“Awful nice of you.”She lifted the silver cover and stared at the bagel sandwich like it had personally offended her.“You want some potato chips?”
“I wouldn’t say no.”Not to a token bite or two, at least.
“Why do you repackage everything?”Their potential settled gingerly in her seat, refusing to look up at him.“Is it really that bad if I know exactly where this place is?”
Ah.Still thinking like a kidnap victim.“It’s not that.It’s a protective measure, so nothing can hitch a ride into theliraim.”
“Hitch a ride?”
Having a civilian to instruct was an exotic experience.“Like an ill-wishing, or a telltale, or a seeker.The unclean have a thousand ways to try to reach thelirai, and even a potential in an active temple’s got to be careful.You don’t know enough yet, so we’ll be careful for you.”Beforeandafter you do, beautiful.
“Okay.”She took another peek at the bagel, as if expecting it to grow teeth and lunge for her.“So it’s like… washing everything before you wear it because of the finishing chemicals used on textiles?”
“Pretty much.”He would never have been able to put it so elegantly.
“Okay.”She eyed him sidelong as he lowered himself slowly into the seat least likely to crowd her, and gave him half of the sandwich.“We’ll share.”
If you only knew who you were breaking bread with.His eyes prickled; he took a deep breath.“Yes ma’am,” he muttered.
“It’s notma’am, it’s Liv.”She set herself to dividing the crisps into two roughly even piles, and Erik realized he was going to have to eat his half of the damn sandwich, red bell pepper notwithstanding.
He hated the vegetable’s grassy taste with a passion, but alirai’s gift was too important to be wasted.
Ever.
Sneakers, Stranglers
They kept sayingyou’re not a prisoner, but Jake still trailed behind her as she left the suite.He didn’t look too happy about it, either—that easy smile of his had shifted just a few millimeters into a polite grimace.
Liv didn’t care.She was too glad to be seeing something,anythingother than the same four walls.Or did each room count as a discrete number of vertical surfaces?Bedroom, bathroom, the big outer room of the suite—that made twelve walls total.
Today, she was going to find out the exact dimensions of her captivity in the time-honored fashion of choosing a direction and going until one of them grabbed her.
She’d only picked Jake because he was shorter than the old guy and leaner than Erik.Neither ofthosetwo would let her out of the suite, even if she asked nicely and batted her eyelashes.
Mika was better at that particular skill, but Liv wasn’t a slouch by any stretch.If she ever got back to her real life, she was going to have to give Mika a full rundown on using one’s flirty wiles to escape, and she didn’t want to be embarrassed during the recap.This guy, with his lingering appreciative glances, was both a good target and an asshole.
But a useful one, if she could get him pried away from the other two.At least, that’s what Liv was hoping.She set off down the parquet-floored hall like she had somewhere to be, grateful for the brand-new, tightly laced Nikes cradling her feet.
If today went well, she might even get to use them.She examined the red velvet drapes, wondering who cleaned them.Did they have magic for that, too?
Jake drifted behind her, eerily quiet but always within easy reach.“Where you going?”
“Exploring.”Weren’t you listening?Liv’s mood was too sunny to be dinged, and besides, she had to start sweetening him up if she expected anything good to happen.“We should have packed snacks.And a rope.”
“A rope?”Now he sounded dubious.
“Didn’t you read Tolkien?”She glanced over her shoulder, gauging the distance.No use, he was still too close.“Sam’s always going on about rope until the elves?—”
“Don’t read much, ma’am.”It didn’t sound like he missed it, either.“But you don’t want to mess around with elves.”
Now there was an interesting statement.“Are they real?”
“Depends on your definition, really.”Once he got started, he warmed to the theme like anyone talking about their actual avocation instead of just their job.“Like the stragglers, they creep under the surface of the world.Little grey things.Most of the time, when people think they’ve been abducted by UFOs it’s the stragglers.But sometimes it’s the stranglers, andthosenever let go of their research subjects.”
Liv slowed, eyeing him sidelong.Maybe he was having her on, but the memory of her filthy socks laid neatly at the end of the bed—silent, incontrovertible witnesses—just wouldn’t go away.“You’re saying UFOs aren’t real, but elves are?”
“I’m saying the legends come from somewhere.”His stride lengthened; now he paced next to her, a sleek golden cat.He was so damnquiet, it was unnerving.Nobody with boots that heavy should be able to drift so lightly.“The world’s a lot different than civilians think.”
