Two days later, during dinner, Zwaantie was feeling down. Leo would be returning the next morning, and she still hadn’t seen Phoenix. Luna was avoiding her as well. They saw each other in passing, but every time Zwaantie tried to talk to her, she rushed off. Sage and Ari tried to cheer her up, but nothing worked. Her heart was heavy. She was unsure of what would happen with Phoenix. The thought of having him as a lover was growing on her. Could she do that? She shuddered. Of course she couldn’t.
“How about I show you how to use the shower?” Sage said with a glint in her eye.
Zwaantie shrugged. “I guess.”
“Come on, cheer up. He’ll be back soon. You’re going to love this. Let’s use my bathroom. It’s bigger than yours.”
Ari followed them. “She’s right. There is no way all three of us would fit in your shower.”
Sage gave him a look. “You’re not coming with.”
“Why not?”
“We are your sisters,” Sage said with a rude hand gesture.
“She’s not my sister yet.”
Zwaantie blushed. Ari gave her a wicked smile and strolled to his own room, hands buried in his pockets, the muscles on his back rippling.
Sage’s room was two doors down from Ari’s. Just before they slipped in, Zwaantie looked to Ari’s room. A pretty redheaded girl waited at Ari’s door. He turned and stared at Zwaantie before he went into his room. There was something sad in his eyes. It almost made Zwaantie want to stop him and say, Come play with us. But he was gone before she could say anything.
“Oh no you don’t.” Sage grabbed a small gray kitten as it tried to escape out the door. Then she shut it. Zwaantie’d expected bright colors and frilly curtains. Instead the entire room was shades of brown and black. On the far wall, lions and tigers roamed, occasionally growling at the real cats who batted at them. A thick leopard print rug covered the floor.
The cats were everywhere.
“How many cats do you have?” Zwaantie asked.
“Mm. I lost count. Twelve I think.”
A black cat rubbed against Zwaantie’s leg, and she pushed it away. Cats were good for keeping mice out of the barns, but to have them running around the room was disconcerting. Sage started listing off the names of each cat. Zwaantie recognized most of the names from the constellations Leo had pointed out.
Sage tossed her a couple of small pieces of fabric.
“What’s this?” Zwaantie asked.
“A swimsuit.”
Swimsuit was an overstatement. Solite swimsuits covered the shoulders and went down to their knees. This was more like underwear. But at least her girl parts were mostly covered. Zwaantie was extremely grateful Sage had not allowed Ari to come with.
“Meow,” said the shower door as Sage opened it. A small black and white kitten blinked up at them.
“Andromeda, what are you doing in here?” Sage set the kitten down outside the door and closed them in. “I don’t know why she insists on napping in here. She hates water.”
Sage waited for a second as if she wanted Zwaantie to say something, probably how cute she thought the cat was, but Sage would be waiting for a very long time. After a few awkward seconds, Sage continued.
“Every button does something different. You’ll get used to them the more you use them. You already know this one plays music. If you don’t like the kind of music, hold the button down and tell it what you want.” She pushed the button and said, “Dance music.” The music was loud and bouncy.
“This button will change the scent of the water. Again, hold it and tell it what you want.” This time Sage pushed the pink button so it rained and then pushed the blue button. “What smell do you want?”
“Lilacs.”
Sage grinned, and the scent of lilacs in the spring floated down around them.
The buttons could be used to create any kind of sensation. The water color changed from blue to green to pink. Other buttons controlled where the water came from and how fast it came down.
Zwaantie felt herself relaxing. She still missed Sol and desperately wanted to see Phoenix, but she was enjoying herself. They messed around for a while, and then Zwaantie noticed there was a button Sage didn’t push.
“What’s that?” Zwaantie asked.
Sage grinned wickedly. “Push it.”
Zwaantie probably should’ve known better, but her curiosity overrode her caution. She pushed it, and the rain stopped, but nothing else happened. Her feet tickled, and she looked down. A thin layer of white film covered her feet. And it was rising.
“What—”
“A foam bath. The foam will rise until you tell it to stop.” Within minutes the foam was up to Zwaantie’s knees and then her waist.
“Stop,” she said.
The foam stopped. Sage picked up a large handful and molded it into a ball, held it both hands, and then blew on it. The ball floated toward Zwaantie until it stopped above her head. Zwaantie looked up. Sage snapped her fingers, and the ball dropped right on Zwaantie’s face and splattered everywhere.
