UFO (Katlaska)- Squeaky
The year is 1921. Katya is sent to a farm in Kansas for a year of independent witch study, but she finds more than cows there.
OR: The love story of a witch, an alien princess, and a pink milkshake.
CRASH LANDING
Katya is sixteen, the year in which a witch comes of age, when they send her to Fame’s Farm. She thought the term to be a euphemism and fully expected to arrive at the gates of a mansion. Instead, Katya finds herself, broom in one hand and suitcase in the other, at a wooden doorstep.
“You must be Katya,” Miss. Fame beams. She’s got a chicken perched on her hip, but she looks a lot more like a graying glamour model than a farmer.
“Uh, yes. And you must be…Miss. Fame?”
“Come in. Come in,” Miss. Fame clucks as she takes her luggage and carries it to a small bedroom. The room is so dusty that it makes Katya’s eyes water. A sullen cat slinks out from under the bed. It might have been black a long time ago but now it’s been stained white.
“Fuck off, buddy,” the cat hisses as Katya goes to pet her.
She pulls back her hand: “Is that your familiar?”
“Betty? Goddess, no! She’s a human trapped in cat form. One of those 100 year punishment or whatnot for upsetting a powerful warlock…or maybe for stealing a goblin’s painting. I don’t remember.”
“Oh,” is all Katya says as she uses her broom for it’s intended purpose of cleaning. Sweeping swiftly, she manages to get it spotless before dinnertime. She’s brought nothing but her dresses, tarot cards, and gems, so it doesn’t take long to unpack.
By now the house smells like sizzling bacon and eggs. Fame has loaded the table up with so much food, it sags under the weight. After her long and often disastrous flight here from New York, Katya’s ready to eat.
“Wait! We have to thank the old witcher goddesses,” Fame interrupts. Katya pulls at her collar as the woman starts to babble in Latin. She stares out the window and holds her breath, trying not to inhale any of the mouth-watering food. There are miles and miles of dark fields that extend past what her eye can see. In New York, she lived in a bustling neighborhood of witches. Why did her mother send her here? Nowhere land?
By the time Miss. Fame has finished babbling, the food is cold. Katya digs in anyways.
“So you flew all the way? Very impressive,” Fame compliments.
“I guess,” Katya says even though most girls can mount a broom by age ten and fly across the state by thirteen. The hardest part was keeping on course, but she stopped at a couple of small towns for directions.
“So are we going to start lessons tomorrow, Miss. Fame?”
“Of course.”
“Yes! My friends have come back from their year knowing how to turn mice into teacups. I thought we could start by learning how to brew love potions-”
“Well, we’re not going to focus on parlor tricks like that. Your education will consist of practical house cleaning magic, Latin, and chores.”
“Chores?” Katya repeats. The word sits heavy on her tongue. Latin? Cleaning magic? That sounds like such a waste of time. Katya wants to become a powerful witch not some rich Wizard’s housewife! It would be rude to say any of that, but Katya’s tight lips and crossed arms say it all.
Fame turns on the radio and happily hums along to the tune of a slow country song. Katya grimaces. If she had the freedom, she’d turn the channel to listen to some jazzy Louis Armstrong. Instead, she closes her door, throws herself onto her bed, and screams into a pillow.
“Anger management, sweetie,” Betty chuckles as Katya sharply turns and throws the pillow at her.
She crawls deeper into her bed, tries to slow her breathing, and wishes she was back in New York. Katya misses the hustle and bustle of the automobiles. She misses the sweet swing of the streets. Most of all she misses her witch sisters- Violet, Ginger, and Trixie. Katya hopes that they’re off to more exciting adventures than she is.
Katya dreams that they’re holding a seance on the rooftop of their building. All the girls’ hands are linked, and they’re rising up higher and higher…until Katya’s drifting alone among the stars. She opens her mouth to scream, clinging to the silver moon, but all the oxygen is gone.
She wakes up to Miss. Fame ringing the bell. The sun isn’t up, and Katya isn’t up either. She tries to go back to sleep but Betty jumps on her face and pulls at her earrings. Katya hisses back at her.
Finally, she pulls on a baggy, shapeless dress. She doesn’t care if it gets dirty. Fame shows her how to milk a cow so as not to get kicked, how to collect the chicken’s eggs, and how to brush all the animals. Katya yawns and tugs down the brim of her floppy hat.
“Pay attention,” Fame warns. “You’re going to have to do this all by yourself tomorrow.”
Katya fantasizes about grabbing her broom and launching herself into the sky, flying up, up and away from this dull, old farm. Instead, she sweeps the doorstep. Then come the Latin reciations, goddess prayers, and peeling potatoes 101.
“What’s the point of this?” Katya asks on day three as she brings in the eggs and milk. Her dress is scuffed with dirt and her hands are calloused. She can babble now in Latin, but she still hasn’t learned a single, useful spell. She’s cooked chicken soup, but she hasn’t learned to make a witches brew.
“Building character,” Fame tells her. “You have to be tough. You hear about the stories of girls turning themselves into frogs? Blowing up barns?”
