explanation for why I ran off.”
    If only he could think of one that didn’t involve alien kung fu masters from the planet Replodia in the Cereal system.
    ::Sirius,:: Samrai corrected him.
    “I know,” said Crystal. “Your mom told me everything.”
    “She did?” said Alex, suddenly very nervous. “What did she say?”
    Crystal scooted a few inches closer to him. “She said that Baxter and his idiot friends were teasing you from the bushes and were saying all kinds of nasty things to you about us and that you went to chase them off.”
    “Oh,” said Alex. “Right. That’s exactly what I did. Those guys were driving me crazy.”
    Crystal took another not-so-subtle scoot in his direction. “She also said that when Baxter told you he was going to ‘do things’ to me that you knocked out one of his teeth.”
    Alex puffed up his chest at the mention of the one accomplishment he could actually take full credit for. “I sure did. I nailed him good.”
    Crystal closed the distance between them and whispered, “Thank you.”
    Alex felt his ears getting warm again. “Oh, it was noth—”
    Suddenly Crystal’s lips were on his, and he ignored the stinging pain in his split bottom lip as he returned the kiss awkwardly. Crystal pulled away after a few moments and got to her feet. She dug into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. She placed it in Alex’s hand and closed his fingers around it.
    “I’ve got to go,” she said. “My mom’s downstairs.”
    “Yeah. Mine too,” Alex replied automatically, then winced at the stupidity of the remark.
    ::Smooth,:: said Samrai.
    But Crystal just smiled and bent down to give him one last peck on the lips.
    “Call me when you’re feeling better, ‘kay?”
    Alex nodded. “Okay.”
    Once she was gone, Alex opened his hand and stared at the piece of paper. He unfolded it and, inside of an ornately drawn heart, was a ten-digit phone number; a number he had wanted to dial many times, but never had the nerve.
    ::Score?:: Mo’s voice whispered from the back of Alex’s mind.
    Alex smiled. ::Score!::

Chapter Nine
     
    July 5th
    Alex stared at the ceiling, listening to his father snore next door while his brain swam with thoughts of Crystal and the three aliens sleeping downstairs. While he’d been unconscious, the Replodians told the Walkers that they’d come to town to see the fireworks display and check out the local shops, but had missed their bus out of town when they stopped to help Alex. With Bonaparte being an historical tourist town, the Walkers had accepted this explanation without question. So when Lomaant asked for lodging, Mrs. Walker graciously provided blankets and sleeping bags and offered them the pullout couch for the night.
    Between his father’s snores, Alex was able to discern three hushed voices below him. Quietly, he snuck downstairs and entered the dimly lit living room. Lomaant and Mo sat on opposite ends of the couch, facing each other and conversing softly while Samrai knelt at the coffee table with various pieces of the Walker family’s DVD player strewn across the table’s surface.
    “Hey,” Alex hissed. “That’s my dad’s DVD player!”
    Samrai glanced up at him, and then surveyed the pieces on the table. “Yup. Looks like it.”
    “Well, what are you doing to it?”
    Samrai rolled his eyes. “Fixing it. Duh. ”
    “It’s not