Octavia Girl

Chapter One

Alone with Favel

Jenna sat with her bum on the hard grate on the floor of Favel’s underwater mansion. It felt like she was being poked in at least four places.

The blue Octavian sat next to her.

Both of them were uncomfortable.

Jenna licked her lips. “You know how much I enjoy your company, Favel, but I’m finding this situation a little awkward.”

Favel could hardly ignore the fact that every available surface of the glass walls that made up the room was covered with gooey eyeballs pointed directly at them. There wasn’t a single crack where an Octavian wasn’t staring at them. Favel looked back at Jenna, the skin over his eyes looking more like unhappy eyebrows than usual.

“How many of them do you think there are?” she asked faintly.

Favel shrugged four of his tentacles like shoulders. “I don’t know. I’d offer you a different room to meet in but all the other rooms in my mansion are full of water, and the walls are still made of glass.”

“I’d invite you onto my pod and put up the black walls, but there’s only a mattress in there and…”

Favel interrupted her by slapping himself in the face with a tentacle. “For pity's sake, Jenna. We don’t need that kind of attention. Everyone knows what Adamis do on their mattresses.”

Jenna clicked her tongue in response. “I was going to finish my thought by saying that I don’t want you to get my bed wet. I wasn’t even thinking as far as the media circus making crazy speculations.”

She stared at the walls and tried to count the eyes, but it was tough. A lot of the Octavians had eyes on either side of their mantles, so they were only pressing one eye into the glass and giving their neighbor room to watch too. “Do they know they’re forcing us to not do anything cute because of this insane amount of attention?”

“They don’t care,” Favel bit the words between the jaws of his beak. “They just want to see us in person. They’re even rotating, so as many of them can see us together as possible.”

“That’s very nice of them,” Jenna said softly. “I actually need to talk to you.”

“Of course you do,” Favel groaned.

Jenna had fallen asleep on Sardius’ shoulder when they left the warehouse Fallcet used to imprison them while he hijacked the only crown Jenna had on her. She had fallen asleep, but she was woken up when they arrived at her palace, only to be told that she was 'no way in hell' allowed back inside her own home until the place had undergone a thorough security sweep. Both Favel and Sardius were as tough as nails on the subject.

She didn’t even try arguing.

Instead, Jenna allowed Sardius to be dropped off on the dock of the Dahlia palace where Crimp was waiting for him with an ugly expression on her face. Excelyn’s security guard tried to give Sardius a knuckle thump, only to realize that was a terrible idea as his knuckles were like knives. He then declined a high five from Crimp as she was a poison finger girl. She argued that she had caps on her individual fingers, but he still shook his head. He wasn’t taking any chances.

It was a hilarious little show.

Fallcet was then taken to a holding tank where he would await the next step.

What was the next step?

Well, Jenna needed to have a word with him, but she didn’t want to. She was completely happy to leave him in the holding tank until he turned purple. She hoped he would turn purple soon because she openly wished discomfort on him.

After that, Favel ordered Jenna’s pod with a bed in it to be delivered to his mansion. The transport they were in was more like a bus than a cruise ship and he wanted somewhere comfortable for her to rest until the security sweeps were complete.

So Jenna sat on the floor in Favel’s mansion where the bars of the grate under her butt were digging into her and she had the eyes of an unknown number of Octavians staring at her.

“We need to talk,” Favel agreed, “but what are we supposed to do? Your palace is off limits while Ryatt and Crimp double-check the security of all the palaces.”

That was right Even though the mask was off and Jenna knew that Ryatt was Sardius—no one else knew, not even Favel.

Yes, Jenna needed to talk to Favel, but that wasn’t one of the things she planned to tell him. Even when they finally had their private meeting, she had no plans to do that unveiling.

Favel continued, “I have half a mind to put you back aboard the transport and take you to a hotel.”

“If we could get some privacy there, then what are we waiting for?” Jenna asked enthusiastically.

Favel hesitated. “I can’t take my fiance to just any hotel, Jenna. I would have to take you to a nice hotel, the nicest on the planet. I would have to take you to the Hotel de Twanikling. It roughly translates to the Hotel of the Twinkling Stars.” He displayed a picture of the hotel on one of the screens.

It was an underwater hotel designed to be a vacation destination for doctors and other highly paid Adamis medical professionals. Favel showed her a digital tour. It was an underwater castle that shone white and gold.

“It’s the coral that makes it shine in all those bright colors. However, the structure under it is as durable as a prison,” Favel commented before he showed her the rooms inside. “I’d have to get you the fanciest room they have. It’s the Paris room.”

The Paris room would have been perfect for their discussions in that there was an enormous fountain in the center of the room and a big sofa that let Adamis admire the fountain. But unless her geography was way off, the Hotel of the Twinkling Stars was on the other side of the planet. Even if they shot themselves into orbit, it would take longer than a day to get there, and Jenna had work to do.

Jenna glanced at him. “You’re just showing me this stuff to pass the time. We’re not actually going to go, are we?”

Favel forced his expression to relax. “A little bit from column A and a little bit from column B. Right now, we’re letting all these Octavians watch us plan a vacation. They’re speculating that we’re planning our honeymoon. They’re entertained and it’s making it look like nothing's wrong with us, thus hiding the kerfuffle Fallcet and the AAMC caused when they kidnapped you. Letting everyone know about that makes us all look bad, so there is no upswing to letting the snail out of the shell. Also, I would be very much amiss if I didn’t take you to this hotel at some point. I haven’t taken you anywhere resembling a date.”