“I wouldn’t do that,” Katya whines, sounding more petulant than she intended. What she meant was- can I please learn some magic now?
“I know I don’t look it, but I’m a hundred years old, Katya. I know what young witches are capable of when they don’t control their powers. There’s a method to my madness, and you’ll understand soon enough.”
“Can’t I at least send a letter to my mother?”
“You know the rules, Kat. No contact.”
“Yeah…I know I’m just…” lonely. “Never mind.”
Her whining earns her a long trip to the brick well. At least she’s allowed to ride her broom there. Still, after a day of hard labor, Katya can barely grip the handle.
“I hate this,” Katya whispers into the well and then kicks the side of it. “I hate this. I hate this! I. Hate. This.”
The sun is setting, and her stomach growls. Instead of riding back, Katya sits on the side of the stones and buries her face into her hands. She cries as she thinks of all the spells that Ginger must be learning in New Orleans or Violet in Ireland. Why Kansas?
The last of the sun slips down as Katya’s heart sinks. Her cheeks are covered in tears. Katya’s not religious but she folds up her hands anyways-
“Hey, goddess, I know this isn’t Latin or whatever, but if you can hear a girl out in English, that’d be great. I need a friend. I mean, Fame is great, but she can’t keep a conversation going without praising the universe. The universe is also great, but I really need somebody here. And not Bitter fucking Betty. How about an enchanted crow? A possessed log? A tinkering fairy? Please, any friend is a good friend. Amen.”
Katya finishes her prayer, and, when she looks up, sees a shooting star. It doesn’t take an astrologist to tell her that’s a good sign. Maybe someone has been listening to her prayer after all.
Then the shooting star gets closer and closer and- crash! Katya leaps to her feet.
She glances over to Fame’s Farm, where the bell is ringing, and then jumps up onto her broom. It’s a rush to be back up in the sky, racing forward. Katya spots the large crater.
“Hello?” Katya calls as she hovers above it. The hole is big enough to fit three automobiles lying side by side. If only Katya knew a practical fire spell, she might be able to see into it.
Instead, she hovers down to the ground, picks up a stone, and tosses it into the darkness.
Silence…silence…clink!
Katya turns to go when she sees something rising up. It looks like a glowing, white angel, with blonde hair covering her bare breasts, and a sheet fluttering around her midriff.
“Hiiiiiiiiiee,” the white creature shrills. She extends out her hand, fingernails longer than Katya’s hand. Katya takes a step back, trips, and falls.
“W-wow, thanks universe,” Katya sputters. Maybe there is something to all that praying Fame does. The creature is hovering a foot off the ground, and while Katya has read about it, she’s never seen levitation before.
“My name is Princess Alaska Thunder from the planet Glamatron. I’ve come here on a covert mission to observe earth’s finest delicacies. Take me to your holy beasts.”
“Princess?” Katya exclaims. “Aw geez, I’ve never met royalty before. Let alone space royalty. Wow. None of the gals are gonna believe this. Oh, right, my name’s Katya from the planet Earth, and I’m a witch-in-training.”
“Take me to your bovine gods, witch,” Alaska commands as her golden sandals touch the ground.
“Bovine…? I don’t know what that is, but there’s nothing on Fame’s farm except for weeds and chickens and cows.”
“You speak English, no? I can switch to Russian, Spanish, German, or Chinese. My translator is limited.”
“N-no, English is fine. I mean know a little Latin and some conversational Russian, but English is cool. I just don’t know what you’re looking for.”
“I want lactating lactose.”
“Uh, milk?”
“Yes! The Earth is alone in the galaxy with its production of white gold. The only source of sweet, sweet nectar in the vast universe is this primitive planet, and I’d rather not travel to an alternative universe.”
“Primitive? We invented jazz and refrigerators and, uh, missiles, you know! But come on- I think I can get you some milk,” Katya babbles as she throws her foot over the side of her broom and pats the back seat.
Alaska’s hands wrap around her waist, and Katya blushes when she feels her naked breasts. There’s a foreign bulge pressed up to the curve of her backside, and Katya’s known a lot of girls…but never one like this before. Wow, space babes are the best!
The sky is studded with stars, extending over the endless fields, and Katya feels like they’re the only two beings in the universe right now. The wind embraces them, and, showing off, Katya does a trick in the air. Alaska shrieks and hugs her tighter. Katya’s heart is fast and loud in her chest, and Alaska’s breathe is hot against her neck. She feels alive, beautifully alive.
“You’re out of this world,” Katya calls out.
Alaska giggles, and, for an alien princess, she’s surprisingly human. The vibrations of the broom make Kaya bite her lip, especially with the rub of Alaska against her backside. All they need is some slow jazz.
She zooms inside the barn and crash lands in the hayloft. Alaska blows a piece of straw out of her hair and giggles again. Katya presses a finger to her lip and slides down the ladder to approach the ‘bovine god.’ Three days have taught her how to fill a bucket like a pro.
