Page 60 of Out of Sight

Regis was helping Ira, and she looked up in amusement. “I had no idea he had a meat pie fetish.”

Avor grinned. “My mother used to make a bunch of them in an effort to keep her family from bugging her one night per week. These look good.”

Yorwell chuckled. “They are near one of the museums I did some work for.”

Avor tilted his head. “What did you do?”

“Greek battle replica for the new touring exhibit last year.”

Ira smiled. “The carved wall? We saw that on a field trip. They covered the guy bits with Post-It notes when we came in.”

Regis snorted. “Good.”

Ira stabbed her ice cream with a spoon. “They didn’t look like alphas.”

Avor said, “They weren’t. Over a thousand years ago, there was an event that created the alphas, betas, and omegas. The genes appeared and spread across the world in those thousand years.”

Ira asked, “Where did they come from?”

Avor was suddenly the focus in the room. “Ah, I believe it was the scouts for the colony that began to involve the locals.”

Regis snorted. “Involve.”

Avor calmly covered her mouth with his hand.

Lucia asked softly, “Have you spoken to all the surviving scouts?”

Avor looked at her curiously. “I have met with the pixies and a local surgeon. Are there more?”

Lucia paused. “I think I have seen two, but they ended up in the same body. I don’t know where he went. He was flickering in and out of visibility.”

Avor was slightly eager when he said, “When was this?” He jumped and ruefully removed his hand from Regis’s mouth.

“Two years ago, near the edge of my territory, or what you folks would call cell coverage area.”

Yorwell blinked. “You were restricted?”

“If I wanted the chance to communicate with anyone, yes. Plus, I wanted to stay near my family.”

Avor said, “Do you know where you saw him?”

She nodded. “Sure. Got a map?”

She ate her cake and ice cream while Yorwell produced a map and rolled it out on the kitchen counter. She looked, closed her eyes, and opened them to tap her fingers to the trees near the natural caverns that were popular with coupling couples in the area.

“I saw him here. His skin was blue-green—”

Avor and Yorwell said, “Green-blue.”

“Right. Anyway. His ears were funny. They weren’t like the other green guys. They stuck out two or three inches straight out of his head.”

Avor looked positively excited. “I would say we should hunt him now, but Regis would kill me.”

Yorwell smiled. “There are enough orcs out there to find him.”

Avor got a thoughtful look. “If he wants to be found.”

Regis mumbled around some cake, “Why wouldn’t he want to be found?”