“Do Octavians date?” Jenna wondered with her gaze directed toward the gooey eyes trained on her.

“No. If I can hide from her for half an hour, she’s mine.”

“Are your camo skills that fly?” Jenna asked with a wicked grin and considering all the different colors and shapes an octopus could make.

“Of course,” he boasted. “I’m the chair of the Octavian Council.”

“Can you hide from me for half an hour?” she asked him.

Favel turned off the screen. “What you’re suggesting is a game to humans, but a very serious mating ritual for Octavians. Are you sure that’s something you want to do?”

“Well, surely we can’t play hide-and-seek here. There is nowhere for you to hide.”

He glared at her. “I accept your challenge. Close your eyes and keep them closed for one minute. Let’s see if you can find me.”

Jenna did as she was told. She heard a little slurping around and then nothing.

After she finished counting to fifty, she counted the last ten seconds out loud. “...Three, two, one! I’m opening my eyes.”

Jenna didn’t have high expectations for what Favel could do. It wasn’t that she doubted his camouflage skills. It was that the room they were in was not particularly detailed. Looking around the room, there was her pod, and it pretty much filled the room. She didn’t think Favel would get on the mattress since she had already mentioned that she wouldn’t like that. Aside from her pod, the room had a grate floor that doubled as the door into the room since that was the best way to keep the air in the room when her pod was inserted into it. The halfway box that Favel used to enter the room was on one wall. There was no bathroom in the room. There was a place for Jenna to relieve herself in the pod, though she had never used it. She considered it a last resort. The last fixture in the room was a water fountain for her to drink from.

She looked there first, then searched every surface of the outside of the pod. She didn’t find him. She looked in the halfway box though that seemed like a childish place to hide and she doubted Favel would use it, but the truth was, there were just no options of where he could be hiding. The place was very empty. She began searching the grate and under the grate, sliding her fingers between the metal. Everything was a little wet, so she couldn’t find a water trail to show where he had gone. She climbed the side of her pod to look at the roof. It was a waste of time. He wasn’t up there either.

Soon, Jenna was scratching her head, confused and a little frustrated that such a simple game was so hard for her.

Then she looked at the Octavians with their eyes glued to the glass walls. Most of them were looking at her, but the rest of them were looking toward a single point. Jenna followed their eyes. At first, she didn’t see anything, but slowly, she saw a glimmer of something.

He hadn’t hidden at all. He was just against a wall. He was just so good at copying the shapes and colors of what was behind him that she hadn’t been able to see him. She stopped and stared at him. He had copied the details of the eyeballs behind them, even making them look at her. It was truly astonishing.

She approached and put her hand on his mantle. “This wasn’t fair for you. Your friends gave you away.”

Favel melted into himself onto the floor. “Indeed. According to my timer, you searched for seventeen minutes. Next time, I’ll get you to look for me for thirty.”

Even though their game had been cut short, he seemed pleased by the outcome, like Jenna had proven she was as good as an Octavian female because she’d been able to spot him in under half an hour. Now he had to do more to be worthy of her. He couldn’t smile, not even if he was happy, but his eyes crinkled pleasantly at the corners.

“I just got a message from Ryatt,” Favel said with a relieved huff. “He says I can send you back to the surface now. He and Crimp are finished. He says he wants to keep Fallcet in the holding tank overnight and you can plan your meeting with him tonight and begin tomorrow morning.”

Jenna rubbed her eyes. “That suits me. Thanks for keeping me company while I wasn’t allowed to go home, Favel. You’re a top-notch fiance.”

Favel groaned. “Don’t say that! Aside from giving you a ring, I have done nothing. There’s still so much to do.”

“Yes, I know. We have to get engagement pictures taken. Celestina has been after me about that. Let’s just do that and then figure out what we have to do next. I’m about to be flooded with work because covering Fallcet’s ass has always been my dream,” she moaned sarcastically.

“I’m amazed you’re still so composed about the whole thing,” Favel said crossly.

“Oh no. I’m angry as a firecracker. The thing is… something else happened that has put me in a bit of a good mood,” Jenna confessed with a sloppy grin.

“Did you and Ryatt bond at the warehouse?” Favel whispered.

Jenna nodded before putting a finger to her lips. “Don’t tell anyone. It’s better to keep it on the down low for now.”

“Why?” Favel hissed back. “You need a third husband. Why not take him? He’s very convenient.”

Jenna bit her lips together. “All of this is a bit harder for me than just noticing a good opportunity and snatching at it. I need to take things slowly.”

“Do you? You were quick enough with me when you told everyone on Interstellar television that you wanted to marry me,” Favel said, showing how weird he thought everything was with a squawk of his parrot-like voice.

“Yes,” Jenna agreed. “Warming up to you was easy because I knew that what you wanted from me was a lot different from what an Adamis man would want.”

Favel looked at her strangely. It was obviously unnatural to him for someone to want to put off mating.

Jenna climbed up into her pod and settled herself on the mattress. “Thanks for everything. I’ll see you later.”

Favel waved a tentacle at her before sliding into the halfway box that separated the world of air and the world of water.