Alaska, for a princess, dribbles the milk down her chin. She throws her blonde head back in pleasure and moans as she drinks. Katya licks her lips, watching the drops trickle down Alaska’s naked chest. She recognizes the wetness between her thighs from riding her broom too long, but Katya’s not sure why she gets that same tightness from watching Alaska.
“Do all aliens not wear clothes?” Katya asks, breathless.
“Some do. I should have changed into traditional Earthling clothing, but I didn’t have time…”
“Oh,” Katya flushes. “It’s ok with me if you dress like that…but I don’t think Miss. Fame will be ok. She’s my instructor and a bit of a traditionalist, which is strange for a witch. Usually, we’re more of a liberal type of people, but Miss.Fame does live all alone on this farm with her chickens so…oops, I’m rambling, aren’t I?”
“It’s cute,” Alaska hiccups, wiping the white from her mouth.
“Wait here.”
Katya sneaks inside the house and picks out her prettiest dress- a french blue number. It reminds her of the dresses that the flapper girls wear down at the club. Her mother wouldn’t let her buy something this short, but Violet gave it to her as a goodbye gift. She slips out her window to the barn loft. Alaska strips naked in front of her, and Katya blinks at the sight of…
“So are you a, uh, boy or girl?”
“I don’t understand the question,” Alaska says as she slips on a pair of panties, which push up her cock. Katya knows it’s not polite to stare, but she’s never seen anything like it. The combination of Alaska’s slight breasts with the bulge between her legs makes Katya bite her lip and pull at her own gown.
“So can you get pregnant?”
“Of course.”
“Can you…impregnate?”
“Of course,” Alaska confirms as she smooths down the dress. “I don’t really understand this line of questioning. On Glamatron, gender is a preference not a rigid requirement.”
“Oh,” Katya says, confused. Either way Alaska looks like a dream in the flapper gown. She does a twirl, and Katya momentarily forgets how to breathe.
It’s sweltering, but Katya still brought along a blanket for Alaska to sleep under. She wants to stay here with the alien girl, but Katya knows Miss.Fame will worry.
“How long are you staying?”
“Just a week or so until I can get my space ship repaired. Plus, I have yet to taste the full range of Earth’s lactate products. I hope you don’t mind.”
Katya shakes her head and stares at the unearthly beauty.
Then she leans forward and pecks Alaska softly on the lips: “That’s, uh, how we say goodbye here.”
Alaska smiles, cups her face, and kisses her harder. Katya’s stomach twists as she squeezes her thighs together. Alaska pulls back-
“How funny. It’s the same way on my planet.”
——-
REPAIRING
Katya wakes up to glowing eyes. Fuck, why is Betty the creepiest, cursed cat? It’s like all the stars aligned to create the most hateful creature in all of Kansas.
“Girls in the attic? Tut tut, that’s not something you should be hiding from our dear, old Fame. Secrets are hard to keep on such a small farm. Makes me think your friend…is a little more than friendly.”
“I’m just waiting for a good time to introduce her,” Katya grumbles as she threw off the covers and shoves Betty away.
“Ay, there’s no better time than now, Kat.”
“I’ll do it tomorrow, cat,” she snaps and then yawns. It’s hard getting up at five am when you went to sleep past midnight. Only her secret keeps Katya from falling face first back into bed. She ditches the brown muslin for a meadow-green dress. It’s down to her ankles, but at least it’s cinched at the waist. Katya ties her hair into braids and dons a bonnet.
Fame compliments her fashion as she goes out the door. Katya only waves, stomach flipping as Betty slinks out past her.
Alaska, dangling her legs from the hayloft, is already awake when Katya enters the cool barn. She jumps down, way too effortless to be human, and greets Katya by rubbing their foreheads together. Katya leans in for a kiss (“It’s, uh, how you say ‘hello’ too.”)
Alaska drinks the milk straight from the bucket, carefully now so as not to stain her new gown. Katya tells her to wait as she goes to eat breakfast. She shoves it down quick and does her recitations so quickly that Miss.Fame raises an arched brow.
“I, uh, want to go out to play in the fields,” Katya says in one breath.
“Aren’t you a little too old for that?”
“Too old for fresh air? I’ll take my Latin there and practice,” Katya promises as she grabs the old, musty book and kisses Miss.Fame on the cheek. The older witch is so taken back by her change in attitude that she doesn’t try to stop her.
“Pssst, Lasky! Hop on quick, princess.”
Alaska is plastered to her back, like she’s ridden a broom all her life. Katya can feel her, uh, bulge, through the sheer fabric of the dress. In the morning light, Alaska’s nails are bright pink. They click together as she wraps them around Katya’s stomach.
Then they’re up, up, and off into the golden sky. The world is new, like it reinvented itself over night. Everything is a shining, glittering dew. Katya breathes in the morning breeze. A blue jay races them back to Alaska’s crater.
There, Katya spends the rest of the morning gathering up flowers to make crowns. They’re queens of this golden universe. The butterflies land on the green of her dress, mistaking her for a flower.
