Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 54388 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 272(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 181(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54388 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 272(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 181(@300wpm)
“I’m so sorry we couldn’t find him,” Serenai said, putting a hand on the big half-Kindred’s arm. She found that she wanted to touch him more and more and Brax didn’t seem to have any objection to it.
He laid his own hand over hers and shook his head.
“Well, I only tamed him a little while ago. Maybe he found a way out and he’s making his way back to his own kind.”
“But the Blood Circuit arena is so far from here!” Serena protested. “Should we try to search around the building?”
Brax gave half a laugh.
“Mistress, have you seen how big this building is? It takes up a whole fucking city block! We’d be searching for cycles.” He shook his head. “No, it’s probably better to leave him to his own devices. He’s a resourceful little guy. If he can’t get back to his original home, he’ll probably find some more chirlers around here to stay with.”
Serenai still felt bad about the loss of the little pet, but she was so hungry she had to give her attention to her meal. It was some kind of mixture of alternating chunks of food—some of them were big and pink and fluffy and the others were orange and green and blue. These were cut into crispy little cubes that squirted tangy juice across her tongue when she bit into them. The whole thing was tied together with a creamy white sauce that tasted delicious.
Apparently Brax liked it too. After having second and then third helpings, he sat back with a contented sigh.
“Mmm—that’s the best Sivoleese casserole I’ve ever eaten,” he rumbled. “My compliments to the chef.”
“Why, thank you!” Robbi, who had been hovering around, refilling their glasses and plates when they asked, nodded his round, metallic head. His high, robotic voice sounded quite pleased, Serenai thought. “If you are finished eating, I will begin to wash the dishes,” he added.
Serenai started to protest. After all, back at the Convent she and all the other girls had taken turns doing the chores like taking out the trash, sweeping, gardening, and doing the dishes, just to name a few. But then she had a thought—Robbi was a service droid, a robo-butler. He was built to do chores—there was literally nothing else for him to do. And why should she always do things the way they had been done in the Convent?
“All right,” she said at last. “But…would you like some help?”
“Negative, Mistress.” Robbi shook his head. “I am well content to do the dishes on my own. It is one of my functions.”
“Good. And my function is to go find out where that fucking red-eyed thing is hiding,” Brax remarked.
“Oh—do you have to?” Serenai felt a chill rush down her spine. “I mean, do you think it’s safe?”
“I’ll be fine, Mistress.” He squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. “But maybe you’d better stay back here with Robbi while I look.”
Serenai lifted her chin.
“No, I want to come with you!”
He frowned, then shrugged his shoulders, which were still bare, since the two of them were still dressed in their night clothes.
“Fine, if you want to. I’m going to be tearing up your mother’s closet, though. That’s the last place I saw it, so it stands to reason it’s the first place to look.”
“Oh…all right.” Serenai felt another cool shiver go down her spine, but she refused to be frightened. As long as the big half-Kindred was with her, she didn’t fear anything, she told herself. In fact, she doubted the thing with red eyes would dare to come out at all!
She fully expected never to see it again.
19
BRAX
The minute Brax entered the large, walk-in closet, he heard something suspicious. It sounded like a nibbling or gnawing sound and it was coming from the very back of the closet, down near one of the many shoe racks.
Brax pushed the rack aside, careless of the shoes that fell off, and went searching for the source of the sound. A moment later, he gave a bark of surprised laughter.
“So that’s where you went!”
“What is it? Is everything all right?” Behind him, Serenai sounded worried.
“Everything’s fine,” Brax reassured her. “I just found Cheeky, that’s all. Come look.”
She knelt beside him in the rather cramped space and a smile broke over her lovely face.
“Oh, I’m so glad you didn’t lose him! But what’s he doing?”
Cheeky appeared to be trying to get into one of the baseboards. He was gnawing and scratching at it industriously, almost as though he was trying to pry it up to get at something beneath it.
But no—it wasn’t a baseboard, Brax realized.
“Look,” he said. “I think he’s found some kind of secret compartment. Move, little guy—let me try,” he added, scooping the little animal up in one hand. “Here, will you hold him?” he asked Serenai.
“Of course I will. Hey, little guy!” she cooed, cuddling the little animal to her cheek. “Your fur is so soft!”