Kisa,Kissu thinks her name solemnly.Sisan studied for fun. Sisan loved.
He looks at me.Sisan loved Kissu more.
“His first Sisan studied them as a hobby.”
“In the wild?” Shock taps information into the tablet.
When Kissu answers, I say, “Yes.”
“Then Kissu is over a hundred years old.”
“Really?” Chrys asks what we’re all thinking and then scruffs his ruff up and kisses him on the forehead. “He’s just a baby.”
Kissu agrees with her, but I think he’d agree with anything she said.
“No one knows how long they can live, so… maybe.” Risk glares at the screen and then turns it back off. “Let’s try to go back to sleep, okay?”
“Okay,” she says with a sigh, tossing the blanket onto the couch and letting me help her down. “But only because you asked nicely.”
I follow them to the room, but I don’t go in.
Chrys looks at me from the center of the bed, with a disappointed smile. “You’ve got something to do, don’t you?”
Nodding, I glance at the other two, and at Kissu who’s jumped onto the foot of the bed.
Sheissafe.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Pausing at the welded door, an unsettled feeling falls over me. We need to put a metal plate over it too. I don’t want any ghosts seeping through, real or imagined.
I feel bad when I pull my bike from its place against the wall and grab a full fuel cell. They took the time to clean up, and all I ever do is leave a mess.
CHAPTER
THIRTEEN
RISK
Riann’s officemight as well be vacant.
There’s nothing in this room that shows anything of his personality. There’s not even a loose pen on the desk or recycling in the bin. No wonder he and Kilo rub each other the wrong way.
“I’m starting to feel like you all draw straws when it’s time to see me. And this time, you got the short one,” Riann says as he turns to me.
“I came because it was convenient.”
“And you came instead of sending a message, because…?” His brows are quirked in amusement, not irritation.
“Because you’re going to tell me that what I want isn’t available to me. But that’s a lie.”
His smile disappears. “Is that so?”
I nod. “Don’t worry. I know you’re not going to lie to me because youwantto.”
“Then why are you here? If you know it’s not available.”
“Because I don’t need you to show me the information. I just need you to know what the answer is. We can go from there.”
