“Very,” Notus agreed. “As is watching mind-numbing television. Binging a series of nonsense has been my morning.”
“Anything good?” Raiden asked.
Notus shrugged. “Nope. But there’s tons of sexy moments with an array of couples. Despite what I think the show is supposed to be about, it seems to me that we’re just waiting to see how everyone gets others in bed.”
“Why not just watch porn then?” Gale teased.
“Or Astro’s channel?” Tem asked. Hadley flushed, turning her face into Zilan’s shoulder.
I loved her blush. It was so damn pretty.
Notus nodded, as if he was thinking about it. “Yeah, maybe I’ll check it out. Hadley, want to join me later?” He winked at her increasingly red face.
“You’re not really going to do that, are you? You’re friends. Won’t that get awkward?” she asked.
My head tilted as I considered it. I mean, we’ve all watched his videos when he first created the account to support him. It’s easier to grow an account when people see that there are already a bunch of subscriptions. He had eleven just in this household. And I mean, if we’re paying for it, why not watch it? Am I right?
“I think there’s some disassociation involved when you watch your friends’ dirty videos,” Tem said. “In the same way as when they look at my photos online. I still subscribe to Astro’s channel and he donates to my causes.”
“Just think of the crossover audience you could gain if you make guest appearances,” Hadley said before she winced. “Okay, I didn’t think that sentence through.”
We laughed.
“The point is, you don’t really pay attention to the fact that you know the person in the video,” Tem said. “You’re just admiring their… art.”
“Art,” Arat snorted, a grin stretching across his face.
Kohara came back, his face tense as he looked around at us. His eyes touched everywhere, in an almost desperate look.
“What’s wrong?” Saar asked, patting the cushion next to him.
Kohara dropped, letting Saar pull him close. I watched as he deflated and let Saar tuck him into a hug. We waited in quiet until Koh spoke.
“In the last week, more than a hundred humans have been abducted from all over the world, and while that’s no surprising thing, at least a hundred have been confirmed to have been taken by Silence. Many of the others are suspected of being taken by Silence, but those are speculation.”
“I don’t get it,” Arat said, his lips still hovering over my skin. “I just don’t understand what they want with humans.”
When Koh didn’t answer, I knew that he had more. So did Saar. He rubbed Koh’s hair, carding his fingers through it before encouraging him. “What else, hun?” he murmured.
Koh scowled. “When they’re done breaking the humans to death, they’re being discarded. Almost always at Harem Project doors or close by.”
“Maybe you have it wrong,” Hadley said, her eyes narrowed. “Maybe they weren’t trying to send a message when they dropped off the monster, but trying to frame the company. Drawing the attention of the humans. Maybe encourage ORKA that the monsters are killing humans and leaving proof. And giving them a target to point their anger at.”
Koh’s mouth opened a couple times before he frowned. “That’s a reasonable explanation. Except that there’s also evidence that they’re experimenting on the humans.”
“That doesn’t mean that they’re not playing into the agenda that Hadley laid out,” Notus said, leaning forward. “Two birds, one stone. They’re fulfilling their itinerary and also creating a target.”
“But, to date, has The Harem Project even actively worked against Silence?” I asked. I mean, sure, we gather information and survey what’s going on for a time when we’re ready to make a move. But to my knowledge, I don’t think any organization has actually done anything outright.
Which is both cowardly and maddening.
“What kinds of experiments?” Saar asked. No one really liked to acknowledge that the world was fine to look the other way and let them go about hunting and killing off species as long as they weren’t pointing their direction at yours.
Before anyone could answer, Yonbe appeared in the door, holding a large tablet. Saar got to his feet and crossed the room to look. I watched his features closely as they tightened into anger.
“Turn the perimeter fence on,” Saar said.
Yonbe’s brow rose before a wicked smile curled up his features. He nodded at Saar before turning away, leaving the tablet with him. Saar watched the screen, shoulders tight as he stared. Minutes passed. Ticking by stupidly slowly as we waited.