“Bluebirds singin’ a song. Nothin’ but bluebirds all day long,” Katya trills. “Blue skies, smilin’ at me. Nothin’ but blues skies do I see.”
“What’s that?” Alaska asks as she floats up, and Katya places the flower crown on her head.
“Louis Armstrong.”
“Who is he? Do you know him?
“A famous singer. I don’t know him, but I wish I did- I love all his music so much.”
Alaska just stares at her and tilts her head: “You have a nice voice…for an Earthling.”
“And you’re rude…for an alien-ling. Can I see your spaceship?”
Alaska just grabs her smoothly by the waist and floats them down. It’s all metal, like nothing that Katya has ever seen before. It looks like a silver plate. She curls her toes inside her boots as they enter.
Katya doesn’t know anything about spaceships, but she doesn’t see any dents or bumps. All of the controls inside are intact. But maybe the damage is invisible? Hidden beneath all the circuits and wires?
She feels out of place with her flower crown, green dress, and broom. Like she’s collided into a world that she doesn’t belong to. For some reason, it wouldn’t be hard to picture Miss. Fame with her silver hair and knowing eyes running her hands along these flashing panels.
“It’s beautiful,” Katya finally says. “Never seen anything like it before.”
“My dad gave it to me for my sixteenth birthday. All my friends got the new chrome pods, but he told me this model was safer…”
“I like it?”
Alaska snorts: “Because you’ve never seen any of the others.”
Katya crosses her arms and says, “Well, when my mom got me a broom, I didn’t complain because I wanted a golden one. Maybe you should be a little more thankful?”
“You’re…right. I guess I’m just mad because he-” Alaska cuts herself off. “You want to go get more lactose? I’ve seen pictures of pink shakes on the galactic net.”
“A…what? You do know we’re in the middle of nowhere Kansas? It’s an hour ride by broom to the nearest diner.”
“But a minute by spaceship,” Alaska says with a wink as she flips her blonde hair over her shoulders and sits down at the controls. She looks like pale moonlight in that blue gown. A dream come to life.
Katya straps herself into the passenger’s side even as she wonders how Alaska fixed it so quickly. Didn’t she say it would take a week?
But all her doubts are gone when Alaska pulls the lever, and they’re rising up into the golden world. The birds below sadly chirp as they zoom away. Katya’s ridden in an automobile but never a spaceship! Her eyes are wide. Breath gone. Pulse racing.
“Hang on, witch-y,” Alaska yells.
Katya looks down to see the ship, but it has disappeared. Wow, she’s only ever read stories about invisibility spells.
“H-how do you know where we’re going?”
“Intergalactic GPS.”
“What?”
“I got a map!”
They pull up to a diner. It’s full of cute girls with bob cuts and boys in smart suits. Alaska takes her by the hand and helps her out. Katya’s never been swept off her feet, but Alaska has thoroughly swept her inhibitions away. She bets neither Violet nor Ginger have ever ridden a spaceship before.
They get a pink smoothie to share, and Katya doesn’t have any money, but Alaska pulls a 20 dollar bill right out! Katya’s not sure if her or the waiter’s eyes are wider.
“Paper money is easy to print,” Alaska whispers as the man goes to get them change. Katya, drunk off of sugar and adrenaline, can only nod.
“Can you tell me about your home?” Katya asks like this is a regular date.
“The sky is always black and never changes. Our people have to live underground to avoid the toxic air. Most of our kind spend their time travelling the galaxy, serving our military or trading, but my father doesn’t let me leave.”
“I’m sorry,” Katya says. “My mother’s protective too.”
“It’s not even protection. He’s suffocating me. As if our planet’s air wouldn’t do that job for him.”
Katya doesn’t know what to say, so she takes a long sip.
“With all the places on Earth, why did you crash land here?”
“There were high populations of bovine gods,” Alaska answers, but she looks away as she says it. Katya isn’t sure how truthful Alaska’s being.
By the time they get back, the sun is high in the sky. Katya fans herself with her hat as she closes the barn doors behind them. She creeps up into Alaska’s hayloft, and, like two regular girls at a sleepover, they make plans for the rest of the week.
“How long do you think it would take to get to Paris? We could leave at midnight and be back before Miss. Fame wakes up in the morning. Or- no, let’s go down to New Orleans. That’s where all the real witches go to listen to jazz and learn voodoo magic. My bosom sister, Ginger, is down there learning the craft,” Katya rambles, twirling her finger around Alaska’s hair, and then sighs wistfully at the thought.
“Why is my- I mean why is Miss. Fame not teaching you magic?”
“Thinks I’m a loose, irresponsible witch…” Katya rolls her eyes. “Which I am. But that doesn’t mean I don’t deserve to learn. Like, how does she expect me to become anything more if all I do is clean up chicken poop all day? Is the universe just gonna tell me the answers?”
“My daddy seems to think the same thing. He’d rather I’d stay locked up in the palace all day than go see the galaxy. I-” Alaska flushes a deep red. “I stole the ship. He wasn’t going to give it to me until my eighteenth birthday, so I just took it and fled.”
