Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 108211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 541(@200wpm)___ 433(@250wpm)___ 361(@300wpm)
“Will you shush that beast?” Mother Strict-ezz demanded. “We are trying to earn ABSOLUTION here!”
“Er—I think I’d better take him outside,” Andi said. “I haven’t had him that long and he’s still learning how to behave. Excuse me.”
“Wait for me, I’m coming with you!” Flow-da whispered. The two of them rose and shuffled hurriedly past the many benches to the end of the hall. As they left, Andi dropped her bundle of Pain Leaf branches on the ground but a glance behind her showed the other women in the congregation were all beating themselves with the stinging plants—their backs already oozing green blood.
All but one of the women was facing forward—Goodie Tight-azz had her head turned around and was glaring at Andi and Flow-da angrily. Andi pretended not to notice as she hurried to get out of the New Order meeting hall.
She’d had as much of the NO meeting as she could take—and more than enough craziness to last her a lifetime!
28
CADE
Cade looked worriedly down at his female’s bleeding back. Why had she hurt herself? Why had she deliberately inflicted pain and wounds on her beautiful skin?
He didn’t understand at all—except it seemed to have something to do with the Sour Woman, who had a tight, puckered face and owned the rooms they had gone to stay in.
Cade didn’t like the Sour Woman. She looked at his female as though she was angry with her all the time. Also, her smell was sour and wrong. She smelled of anger and pent up frustration—like everything inside her had gone rotten years ago.
Being near the Sour Woman was bad for his female—Cade knew that now. He wanted to get her away from the Sour House where the Sour Woman lived. But for now, he mostly wanted to heal her. He knew that by licking her wounds he could close them—his body could always heal the body of his mate. But how could he convince her to let him heal her?
He would have to wait and choose his moment, he thought. The next time he got her alone, he would heal her. In the meantime, he would keep a close eye on her and be sure she didn’t hurt herself again!
29
ANDI
Andi had seen documentaries about the flagellants of Medieval times—mostly monks who felt like their sins were so bad they had to beat themselves until they were bloody to make up for them. That was what the weird New Order atonement ritual reminded her of.
Suddenly the brownish stains on the atonement garment she’d been given to wear made sense.
“They’re blood stains!” Andi muttered to herself, feeling her stomach roll as she looked down at the light blue garment. The New Order women beat themselves until they bled on a regular basis! That would also explain the many tiny white scars she’d seen on Goodie Tight-azz’s back—and the backs of many of the other women as well.
“Ugh—that was awful!” Flow-da exclaimed, when they at last stepped out into the weak, bluish Zo’rathian sunshine. “I had no idea that kind of thing was going on in there or I never would have agreed to go to that nasty meeting!”
“So your friend who was in the New Order never said anything about it?” Andi asked, as she carefully stripped off the heavy white glove and laid it on the steps of the meeting hall.
“No, never!” Flow-da shook her head, her eyes wide. “Either she was ashamed to tell me, or they’ve gotten a lot worse since she got kicked out and moved up to the Moon.”
“That was cult-like behavior!” Andi remarked. “God, my back stings!”
“Let me see.” Flow-da had her turn around. As soon as she saw Andi’s back, she gave a little hiss of sympathy. “Oh dear—your skin must be more sensitive than a Zo’rathian’s. It looks like somebody cut you all up!”
“That’s what it feels like, too,” Andi admitted. “Let me look at your back.”
Flow-da turned around and though she had a few spots of dark green blood on her green skin, Andi didn’t see much damage.
“You should probably be all right,” she said. “You must not have hit yourself as hard as I did—but I thought I was being really careful!”
“That’s the thing about Pain Leaves—they have these microscopically sharp leaves that slice you open with the least amount of pressure,” Flow-da told her. “I think they even use them for surgical instruments sometimes.”
“Well, it feels like I went to surgery with no anesthetic.” Andi winced and twitched her shoulders again. “Ugh—I’m sorry, Flow-da, but I really don’t feel like going shopping now.”
“Of course not! We both need to get showers and get cleaned up,” Flow-da exclaimed.
“Er…do you think it’s safe to go back to Goodie Tight-azz’s house, though?” Andi asked. “I mean, I don’t know if you saw her but she was glaring at us as we left.”