Chapter 21
CHAPTER
TWENTY-ONE
SHOCK
I had thought our first trip to town all together would end at dinner or one of the art exhibitions or even Margot’s, not with the four of us going separate ways.
Kilo is waiting with Riann when we drop Arc off, and he looks back at us warily. He doesn’t want to go and the fact that we don’t want him to go either doesn’t help.
Chrys and Risk get out at the open-air mall, where they’ll meander until Chrys meets up with Mary and Risk goes to the library.
And I go to bother a dying man.
Noa’s office is in one of the few buildings that spread out and down, rather than up.
He owns the whole thing, but I wouldn’t guess it when he’s the only one who’s there to greet me.
“Mister Shock.” He stands and dips his head in greeting. “What a pleasure to meet with you again.”
“I wish I could say it was simply a social visit.”
“Next time, it should be. I will give you a tour and show you the thing that killed me.”
He smiles as he says it, but there’s a bitterness to the words he can’t hide.
“Next time, I’ll take you up on that.”
He motions for me to go through a bright doorway instead of sitting at his desk.
I had assumed that the building was an enormous circle of offices and manufacturing labs…
but it’s not. It’s a massive ring around a courtyard and an enormous pool of water sparkling over black tile, broken only by the reflection of the towers that manage to peek at the edges.
“I didn’t know this was here.”
“Too few do.” He smiles at the water. “But you’re here for a reason.”
“I am. I’ve been told you’re recovering the remnants at the crash site soon. I had hoped you could tell me more than you were able to last time.”
“I’m sorry, when it comes to Atker, people tend to do anything to not say his name. It might sound superstitious, but you don’t want to summon him. I did not know your connections before.”
He says the name as if I should know it. Like I should have other information already.
“Atker?”
Noa nods and tosses a stone into the water. “He’s the one who set the brotherhood up in the outposts and funded your supplies… Why don’t you look like you know that name?”
“Because I didn’t.”
Noa’s smile disappears, and he steps close. “Do not look into him. You will only wind up with dead ends or worse, a visit from him.”
“Why would that be so bad?”
“I just told you that everyone who knows him does what they can to avoid being noticed by him and you don’t take that warning?”
“I want answers. Sounds like he’s the only one who’s going to have them.”
“Find another way to get them. When I tell you this man could walk up to you in the CSS building lobby, shoot you in the head, and then have a casual conversation with the guard on duty, I am not exaggerating.”
“No one should have that kind of impunity.”
“Probably not, but he does.”
“Why?”
Noa looks me up and down. “You aren’t going to let this go, are you?”
“No.”
“Then my death isn’t the one you need to worry about. If you come back to your senses, let me know and I will give you that tour. If you don’t… I’ll send flowers to your funeral.”
He leaves me standing at the water’s edge and I wait until he’s disappeared inside to leave.
I drive to the library in silence, parking in front of one of its muraled walls.
I sit there and stare at the flower-strewn wall until Risk opens the car and climbs in beside me.
“You have news,” he says.
“The man who owned the ship that brought Chrys here, he’s called Atker.”
Dread through the bond makes my stomach twist, and I look at him, surprised at the pallor of his yellow skin. “What do you know?”
“I know that that’s not what we called him.”
CHRYS
I’m early, so when Risk leaves me at the cafe, I once again tell Paisley that I left Kissu at home.
“I really thought you’d bring him in this time,” Paisley says it like we’re friends and she’s disappointed, but her face betrays her.
“Sorry. He’s very stubborn.”
She scowls sharply, and I try to ignore it. “I’m meeting my friend again, so I’ll just be over here waiting.”
I sit on one of the sofas where I’m promptly buried in zurgles who want to sniff every inch of me. A few inquisitive chirps follow.
If Kissu can understand me, I assume these ones can too.
“His name is Kissu,” I tell them. “He’s very big and he’s very old, and I love him to pieces.”
I spend the intervening minutes before Mary’s arrival telling them all how pretty they are and scratch their ears where Kissu likes.
When the door opens, I lose their attention completely and they jump away to investigate. But that’s okay. I need to stand up anyway.
“Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiii,” Mary hugs me tight and rocks me almost in a dance. “You’re bonded!”
“I am! Sorry it took so long to get the paperwork in.”
“Believe me, I understand.” She gives me a knowing smile and steps back, looking me over like she’s taking measurements. Not sure I like that.
“Just us again?” I ask.
“For the moment,” she rolls her eyes but doesn’t actually look annoyed. “Wren is running a little late. She was out with her sponsor, but she’ll be here in a few minutes, so let’s grab a table. Oh! She’s not here.”