“Wow.”
Now Katya knew that Alaska was not a traveler but a run away. Alaska also lied about the ship being broken. Why? And what else has she lied to Katya about? Instead of saying all that, Katya launches into a story about the first time she snuck into a speakeasy and tasted moonshine. Alaska is entranced, eyes wide, desperate to ‘taste the moon’ for herself.
By the time Katya comes inside it’s past lunchtime, and Miss. Fame lightly scolds her and makes her peel potatoes for the rest of the day. It’s dull work, but the milkshake and illicit plans to Paris and New Orleans have given her a boost of energy. Plus, the kiss that Alaska left Katya with makes her lips tingle.
Katya peels and sings: “All the days are hurryin’ by. When you’re in love, my how they fly.”
“In love with who?”
“It’s just a song, Miss. Fame.”
“I don’t trust love songs. Slippery slopes. But you keep up all this good work, sweetie, and we’ll have you doing spells in no time.”
Betty slips into the kitchen, leaps up onto the countertop, and gives Katya a dirty look. When Miss. Fame’s back is turned, Katya sticks out her tongue. It’s a bad idea to taunt a cursed cat, but has Katya been making great decisions lately?
“If you keep playing with fire, you’re going to get burned,” Betty promises and licks her paw. Katya rolls her eyes, unaware that later that night the barn would burst into flames.
———
RE-ROUTING
Katya wakes up to screams. The whole world is glowing sickly yellow, like Betty’s eyes. Her skin is covered in a thick sheen of sweat as she watches the leaping flames devour the barn.
She runs outside, barefoot, and stares up at the destruction. Ash, like burning snowflakes, falls down. Katya feels sixteen and helpless as the whole world burns.
“Stand back, Katya,” Miss. Fame screams as she rushes past her. She’s reciting a spell, and, when she raises her hands up, water bursts out from the ground to cover the barn. Katya is screaming, but the words are lost at the back of her throat.
“Alaska,” Katya hears herself screaming. “Alaska is inside the barn. She’s in there! Help her. Please, help her.”
Most of the animals are spooked but unharmed. When Katya runs up to the loft, she finds it’s empty. Her heart stops.
“What’s going on? Who’s there?”
“M-m-my friend,” Katya cries.
“From where?”
“Space!”
Miss. Fame has gone pale: “Dear goddess, I thought I’d never see the day when…ALASKA! COME OUT RIGHT HERE OR SO HELP ME I’LL CONTACT YOUR FATHER.”
Katya has never heard Miss. Fame raise her voice before. It’s so out of character that she stops crying immediately. From behind the barn, Alaska creeps out. Her blue gown is scorched so badly that Katya can see the pale of her thighs. She’s clearly shaken.
Miss. Fame pulls her into a tight hug and smooths out her hair. She’s whispering something in her ear, in a language that Katya’s never heard, and Alaska is nodding. What’s going on? How does Miss. Fame know Alaska?
“I’m sorry…Mom,” Alaska sniffles.
What the…?
Katya crosses her arms, feeling lost. Clearly, Alaska has been lying to her this whole time. She didn’t come here to see the ‘bovine gods.’ Her spaceship didn’t crash. She’s been lying, lying and now she set the barn on fire.
“Katya,” Miss. Fame turns on her. “She must have been here for a couple nights? Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I…I mean I was going to but…I…”
Betty comes outside and, judging by her little smirk, she knows a whole lot more than she’d let on. Betty licks her paw and, though cats don’t have eyebrows, seems to quirk hers up at Katya. Told you not to play with fire. Smug little shit.
“Come inside, come inside,” Miss. Fame sighs.
Alaska follows her, golden hair falling over her face, and doesn’t look over. Katya’s stomach twists and tears burn at her eyes. Weren’t they friends? Queens of their own golden universe? But Alaska has done nothing except lie to her. She coughs as she inhales soot.
Miss. Fame makes them hot chocolate, which Alaska drinks immediately, even though it’s burning hot. Katya just stares at her folded hands.
“So?” Miss. Fame begins. “What happened, Alaska?”
“Daddy just doesn't let me do anything, you know.”
“So you run away?”
“I had to! He was suffocating me underground, and I wanted to see the universe. I wanted…to see you. But I didn’t know what to say.”
“You know he’s going to send an army soon! Alaska, the people on earth aren’t strong enough to fight off an invasion.”
Alaska wipes her wet cheeks: “I know but I was just going to stay for a couple of days. I just wanted to see a holy bovine and…and talk to you.”
Miss. Fame’s face softens, and she wraps her hands around Alaska. Katya’s still kind of upset and worried at all this talk about an alien invasion, but her heart melts at the sight of Alaska curled up in Miss.Fame’s arms. It makes her tear up as she thinks of how much her own mother worries about her.
“You can stay,” Miss. Fame sighs. “But just for a couple days, ok? No more wandering the milky way for cows, though. You’re going straight home after this, and I don’t want to hear another word about it.”
