Chapter 7 #2
Holly stopped in her tracks, her heart lurching.
The children were no taller than mid-thigh on her.
They had orange hair like their mother, and they were all exactly identical.
Same round faces. Same wide eyes. Same eerily blank expressions.
Holly couldn’t even tell if they were boys or girls.
They had appeared out of nowhere, scurrying out from the undergrowth like a swarm, and now they stood in a perfect circle around her, staring up at her without blinking.
They moved as one. Perfectly in sync. As if they shared a single mind.
Holly did not move. She was afraid to breathe.
The mother turned, saw what was happening, and abruptly abandoned her berry-picking. She hurried over, waving her hands and calling out apologies as she came.
“Oh, no. No, no. Stop that now.” She sounded frazzled, her voice carrying the exhaustion of someone over-scheduled, overstimulated, and running on very little sleep. She waved at the children. “This lady isn’t a threat. Back away. You’re scaring her.”
The children did not seem to care who they were scaring. But they did move, flowing away from Holly to surround their mother instead. They continued staring at Holly with those blank, unblinking eyes.
“I’m so sorry,” the woman said, offering Holly a tired smile. “I’m Mish. These are my children. We’re Uvian, by the way.”
“Uvian,” Holly repeated. She had heard of them, vaguely. They looked a lot like humans, but their children were…different. “I’m Holly. Holly Greene-Moone. I’m the new owner of Moone’s Landing.”
“Oh, I know who you are.” Mish’s smile widened. She seemed friendly, despite her obvious exhaustion. “Everyone knows you’re here. Word travels fast when there’s only thirty-six of us.”
“Thirty-six,” Holly said. “So there really are thirty-six residents.”
“Yes, although fourteen of them are my kids.” Mish glanced down at her children, who had arranged themselves in a protective formation around her legs.
“Uvian children share a hive mind until they reach a certain maturity level. Until then, they think and act as a single entity. One’s upset, they’re all upset.
” She reached down and patted the nearest identical head. “Keeps me busy.”
“I can imagine.” Barely. It took work for Holly to not appear unnerved.
As a synchronized group, the children took a step toward Holly.
Holly took a step back.
“They won’t hurt you,” Mish said quickly. “Unless they think you’re going to hurt me. Then, well.” She laughed, but it was a nervous laugh. “They can be quite deadly, actually. But you seem nice. They’ll warm up to you eventually.”
Holly stared at the fourteen identical, “deadly” children who were staring back at her. Nope. This lot did not need to warm up to her. She’d be avoiding them when she could.
But she liked their mother. Mish had an easy smile and a warmth about her that felt genuine. And she was clearly doing her best to keep this garden alive, which was more than Holly could say for her grandfather.
“Are you the one maintaining all of this?” Holly asked, gesturing at the garden.
Mish sighed. “Trying to. The groundskeeper left about two years ago. A few of us have pitched in to keep things going, but it’s a lot of work.
We really need a full-time person to tend to the forest and gardens.
” She wiped her hands on her apron. “It’s our main food source, and you probably already know this, but the nutrient processors here are awful.
Not as awful as what Cody cooks in the hotel lounge, but still.
Not enjoyable.” She tilted her head. “How are you enjoying the berries? Luv asked that some fresh fruit be brought to the hotel for you. We have a few varieties that are producing well.”
“Ah, yes.” Holly smiled. “They’ve made hot porridge actually taste good.”
Mish laughed. “Nothing could make that taste good, but I’m content with edible.” Her expression sobered. “I’m hoping things will change now that you’re here. We’re worried about the future of this place.”
“Because of the offers to buy it?”
She nodded. “You’ve heard about the man who arrived two days before you did.
The consultant.” Mish lowered her voice to a hush.
“He’s staying at the hotel. Seems nice, but he’s very determined to buy Moone’s Landing.
Been talking to everyone, asking questions.
Making noises about offering extra nits to anyone who leaves before the sale goes through.
” She pushed back a stray lock of wavy hair. “My children do not like him.”
“Ah, yes.” Room seventeen. “I haven’t met him, yet.” Holly felt a moment of worry for this man’s welfare, before shrugging it off. No one was forcing him to stay, after all. “You should know I have no intention of selling,” she said firmly.
Mish’s face brightened. “That’s good to hear.
Really good to hear.” She reached down and touched the head of her nearest child in a reassuring gesture.
“My husband is working a deep-space salvage job. We’re staying here until he gets back because it’s impossible to move Uvian children.
No one will take us, considering how, um, they are.
If the station were sold…” She trailed off, but Holly understood.
If the station were sold, Mish and her fourteen deadly children would have nowhere to go.
“I’m not selling,” Holly said again.
Mish smiled, and this time it reached her eyes.
Holly said her goodbyes and began a slow, careful retreat from the garden. She made sure not to make any sudden movements that might alarm the children. They watched her go with unblinking eyes, their small bodies perfectly still, perfectly synchronized.
She made a mental note to look up the best self-defense methods to protect oneself against murderous Uvian children. Just in case.
Holly made it back to the path and walked toward the hotel.
Her stomach was growling. Two people now had said that her cousin could not cook, so a meal in the hotel’s lounge was out of the question.
Maybe Luv had a suggestion. Added to that were her worries about the real estate consultant.
The man who was staying in room seventeen.
The man who wanted to take Moone’s Landing away from her before she even had a chance to save it.
She thought about all the things she would say to him.
How she would be polite but firm. How she would make it clear that she was not interested in selling, not now, not ever.
How she would send him packing and threaten to send Mish’s kids after him if he refused to leave.
No, she’d never do that last bit, but the mental image of a full-grown man hightailing it away from a pack of fourteen six-year-olds brought a chuckle up from the depths of her throat.
She had the speech half-composed in her head by the time she reached the hotel.
The door opened as she approached, and a man stepped out. They nearly collided, and would have, if Holly didn’t stop short when she did.
He was not as tall as she expected him to be, but he was good-looking in a way that made her think of icy tundras and predatory animals.
He had dark, perfectly styled hair and sharp, blue-tinged cheekbones.
His eyes were the color of a winter sky before a snow.
His suit was impeccably tailored, of course, and he filled it out with defined muscle.
He moved with an effortless grace that made Holly’s face flush with heat.
She bet he’d never doubted himself a day in his life, while she was doubting every choice she’d made up to this very moment.
There was no question, really. This was the consultant. The shark who had come to circle her wounded outpost.
She opened her mouth to deliver her speech.
Not a single word came out.