I look behind the counter where the waitress is supposed to be. “She was a few minutes ago.”
“Oh well, she probably had to run to the back for something. We’ll sit and talk until she reappears.” Mary chuckles. “And if she doesn’t come back, I think I know how to work that machine.”
That machine is enormous, has far too many knobs and levers, and looks like it would kill me if it fell on me.
Even if she can work it, I’d rather leave it to a trained professional.
“Or…” I counteroffer, “We’ll harness up one of the zurgles and hunt her down.”
She laughs again as we go to a booth in the corner. “I bet if we got them all hooked up, they could move the whole building.”
“I would like to see that.” I sit, looking around at them—waiting, watching us—and ask, “Why are there so many of them? It doesn’t seem like they’re very busy.”
“That is because I timed this meeting very carefully. In two hours, you wouldn’t be able to find a seat.”
Movement outside catches my eye and I glance out to the sidewalk. I almost tell Mary I’ve found the waitress, but she’s arguing with a Sian and something about him unsettles me. I watch as he responds dismissively.
Maybe that’s all it is.
Then he turns his head just enough that I can see his face.
My thoughts freeze and my skin goes cold.
I’ve never seen that man before in my life, but I know exactly who he is.
“Everything okay?” Mary asks, watching me warily when I turn back.
“Yeah.” I shake off the dread fluttering over my skin. “I just thought I saw someone I knew, but I was wrong.”
“Okay.” She nods like she’s confident, but she still sounds worried, and then she quietly claps her hands. “There’s Wren, my little lost sheep.”
The woman walking toward us is wearing way too much black to be around this much zurgle hair. She snorts a laugh and shakes her head before holding out a perfectly manicured hand to me. “Don’t let her fool you. I’m so far from a lamb. It’s nice to meet you finally!”
She’s so gorgeous… if she and Riann were bonded, they might be the prettiest couple on the planet.
“You too. She’s told me so many bad things about you.”
“I have not!” Mary drops her hands to the tabletop a little too hard. “Don’t you dare make her think that.”
“She hasn’t.” I hold my hand up and mouth, “So many bad things.”
Wren laughs and sits beside Mary, hugging her as the waitress returns, but we don’t have to order. She just brings us the same things we ordered last time and a purple coffee for Wren.
She makes an unhappy noise when we thank her and hurries away.
The three of us share a look, but Mary asks Wren about her visit to a shooting range, of all places.
I watch the waitress work for a moment. She’s tense, and I don’t like it one bit.
“Oh!” Wren says, clasping her hands around her cup. “You met my best friend the other week. Leah,” she clarifies, “At Margot’s. She said you can do some pretty amazing things on a pole.”
“Is Margot trying to steal you away from me?” Mary pretends to be mad.
“Of course she is, but I’m not quitting.” I reach across the table and squeeze her hand.
“I’m considering giving classes, though.”
“You should.” Mary nods and says, “I’ll sign up!” before she takes a long sip of her coffee.
“If you do and Mary signs up, let me know. I want to be there to cheer her on.” Wren smiles slyly.
“You want to see me fall flat on my ass.” Mary snorts and Wren doesn’t deny it. She sips her coffee and gives us another wicked smile.
The zurgles come and go, most of them giving all their love to Wren, but one of them sits quietly beside me, letting me pet it all the while.
“We should get a group together and go to the—”
The zurgle beside me hisses and yowls as the waitress sets a second cup of coffee in front of me.
“What the hell has gotten into her?” Wren asks as the zurgle jumps onto the table and knocks the cup off it.
The waitress catches it before it has a chance to shatter, but the lid flies and its contents spill across the floor.
“Shoot.” Exhaling and screwing her eyes shut, she says, “I’ll get you another one.”
But Mary says, “You know what, I’m done. Why don’t you just take mine?”
“No,” Paisley says, too firmly. “I can remake it.”
“Honestly, it’s fine.” Mary slides her cup across the table to me and the zurgle doesn’t react to it at all. She stares at the waitress, the pompom on the end of her tail twitching.
“Okay, let me get a mop before you get up. Don’t want anyone to fall.”
She walks away and Mary, very quietly, asks, “What the hell was that?”
I scratch the zurgle’s head and it leans into me, purring loudly. “I don’t know.”
ARC
The town isn’t abandoned anymore.
Calisan is under a full-blown CSS occupation.
Doors are marked with Xs, weeds and overgrowth have been violently cleared away, and everyone has a gun.
No one is happy Kilo and I are here… including us.