Seth frowned, clearly not understanding. Caleb put his thumb to his mouth, three middle fingers curled to his palm and littlest finger out, and swallowed. I copied the motion.
“Oh, beer! Yeah, I miss that. Oh god, I miss food from Earth.”
“Me too,” Caleb said.
Snuggling against Kalvoxrencol, Seth said, “I miss a lot.”
My brother winced, and fiery anger pulsed in my chest at Seth’s careless words. He was distressing Kalvoxrencol. My little brother acted more sure of himself than he actually was.
“Surely you don’t miss that much,” I snapped.
Seth started, and Kalvoxrencol growled at me, his tail winding around Seth’s wrist. “I miss a lot, but I’m happy I stayed,” Seth replied, shoulders tense.
“Leave him alone,” Caleb yelled. “He’s allowed to miss home.”
Caleb started crowding Seth while Kalvoxrencol glared at me, but I returned his look. Kalvoxrencol was my little brother, and I would protect him whenever possible. For most of our lives, he’d protected me, even though I was older. Now, I would make sure his mate’s callous words didn’t injure him.
Kalvoxrencol whispered something in Seth’s ear, and he relaxed.
“At least you have Lucy,” Caleb commented.
Seth glanced at Kalvoxrencol. “Kal brought her with me.”
“We could hardly leave your house god behind,” he said with an equally fond look at his mate.
“House god,” Caleb repeated. “Am I understanding that correctly? A house like a dwelling and a god that is worshiped?”
“Yes,” I said.
“The cultural law of Earth. You can’t move a cat when they’re sleeping on you. It doesn’t matter if you're going to work or have an appointment,” Kalvoxrencol explained. “It’s quite the epidemic, as I understand it. Shouldn’t you know that?”
Caleb stared at Seth, who looked at the floor, cheeks bright red. A sly smile pulled at Caleb’s lips. “Yes, I remember. It has been so long since I was on Earth, so I forgot for a moment.”
“I understand,” my brother replied.
“Yeah, humans worship cats,” Caleb said. “One of our cultures even has massive statues of cats. Humans are all about cats. I always wanted one, but my parents were… I don't know how to say it. They couldn’t healthwise have one.”
“Allergic,” Seth supplied.
“Yep,” Caleb said. “I don’t know the Drakconese word.” I supplied it for him, and he continued, “So am I.”
“It’s sad your parents and yourself are allergic to your house gods,” Kalvoxrencol commented.
“Yep,” Caleb said, still looking at Seth, who was red. “So sad. So veryverysad.”
Clearing his throat, Seth asked, “How did you get here?”
Plopping onto the floor, Caleb crossed his legs and began to tell his story. “So I died young, and after I haunted my family for a while, I decided to explore Earth. Why not, right?” He lifted and lowered his shoulders. I needed to ask Kalvoxrencol if he knew what that meant. “I was exploring, and there were these aliens with oblong heads literally sucking up spiders. I took one look at their ship, and I knew I had to see what was out there. So I jumped aboard.”
Seth’s mouth fell open. “You went aboard?”
“Yep,” Caleb said, knees bouncing. “They hung around Earth for a couple of weeks putting more spiders in containers, then they left. Their ship made awful noises as they traveled. A few minutes later, they arrived at a space station.”
“A few minutes?” Seth asked. “It took us six months to get here from Earth.”
My brother replied, “Some species travel faster than we do. I believe Caleb is describing the xoi. They have slipstream technology that allows them to travel faster than anyone else.”
Caleb started talking again. “I was on their space station for a few months. No one was coming or going. They were doing experiments on spiders. They made them the size of...” he trailedoff. Instead of saying anything, he formed an approximate shape that was more than twice his width and about half his height.