Miss. Fame brings another pair of sheets to Katya’s bed while Katya lends Alaska a white nightie to sleep in. When she hands it to her, Katya stares at the ground. It’s childish, but she’s still mad.
They curl in bed, and when Katya closes her eyes, she can see the red of the flames, as if they’ve been seared into her lids. Besides her, Alaska sniffles.
“I’m sorry, Katya. You’ve been nothing but a kind, Earthling witch, and I haven’t repaid your kindness with the truth. I just…please understand that I didn’t know what to say to her. I still don’t. My mom left my planet right after I was born, so all I had was one hologram of her inside my bedroom. That’s it. My father wouldn’t tell me why she left to earth or how she got to Glamatron in the first place. My kind all have blue skin, but because of her I’ve got pale skin, like yours. That’s all I had. One hologram. Light skin. And the knowledge of Earth.”
Katya turns around, so she’s face to face with Alaska, and she hates that she can’t stay mad at her. Alaska is a lonely girl, like her, looking for her place in the universe. She’s sad, confused, and hurting.
She reaches up and tenderly wipes the tears from Alaska’s face. She’s journeyed all the way across the universe to see her mother, only to be told that she has to leave. Katya can’t even imagine what that rejection feels like.
Katya sighs and says, “I’m sorry that your Mom left you. My dad did too, and I know it’s not the same because he only moved a couple of blocks down in Brooklyn and not to a whole other planet…but I never knew what to say to him either. Sometimes people leave you…”
“I wish I knew why. If I have skin just like hers, why didn’t she…?”
Want me, Katya fills in the silence.
“I don’t know. Humans are just…shitty.”
Alaska shifts closer to her: “No, all beings in this universe are equally shitty. Humans might have a monopoly on milk but not on the quality of ‘shitty’-ness.”
Katya giggles and inches closer. Her naked toes brush against Alaska’s, and she shivers at the sudden contact.
“I guess I’m a liar too. Humans don’t kiss each other on the lips to say ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye,’” Katya confesses. “I just wanted to kiss you.”
Alaska shifts forward on the bed, eyes glinting in the dim moonlight, and presses her lips to Katya’s- “They don’t on my planet either.”
She falls asleep in Alaska’s arms.
———
START THE IGNITION
Katya wakes up in the morning to find Alaska’s pink nails resting around the curve of her stomach. The sun is yawning awake and beams of light slip through the curtains. It seems the world has shaken off the ash from the dark night and left a shining, yellow kingdom.
Katya flushes, sweat trickling down her neck, as she feels Alaska’s bulge pressed up to her backside. The light makes her squint as she twists around in Alaska’s arms-
“That feels nice,” Katya whispers and scoots back.
Alaska, still asleep, just nuzzles deeper into Katya. Her breath is hot against the curve of her neck. Katya wriggles against the tight grip and pushes further back into Alaska. Even through the fabric, she can feel Alaska’s cock growing harder and harder.
“Alaska,” Katya whimpers, a little louder.
Her eyes flutter, and she feels the wetness spreading between her thighs. It’s just like the first night on the broom. Kaya squeezes her legs together as she remembers the vibrating sensation and then rolls her hips up into Alaska’s cock.
Since Alaska’s growing harder against her, Katya decides to continue. Oh god, this feels so fucking good. After the night of confusion, it’s nice to be held so tightly in Alaska’s grip. For the first time, there’s no where in the world Katya would rather be. Not Paris. Not New Orleans.
“Katya,” Alaska moans, and when she pushes her cock against Katya’s white nightie this time, it’s intentional. Katya let’s out an involuntary whimper. The insides of her thighs are slick. Her eyes are half hooded. Her toes curl.
“I don’t know what this is,” Katya confesses. “But I don’t want to stop. F-feels so nice.”
“What? Humans don’t have sex for pleasure?”
“Is this what sex is?” Katya wonders out loud as Alaska’s long nails pull up her nightie. She flushes as she looks down and sees how her panties are wet and stained. Her nipples are painfully erect, and she gasps as they brush against her soft nightie.
“At least this is what my people consider sex? Should we ask my Mom?”
“No,” Katya says quickly because she might not know the name for this, but she knows Miss. Fame would not approve of such wanton behavior. Still, the thought of the older woman’s disapproval doesn’t stop her from rolling over, so they’re chest to chest.
She cups Alaska’s flushed face and kisses her, all tongue and desire. Now, Alaska’s cock is pressed up against the softness of her belly. Katya reaches down to touch it, loving how thick and real it feels in her hand. Katya strokes her through her panties.
When she slips her hand down, lower, Katya gasps at the wetness. She hadn’t realized it before but Alaska is…
“A hermaphrodite?”
“Hm?” Alaska murmurs against her lips.
“It’s strange you have both,” Katya giggles, nervous. She’s read about it before, as an insult, but she’s never met anyone before with both. She cautiously moves her hand down and bits her lips as she slides down inside Alaska. Oh.
“Well, I find it strange you only get one,” Alaska shoots back.
