Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 64359 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64359 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Now, instead of bleeding and screaming and clutching at his wounds, the stranger is laughing and… expanding? He gets taller and taller, and his face contorts strangely as it seems to stretch in a way that no human’s face ever could. I don’t know what the hell I am seeing. The mouth spreads wide, then splits at the corners as the top of his head hinges off to be replaced by a face that is less a face and more of a collection of sharp mandibles, knives, and eyes.
I hear Emrys curse, and Kronos leaps back and up onto a table, putting distance between him and the thing. The rest of the human suit falls off the thing in pieces, dropping heavily to the ground in chunks that land with a strangely satisfying thunk. One lands right in front of me, a bit of arm and leg. I reach out for it, curiosity demanding that I find out what it feels like. Hot silicone, squishy in parts and sort of solid in others. That’s what it feels like.
I am dragged back another several feet in one go, pulled from the scene of whatever the hell is happening in front of me.
Raz yanks me out the other side.
“As long as I’m touching you, it’s twice as hard for anyone else to see you,” he says. “We’re going out the back.”
“What was that… thing?” My voice holds a tremor. My hand still holds the disembodied fake arm of the monster I just bore horrible witness to. I am stunned, and I am confused, and I am intrigued.
“Oh,” he grins. “You must have sold yourself to a scythkin.”
I’ve heard of scythkins before, but I assumed they weren’t really real. The stories about them are fucking wild. They love owning humans, though some of the stories say they actually consider themselves protectors of humanity. I guess that’s in keeping. He was trying to help me before he came bursting all the way out of his skin.
Raz moves us around the back counter and then over it. I notice that I can somewhat see the counter through my body as we move over it. He is making me somewhat invisible somehow. I wonder if anything he touches also turns invisible, or if there’s something intentional about this process.
We sneak by the confrontation which is still taking place on the other side of the counter. The scythkin could rip the other two to shreds, but he seems to be restraining himself for the moment. I can’t hear what is being said, largely because Emrys is no longer shouting or raising his voice in any way.
I am pulled out the back of the diner, around the trash cans.
Raz is chuckling to himself as we put distance between ourselves and the three owners in the diner. He picks me up, swinging me onto his back as he carries me through the crowds, dodging aliens who clearly cannot see either one of us. It’s fun being invisible, even in this vicarious way.
We dash to the port, where a little bit of his ship is just barely visible until he puts his hand on the hull and a sleek blue vessel appears. It has swept back stabilizers and yellow contrast exhaust grates. It looks like something that was made to go very fast. It also looks very cheerful, much like Raz himself.
He gets us on board. The second the hull is sealed behind us, he barks a command in his native language. There’s a brief tugging sensation and then the station is a tiny dot in the distance. A second later, it is entirely gone.
I realize at this point that I am now stranded with nothing besides my clothing in a spaceship with an alien who can make himself invisible, and who has legal claim to me. I am out of the frying pan, but god knows what fire awaits me.
“You’re a real piece of work.” He smiles down at me, his handsome features lit with amusement. “I’ve seen some scams in my time, but that? That has to be one of the best.”
I let myself feel a little bit pleased at his compliment, though of course I have to deny that I was actually doing anything wrong.
“I have never seen anybody brave enough to sell themselves to the most dangerous aliens in the universe over and over again. You know they are going to hunt you down, don’t you?”
“We can’t let them find me.”
He cocks his head to the side, and his big blue shoulders perform a kind of shrug that indicates this is all out of his hands.
“Here’s the problem. Every time you sold yourself, the system tagged you.”
“Tagged my tablet, you mean.”
“No, I mean it tagged you. It’s nano-tech. The nearest commercial bots sent a little organism to fly in your ear or up your nose and it embedded a tag that broadcasts to your owner. You are never going to be able to escape any of us, Julie.”