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Assistant’s Revenge
Heard back from Jamie. Clearing
up the message now and on way to
get fourth weapon. Avoid Sting as much
as necessary will tell others stole
from vault at TI.
Got it avoid Sting
There was a slight thump as Miles’ ship landed. I poked my head around the corner and asked, “we there?”
Miles nodded while staring at a screen in the wall. “We’re there. You can unbuckle your seat belts and move freely about the cabin.” He caught sight of me slipping my phone in my pocket and nodded at it. “Who are you always talking to on that thing?”
“Myself,” I answered as I walked past. “Who do you think?”
He caught my arm.
“And what we talked about?”
I let a sly smile slip before covering it with a short nod. “The talk about how your ship has tech from Koanni and that’s why it has some sort of strange sentience? Yeah, I think I can keep it a secret.”
He gave me a hard stare. He wasn’t used to being on the other end of this kind of bargain. He wasn’t used to asking someone else to keep his secrets. But I had no reason to use this leverage against him. Not at present, anyway.
We made our way out of the underground docking port and up to the surface, coming out into a small backyard forest with a conglomeration of buildings in the center. Each building was fairly old; paint was peeling off the drywall, the doors rattled when they opened, and a thin trench trailed in the dirt from where rain pounded into the ground from lack of gutters.
But despite all the wear and tear, the hospital’s buildings seemed to be in decent shape.
Pixies and flighty fairies flitted from one patch of the multi-sectioned garden to another, busily tending to large batches of medicinal and herbal plants. In a flurry of activity, swarms of them carried basketfuls of their winnings out to various buildings.
We walked to the main building at the front of the complex, coming through the back. A pair of clean, sliding-glass doors parted automatically at our approach, allowing us into the busy lobby.
The wide room was filled with every kind of uplifting and calming decor one could imagine. The sense of ‘happy’ was almost suffocating. The walls were painted warm colors, tables and chairs complementing the healing atmosphere despite their eclectic nature and chaotic scattering around the room.
Three staircases led to an upper level, a row of four elevators operating directly across from the front of the building. They were slow and noisy, but most of the creatures using them seemed to need the help, so the elevators seemed to be a necessity.
A place like this existed for the same reason Terran hospitals did; All Terrans had pockets of others plagued with the notion that if someone disagreed with them, they were no longer worthy of being considered a living being. Humans weren’t alone in dealing with such neurological nuisances, and as such, fights broke out just as easily for us. Some fights escalated beyond reason, and not every Terran has self-healing properties.
Because of said problems, old human hospitals and psych wards were converted into sanctified peaceful grounds where the rest of the Terrans could go when they needed patching up. Or, in our case, a safe space to rest and regather.
Something snagged the edge of my attention. Someone was watching us. Someone powerful. I heard Miles’ voice somewhere in the far reaches of my focus, my full attention caught up in scanning the lobby. Something on the top of the left staircase glinted, but before I could figure it out, all my attention was forcibly redirected to a stronger presence right in front of me.
Snow-white hair framed a pale face, wings twitching on her back as she looked at me, lavender eyes staring into mine and seeing through my shape-shifting mask. Breaking the tension, she smiled and moved in to give me a hug. I went stiff, not welcoming the embrace on any level.
The woman had to have sensed it with how fast she withdrew.
“Welcome to all,” she said gently, her size slowly increasing, “to the house of refuge. You may stay here as long as you wish. Remember there is no violence under the supervision of these walls.” When she finished her speech, she had inflated into someone that was eight feet tall. Maybe nine.
“How can a building...” Layla began to ask, but her question fizzled out as her attention was drawn to the staircase on the left.
Uh-Huh. Even Miss Wild Child could sense whoever was over there. It had to be some kind of cloaking magic, more sophisticated than my camouflage-print sheet. I glanced up at the she-wolf. If the pup was sensing active camouflage magic, why wasn’t Olyvia?
I followed the she-wolf’s gaze and spotted my answer. A new problem was staring back at us, a wide grin set on his face. Tanned to the point of natural sunburn and covered in an open vest accompanied by loose jeans, the lanky man’s flip-flops squeaked as he sauntered towards us. Throwing a hand up in salutation, he flashed us another pointy-toothed grin.
