Read Online Watcher's Web by Patty Jansen - Free Book Online Page B

had looked
pretty, but ordinary, in daylight, but glowed brilliantly pink
under the blacklight’s rays.
    That’s how the
tattoo on her arm shone.
    Holy shit
didn’t half describe it. And those stripy-skinned humanoids still
stood staring at it, bright pink dots reflected in their huge eyes.
What the bloody hell did they think she was?
    The old female
pointed at Jessica’s chest and repeated, “Anmi.” Then she pointed
to herself and said something like, “Ikay.”
    Did it matter
what her name was? These looked like the same type of people who
had killed Martin and the businessman. They had captured Brian.
They were going to kill her anyway. Kill her and eat her like
cannibals and feed the bones to the lizards.
    “Well, you got
that wrong. My name is Jessica. You hear that? Jessica.
Jess-i-ca.”
    The old female
pressed her finger to lips. “Poh-poh-poh-poh—Anmi.”
    “Suit
yourself. Can I go now? Those guys over there are after me. I need
to get to the city to catch the next spaceship to Earth. You see,
I’ve got an appointment with the basketball team, but now I’m a bit
late, I sort of got lost along the way and ended up on the wrong
planet.”
    She didn’t
even know what she was saying. This was ridiculous. Completely and
utterly ridiculous. She stumbled a few painful steps, grasped the
top of the wall to haul herself over, get out of here, but
something glittered at her chest. A knife; no, more like a machete,
the blade clear as glass. The female holding it was a fierce
creature. Black zebra stripes on her shoulders gleamed with a
coating of oil. Lean, muscled and ready to spring, a fighting
Amazon.
    The
white-haired female Ikay gave a harsh command that sounded
something like, Alll.
    The Amazon
relaxed her hold but something wound around Jessica’s arm and held
it in an iron grip; some kind of snake-like thing, banded black and
white. Jessica attempted to prise her fingers between the coils and
her skin, and found its end: a small, white-haired tip. She
realised where it came from. These people had tails.
    “Let me go, I
tell you—let me go. I’m not going to harm you.”
    She struggled
against the tail’s grip. Swirls of sparks raged under her skin, but
if the Amazon saw them, or if she felt the heat, she didn’t show
it. Pricks of pain went across Jessica’s shoulders, her stomach and
her legs. Strands of light snaked when she breathed, forming into
the familiar web.
    Jessica tried
to withdraw it. She could make Angus do what she wanted, but he was
a bull, and there was only one of him. Now the web wove over the
entire group of natives and there was no way she could control all
of them.
    Ikay grabbed
her arms, and shouted harsh words.
    Jessica’s skin
burned. She struggled. Every movement hurt. There was pressure
inside her looking for a way to escape. She wanted to scream, but
her mouth wouldn’t move. Before her eyes, the blue-veined web
formed out of strands that came not from her body, but materialised
from Ikay’s skin. As they curved and reached out for Jessica, she
retreated.
    Ikay gave a
sharp command. The Amazons took hold of Jessica’s shoulders, and
brought her to her knees, until she faced Ikay, who bent forward
until her huge black eyes filled Jessica’s vision.
    Jessica closed
her eyes. She could not let that web connect with her. She could
not let that woman do whatever she did with those blue strands.
Read her mind. Erase her memories. Kill her. Those things she had
done herself.
    But closing
her eyes made no difference. The web not only shone through her
eyelids, but it strengthened. The force at the other end pulled at
the heat inside her.
    Jessica wanted
to scream, but her voice didn’t cooperate.
    Images
flowed into her mind. She saw some huge, hive-like structure in the
forest. A boat floating to a jetty. There were houses in the
background, and people hauling nets. Children, their skin
completely striped. A group of white-haired elders in heated
debate. Snapping tails,