“I don’t care which parts you got. Long as you know what to do with ‘em,” Katya says as she pulls back to squeeze her hand around Alaska’s cock. What she lacks in experience, Katya makes up with enthusiasm. Alaska’s eyes are half lidded and she twitches in her grip.
Alaska’s cock, long and hard, is so nice in the palm of her hand. It’s so dirty too, knowing that Fame is only a couple of rooms away. Katya buries her face into Alaska’s shoulder and inhales her slightly smoky scent. Alaska’s nails are too long to touch her directly, but her leg is pressed up between Katya’s thighs. Katya bites back a whimper as she gets herself off against Alaska’s hard leg. Back and forth. Breathe. Back and forth.
Katya’s never gone this far before, but, with Alaska’s soft reassurances in her ear, she lets herself go. Her panties are getting wetter. Her heavy breasts are pressed up to Alaska’s as they rut off against each other, like animals in heat.
“I want to be inside you,” Alaska whispers in her ear, and Katya can’t hold back a whimper. It’s embarrassingly loud. She feels as though she doesn’t have control over her body anymore. Alaska’s mouth is all she can taste. Alaska’s knee pressed against her wetness is all she can feel. Her own heart pounding is all that she can hear.
“I- I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Katya pants. The last thing she wants is to get pregnant. If that’s how it works?
“My semen is only fertile once a moon cycle. Don’t worry, it’s safe,” Alaska reassures her, and, fuck, it’s a good thing alien sex is different than human sex. Not that Katya knows that much about how either works.
She responds by pushing Alaska back and climbing on top of her. She can see herself coming apart in Alaska’s dilated pupils. She pushes down her panties all the way as Alaska does the same. The tip of Alaska, just pressed up inside her, makes Katya’s eyes flutter. She sinks down, taking Alaska all the way inside of her warmth, and blinks away the tears. Oh, wow, this is amazing.
Alaska’s nails sink into her hips to steady her. She throws her head back as she rides Alaska. It’s nothing like having her broomstick pressed up between her legs. No, Alaska is real and squirms under her. Riding Alaska is everything that Katya never knew she wanted.
“So beautiful,” Alaska gasps.
“Beyond this planet beautiful?” Katya teases as she pushes up and down, breasts bouncing.
Her nightie hides the obscene sight, so she lifts it up to watch Alaska’s cock sliding in and out of her. It’s so pink and full, and she loves how it fills her up. Katya, moaning pitifully, speeds up her pace.
“You’re the best thing in this Milky Way,” Alaska promises as she flips them over, so she’s between Katya’s thighs. She wraps her legs around Alaska, loving how she pushes inside of her so easily. It’s like they were meant to come together like this. They fit so perfectly.
“Better than milk?”
Alaska giggle turns into a moan as she fucks her into the mattress, so hard that the bed squeaks. Katya has to bite her shoulder to stop herself from screaming Alaska’s name.
“Better,” Alaska promises with a grunt, and then she’s coming inside Katya. But Katya doesn’t want her stop. She squeezes her thighs around Alaska’s back, holding her there, and then she’s coming herself. She comes with a silent gasp, Alaska’s name on her tongue.
“I can’t believe you think I’m better than milk,” Katya giggles as Alaska rolls off of her. The cum is dripping out of her, and Katya doesn’t want to move, wants to keep it inside of her.
“You’ve changed me,” Alaska says, and, though she smiles, she sounds serious.
Katya pulls Alaska down by her long hair to steal another kiss. She feels so greedy. How has Katya just had her, but, still, she wants her? Buried deep, deep inside of her? Maybe Katya just loves the idea of being so close to her.
“Tell me you don’t have to leave,” Katya pleads.
Alaska looks down at her and just kisses her instead of saying the words. She doesn’t want to lie to me again, Katya realizes.
They get cleaned up and change into real clothes. When they go out to do the chores, Katya feels Betty’s glowing orange eyes following her.
If Katya were a Christian, she might have sunk down to her knees for the Lord. Instead, as she throws out feed to the chickens, she says a small prayer to the goddesses. Please, let Alaska stay here with me. Please.
Katya might be sixteen years old, but this is the closest thing to love she’s ever felt. Why did she have to fall for the princess of daddy issues?
When she comes back in, Katya sees that Miss. Fame has been talking to Betty. Shit, that pussy cat ratted her out.
“Katya…” Miss. Fame clears her throat. “Alaska, she has to go back. You know that right? She can’t stay here-”
“I know that,” she snaps.
“So, uh, it might be wise for you two to sleep in separate beds…don’t you think, Alaska?”
Alaska walks in and Katya watches as her face heats up. The blood rises to her face too as Katya protectively steps in front of her.
“You’re not even her mom and you never will be,” Katya yells before she even realizes what she’s saying. “You left her, alone. On a planet full of toxic air. So what gives you the right to boss her around? You don’t do anything but babble in Latin and pray to goddesses that don’t listen, y-you crazy chicken lady!” Katya yells and slams the door to her room.
It’s horrible, and she realizes how ungrateful that she must sound.