His swagger and super-sharp incisors inclined me to believe he was a couple of things, but the smell of sunbaked mud and wet dog following him around told us exactly what he was. This guy was hyena in human form.
Olyvia let out a defensive snarl, showing more sharpened teeth than normal. The hyena shook his head, responding with a warning giggle.
“Careful,” he cackled, “you’ll make us regret coming to talk to you.”
“What do you want?” Olyvia snapped.
“The same you do, Wolf-child.” His voice was a little higher than expected, an odd accent lacing his voice. I couldn’t place it. “Afanasiy has been walking for too long. We were told you had a solution.”
“Told?” I asked, looking at Olyvia. When would she have contacted a hyena? And why hadn’t she told me about it?
I didn’t have time to follow up my paranoia.
A flash of movement caught my attention. A fox barked and chittered, laughing as it zipped by between Olyvia and the hyena, both of them jumping down into their quadruped forms and chasing after it. I grabbed Layla by the elbow before she had a chance to follow and ran for the back of the building.
“Where are we going?” She shouted over the growing shouts of agitation and surprise. “Shouldn’t we help?”
“I’ll help!” I shouted back, dragging her up the stairs. “You need to stay out of sight!”
She dug her heels into the middle of the stairway, sticking her chin out at me and growling. “I can help,” she insisted. “I know how to fight!”
“Not against them,” I responded, tugging at her arm. She didn’t budge. “Look,“ — I moved down to look directly into her eyes — “I know you want to help. I know you can fight off the average foe. But that was one of Afanasiy’s foxes. I could smell it. If he gets his hands on you, far too many years of work will be lost. So many lives will be put in danger.”
My plea wasn’t getting through. Right; think ‘kid’. She wasn’t considering anyone outside of her inner circle.
“Plus,” I moved closer and lowered my voice for emphasis, “if you get killed, Olyvia goes down with you. Remember when you got shot in the leg during our stopover?”
Her hand instinctively went to her leg, pressing on the spot. “I didn’t get shot in the leg,” she protested.
“No, but it felt like it. You were even limping and crying out of pain. But it wasn’t you that got shot; it was Olyvia. You two are linked. She’s already lost others she was Bonded to, and it nearly destroyed her. If you die, it just might be the finishing blow. Do you really want to be the one responsible for that?”
She hesitated, refusing to admit she thought I was right. Finally, she gave a tiny shake of her head.
“Good,” I breathed. “I don’t either. Now com’on,” I tugged on her elbow again, this time a bit gentler. “Let’s get you hidden in the back rooms.”
With Layla safely hidden away in one of the abandoned rooms and nestled under a bit of camouflage, I flew to the front of the hospital, running out the doors in time to see the worst possible scenario.
The fox stood over a headless hyena body, panting and heaving but successful in its assassination. A Keeper had miraculously appeared, a cross-bladed pike pointed at the fox and demanding it comply. It hissed but followed the Keeper as he formed a cold portal and pushed it through with the blunt end. Olyvia emerged from the surrounding forest right as the portal snapped shut behind them.
This can’t be good. Oh gods, this can’t be good.
My phone was in my hand as I approached the body, but I was cut off by a furious she-wolf.
“Where were you!?” She snarled, darting in front of me and crouching low. “You could have helped. You could have saved him!!”
“Olyvia...” I said slowly. “Olyvia, you’re not thinking.”
“I’m thinking,” she snarled, pacing slowly forward even as I backed away. “I’m thinking there’s something more to this. I’m thinking you’ve tricked me. I’m thinking you’re a damn fox spy!!”
She lunged, darting forward with her mouth open. I wasn’t as ready as I should have been, spinning away as her teeth tore into the back of my coat. A sharp kick connected with the back of my knee and something wrapped around my neck, Olyvia having shifted up in order to more accurately choke me.
“You- not- think- ing—“ I stuttered, reaching for my phone. “Fox- not strong enough—“
“I’m done listening to you, damn untrustworthy thief!!” She screamed. I hit send. Cold steel pierced my back, and my body burst into mist.