I look at his outstretched hand. I look at him. What trick is this? I don’t understand. What am I supposed to do? What does he want from me?
His eyes flash with something. “Are you staying here, or coming with me, Little One?”
Tentatively, slowly, I reach out my own hand. I hate how much it is shaking. I place it on top of his and immediately his warmth seeps into me. He pulls me towards him. I jump into his arms, wrap myself around his body and cling on.
He stands up and laughs. My arms are around his neck. My legs around his waist. Every part of me is pressed against him as close as I can get.
“You do know you are a demon, not a monkey, right?”
I don’t know what he means. I only know one thing. I’ll be whatever he wants me to be.
Just as long as he never leaves me.
Chapter five
The sky goes on for ever and ever. Vast and endless. Achingly blue and scattered with white clouds. The beauty takes my breath away. It has been so very long since I have reveled in this glory.
“Get in the car,” says Mal.
I don’t want to stop drinking in the sight of the wondrous sky. But I don’t want Mal to know how much this means to me. Giving others tools to use against you is foolish. I’ve paid a heavy price for learning that lesson. I’m never going to forget it.
I force my gaze down to Mal. He is standing by something metal and shiny. It has wheels. I think it is a carriage. Humans could have shortened the word to car, but there are no horses in sight. Whatever it is, Mal is holding the door open and I can see leather seats. I do as I am told and slip inside.
Mal climbs in too. A loud rumble makes me jump. The carriage is vibrating. Then it moves forward. The smell of machinery and mineral oil assaults my nose. Humans really have become clever. Mechanical carriages. Whatever next?
The motion makes me disoriented and dizzy, so I close my eyes, curl up into a ball and wait for it to be over. It would be nice to see more of the sky, but Mal would catch me looking. And I have no wish to see what the human world looks like now. Everything will be new and strange and that is just too much.
So I cower and hide and keep my eyes closed. Even though that never stops the bad things from happening.
I let my thoughts drift. The rumble of the car is strangely soothing. It washes over me and carries me away. I float in a sea of emptiness.
Loud clicking startles me. My body flinches and my eyes snap open. Mal is clicking his fingers in front of my face. The car is stopped and he is outside, leaning over me from the open door.
“No drifting away, Little One,” he frowns.
I blink at him. I didn’t go that far. And it is not as if it is something I can control.
He sighs, takes my hand and pulls me out of the car and hurries me into a house. The door slams shut behind me. How long will it be until I see the outside world again?
“Don’t break anything,” says Mal as he strides away down a corridor.
I watch him go, and I fight the beating of my heart. Chasing after him will be pathetic. I will explore his home instead. It smells of him. I like it.
I wander around. Poking, examining, licking and sniffing. He has some interesting stuff. I don’t know the names of half of it. His home is nicer than the place he is keeping me. Which makes sense.
The light in the ceiling buzzes. It is louder and a different rhythm to the light back in the basement. Is it a different type of electricity? Humans had just started using electricity when I was captured. Seems they have it everywhere now.
I crawl up the wall and across the ceiling to investigate the light. I poke at it and it swings. I think the bulb is a little loose.
“Gray, get down from there!” says Mal.
He sounds calm, but there are notes of alarm in his voice. I drop down to stand in front of him. He shakes his head at me, but I don’t know why.
“You might as well choose some clothes while you are here,” he says. “You can’t wander around in that bathrobe all the time.”
I scowl at him and wrap my arms around myself and the robe. I absolutely can wear it all the time and he can’t stop me. I’ll eat his liver if he tries.
But I follow him as he leads me down the hallway. He opens a door and my eyes light up when I see a bedroom. But he ignores the bed and walks over to a wall with doors. He flings them open to reveal a row of clothes hanging neatly.