Zwaantie wiped the foam from her eyes and spit out the bit that got in her mouth. She expected it to taste like soap, but it had a light fruity flavor. Sage raised her eyebrows. Zwaantie didn’t hesitate. She molded her own foam ball and chucked it right at Sage. Sage ducked, and it missed. Zwaantie laughed and lunged for her, slipped, and buried herself in foam.
A couple hours later, Sage and Zwaantie were lying on Sage’s bed, wrapped in warm robes.
“Will you sleep with me?” Sage asked.
Zwaantie had never shared her bed with her friends. It was a strange question to ask.
“I’m not going to go romantic on you or anything. I just don’t like sleeping alone. While Hunter was away, Candace slept with me, and sometimes I sleep with Ari after his girl of the night goes home. Please.”
“Okay,” Zwaantie said. She was feeling far too comfortable with Sage and with Stella in general. Maybe staying here wasn’t so bad.
“Yay,” Sage squealed and jumped up. “You’ll need to borrow some pj’s.”
She dug through a drawer and pulled out two very short silky nightgowns. She dumped off the robe, and Zwaantie squeezed her eyes shut because Sage was naked underneath. Although everyone in Stella seemed perfectly comfortable with nudity, Zwaantie wasn’t. Sage didn’t seem to notice her discomfort. She handed Zwaantie the other pair of pajamas and waited for her to change. Zwaantie took them into the bathroom, shut the door, and was greeted by Andromeda, the kitten.
“Meow.”
“I’m not petting you,” Zwaantie said and wondered why on the sun she was talking to a cat.
Zwaantie found Sage already buried in leopard print comforters.
“Okay,” Sage whispered as Zwaantie crawled under the covers. “Time for secrets. Just one. Something you’ve never told anyone before.”
Zwaantie thought for a moment. “I don’t want to be queen.” Technically, it wasn’t a secret as her mother knew, but it still wasn’t something she’d admitted to many people.
“Then you and Ari have the same ambitions. Why don’t you want to be queen?”
“Too many responsibilities. I just want to live a normal life.”
“Normal is boring.”
Zwaantie shrugged, not wanting to talk about it anymore. “Your turn.”
“I’m a virgin.” Sage turned beat red.
“So am I. That’s not a bad thing.”
“It is here in Stella. No one else knows, so don’t say anything to anyone. If Ari knew, he’d never let me live it down.”
“I won’t say anything.” Zwaantie wanted to ask why, but realized how absurd a question like that was. In Sol, they’d never be having a conversation like this. She took a deep breath. She was nervous to ask the next question, but she shouldn’t be. “If being a virgin is so bad here in Stella, then why are you?”
Sage rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling.
“I don’t know. I mean, it’s not like I haven’t
had the opportunity. It’s just never felt right. And now, I guess I’ve just been holding onto it for so long that it seems stupid to just have sex for the sake of having sex. That’s dumb, right?”
“No, that sounds very smart.”
Sage turned to face her and giggled. “Of course you’d say that, being from Stella.”
“Well, I hope it means something to you when you do lose it.”
Sage burrowed into her pillow and gripped Zwaantie’s hand. “I’m glad you’re going to be my sister. I like you.”
Zwaantie’s chest warmed. Though the affection shown in Stella was sometimes disconcerting, it made her feel happy. Sage had only known her for a short time, and already Zwaantie could feel her love. Love she should’ve felt from her own mother or brother, but didn’t.
Sage’s breathing became slow and even. Two cats fought on the ground next to the bed. She would never sleep with the noise.
A half hour later the twelve o’clock bells rang. Just after the last bell, the vipers pounded on the door. They came every night, but she still wasn’t used to them. Every thirty seconds or so another thump would come. Every few minutes there would be a rapid thumping at the door, like someone was knocking. Eventually though, despite the noise, Zwaantie drifted off.
Chapter 17
The Vipers
The next morning Zwaantie woke before Sage did. Her sleep was still off. She hadn’t slept in late since she’d arrived.
Something on the bottom of the bed vibrated. She sat up and found Andromeda sleeping on her feet. Silly cat. Couldn’t she tell Zwaantie didn’t like her? Zwaantie pulled her feet out from underneath it and slid out of bed. Andromeda glared at her for interrupting her nap.