But Katya’s glad she said it anyway. This is the only friend she’s had in Kansas, and now Miss. Fame is trying to split them up before Alaska even has to leave. Maybe it might have been better if they never met. Never kissed. Never held each other so tenderly.
She starts to gather her things from the drawers and stuff them into her suitcase. All she wants is to go home. Away from nowhere land. Away from the farm. Away from the pain.
“Katya,” Alaska says softly as she opens the door.
Her tarot card tumble to the floor, and she bursts into tears.
“I just…I don’t want you to leave,” Katya cries. “You just came. You just came and now you have to go.”
“I’ll be back,” Alaska promises.
“When?”
“As soon as I’m eighteen, I’ll be legal. I’ll come back for you, Kat, and we’ll hitch hike across the galaxy together.”
“How will you find me?” She sniffles.
“Wait for me in Paris,” Alaska whispers and kisses her.
Katya knows it’s ridiculous, but she believes her anyways. She’s horribly in love, and there’s no potion known to witch kind that can cure her. This is a language that transcends cultures. They both know what it means when Katya pulls Alaska down and kisses her, cheeks wet with tears.
“Can you read our future?” Alaska asks and gestures to the tarot cards.
Katya closes her eyes and hovers her hands over the cards. She flips it over.
“Simulacyum fidei- latin for conjugal faith. Better known as…The Lovers,” Katya explains as she strokes the rainbow at the center, above the conjoined couple. She looks up and meets Alaska’s heated gaze. The cards have never lied to her, although she’s sometimes misread them, but this time it’s clear.
“What does it mean?”
“It means we’re going to be okay, Lasky. We’ll meet again.”
———
DEPARTURE
After Katya’s outburst, Miss. Fame comes to her with a potions book- a white flag. They continue their Latin lessons, but, now, Miss. Fame shows her how the ancient words link to the spells. Katya’s glad she finally spoke up, even though she’s sorry for how it came out.
“I’m sorry for calling you a ‘crazy chicken lady,’” Katya says as she accepts the potions book. “And saying that you aren’t Alaska’s mom. That’s none of my business. I really am grateful for everything that you’ve done for me.”
“No, I am a crazy chicken lady,” Miss. Fame laughs and then her face changes. “Katya, Alaska’s father he…abducted me. Do you understand? He took me, and I didn’t have a choice. So when he gave me the option to leave, so long as I left Alaska, I…”
She sags, and, for once, Miss. Fame looks her age. All one hundred years. Katya gives her a side hug. For all of her faults, Miss. Fame is a good woman.
“Did you tell Alaska?”
“No, I don’t want her to think less of her father. I’d rather she hated me.”
“You have to tell her, though!”
Miss. Fame shakes her head: “I can’t. I know that I lose myself in my Latin recitations and prayers, but it’s because…”
“You’re scared?”
“Because I’m trying to forget, Kat. Forget how they- what he- no, I can never tell Alaska what really happened to me.”
Katya buries her face into Miss. Fame’s shoulder and rubs her back as she cries. There’s so much pain and history that she’ll never understand.
“Forgive her,” she whispers to Alaska that night, as she collapses besides her.
“Why should I?” Alaska grumbles, burying her face between Katya’s breasts. This is their last night together for who knows how long. Katya wants to just fall into blissful sleep, but she has to speak up.
“I…I think she had her reasons,” Katya says truthfully. “She didn’t want to leave you, Alaska, but she had to go back home. Just like you had to come here.”
“Who was she running from?”
Katya bites her lip.
“Was it my dad?”
She doesn’t nod, but she blinks. Alaska rolls over, to stare up at the expanding moon, and sighs. Katya wants to kiss away all the pain on that moonlight soaked face.
They’ve spent this last week together, and Katya’s basking in the glow of Alaska’s touch. Their bodies and minds fit so effortlessly together. How is that she found her soulmate in the middle of Kansas? After the tarot cards, Katya is no longer as afraid for their future. They found each other once. They’ll do it again.
“I have to go,” Alaska says, softly, as she rises to get dressed, and Katya understands that it’s time. They’ve put it off long enough.
Katya presses a golden flask into Alaska’s hands. Alaska’s pink nails curl around the neck of the bottle.
“What’s this?”
“A luck potion- for strength.”
“Is this how witches say ‘I love you?’” Alaska teases as she pulls her in for a kiss.
“No, it’s how I say ‘don’t forget about me.’”
“How could I forget about the best thing in the Milky Way galaxy?”
“Better than milk?” Katya whispers as she hides her face into the curve of Alaska’s neck.
“Of course.”
Katya watches as the spaceship zooms into the darkness of the night. The universe is vast and infinite, stretching before her like the fields, but Katya has faith that the stars will bring them together again.
“Bluebirds singin’ a song. Nothin’ but bluebirds all day long,” Katya sings into the darkness as she cries. “Blue skies, smilin’ at me. Nothin’ but blues skies do I see…wondering when my love will come back to me.”
Katya falls asleep there in the cornfields, and, when she awakens, a blue bird has landed on her broomstick.
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