“The waitress from the zurgle cafe?”
He curses under his breath. “Damn zurgles. If I had time, I’d get rid of them, butno.I have to spend my time fixing what other people broke. I don’twantto do any of this to you. I didn’t want to do any of it to begin with.” He inhales so deeply and exhales so heavily, for the first time, I am a little scared. “If you don’t shut up, I will muzzle you until I have time to remove your vocal chords.”
I don’t have a comeback for that. Mostly because I believe him.
I grip the bars a little tighter. There are too many monsters here. If they come in to save me, I don’t think they’ll get past the door before they have to retreat and I wouldreallylike to get out of here today.
Sitting back in the chair again, I look up, trying to think, and that’s when I realize the darkness overhead isn’t rock.
Head tipping to the side, I trace a dozen pipes and connectors.
They might not hold my weight… they’re probably dirty as hell… But I see light.
No point innotexploring.
When Atker isn’t looking, I jump up to the closest one to the ground and heft myself up.
Very dirty, yes, but also sturdy as hell. Getting myself up onto it, I scrub my hands on my pants. I don’t need to slide off the next one I jump to because my hands and the pipe are too slip-slidey.
It’s a maze up here. I have to twist and wriggle to get through, but thereissomething up here. Whether or not I can fit through…
He curses and I hear the rattle of metal moving. The cage door screeches open.
“Get down from there!”
I find another foothold and boost myself up.
“What do you think you’re doing?” He huffs. “Answer me!”
“And lose my vocal chords? No thank you!”
The light… is a crack, not a hole. “Damn.”
“I’m not going to remove your vocal chords.” He exhales long and slow… again, a familiar sound from dealing with high school teachers.
“You can’t stay up there forever and if you try to and fall…”
I didn’t realize risking my life was going to be leverage.
“Fine. I’ll come down, but you and I need to work out some terms and conditions.”
I scrub my hands on my pants—they are filthy—and retrace my path back down.
If nothing else, I distracted him for a while. I’ll keep distracting him if I can.
Sitting on one of the pipes, high enough up I know he can’t reach me, I say, “I don’t want to stay with Paisley.”
“What?” His face scrunches up like it was the last thing he expected me to say.
“She’s rude and I think she tried to drug me. I assume that was for you, but maybe not…” I pretend to muse on it. “Oh! And Idon’t want to be cooped up inside with no field trips. You’ve seen how I get when I’m bored.”
He stares at me and for a moment, I think he’s fully glitched. Then he blinks. “Is that all?”
“I’d also like a pony.”
“We don’t have those here.”
I know. “I’m willing to bet you’re the one man on the planet who could get one for me.”