Zwaantie wanted to change and take a walk, clear her head and let her have some blessed alone time away from twelve hungry kitties who all seemed intent on garnering her attention now that she was out of bed.
Zwaantie wouldn’t dream of wearing any of Sage’s clothes because they were too wild and crazy, so she crept silently out of her room and down the five doors to her own. She paused next to Ari’s door. He put on such a good act, but Zwaantie knew he wasn’t happy with his lifestyle. He needed to find someone he loved. Perhaps she and Sage could help him. It would distract Zwaantie from her own prospect of a loveless marriage. Though people here seemed to take lovers all the time. Perhaps things with Phoenix would work out. She shook her head, startled at the very thought.
The door to Zwaantie’s room was open a crack. Odd. She pushed at it, but it wouldn’t open all the way. She slipped in and tripped, landing hard on her knees and hands. The room was dark. She reached back to see what she tripped over. It was warm flesh, smooth and dry. She jerked her hand up, stumbled over to the light switch, and pushed the button.
Covering her floor were dozens of creepy, snakelike creatures. Each was about five feet long and six inches round with a triangular head. They had no feet, but had wings tucked away next to their bodies. The tails tapered down to a point.
She screamed.
Louder than she’d ever screamed in her life. Loud enough to wake the dead. Footsteps pounded down the hall. A man shoved at the door, moving the creature that lay next to it. Zwaantie jumped up on her bed. Her foot met the same dry flesh.
Another scream. She scrambled to get off her bed, but then looked at the floor. It was covered in them. She leapt from her bed to the chair opposite it. The door pushed open farther, and in walked several men, including Ari.
She pointed. “What are they?”
No one answered. Their faces had gone stark white.
“You,” Ari barked to a man standing by the door, “Go fetch the king and the head mage. Tell them this is the utmost of an emergency. They must come now.”
The man nodded and ran off. Ari’s eyes met Zwaantie’s, and suddenly she was conscious of the fact that she was wearing one of Sage’s silky, very short, nightgowns.
“Are you hurt?” he asked.
She wasn’t hurt, but she was not okay. “No. What are those?”
“Vipers, I think. Let’s wait for the head mage to come. She’ll be able to explain it better than I can.”
Zwaantie glanced down at the floor where a viper lay not a foot away. The creepiest thing about it was its eyes. They were open, sickly green, and with a vertical pupil. Zwaantie couldn’t quite grasp what it was. It wasn’t dead. The flesh was warm but none were moving. Each one was a different color with a pattern of diamonds across its back.
“Oh my stars,” said Lyra as she entered the room.
“What are they?” Zwaantie asked.
“Creatures of the night. Vipers. I’d heard stories of their appearance, but never seen one.”
“Well, now you’ve seen thirty. Can someone please get them out of my room?”
“How are you still alive?” Lyra asked and poked at one of them with her toe.
“What do you mean?” Zwaantie asked.
“No one ever survives an encounter. Before a few days ago, not a single one had ever been seen. That guy in Deep Sky was first, now this. Somehow, they were trapped in your room. But if you were in here, you should be dead.”
“I slept in Sage’s room. But now I’d very much like to get out of here.”
The mages crept around Zwaantie’s room, prodding the creatures with their toes, and a few pulled out long sticks to probe them with. One of the creatures rolled over, and its underside was ribbed with the same sickly green of its eyes. A mage took out his disc. Lyra snapped her fingers, and the disc exploded. The man jumped.
She towered over him, her face pinched. “No pictures. If there is even a hint of this on the Ticker, you will all be executed.”
“Sorry,” the man said. If pictures like that got out, people would panic, even Zwaantie knew that.
Ari raised his eyebrows and smirked at Zwaantie from the doorway.
“How am I going to get out of here?” she asked. She wasn’t about to step on the floor. There were too many vipers.
He held up a finger, turned, and spoke to the king, who’d just arrived, and then carefully skirted the creatures as he made his way across the room to Zwaantie. He paused every once in a while to talk to a mage. Zwaantie sat down and waited for him. A short blonde mage had crawled onto her bed.
“How do you suppose they got in?” Zwaantie asked.
The mage shook her head. “I’ve no idea. But this is fascinating. I’ve studied the viper’s behavior and killing patterns. Nothing like this has ever been seen before. It’s said they can paralyze a victim with a single look.”
“But the eyes are open. Why aren’t we dead?”
“They’re sleeping. They’ve never been seen before in the daytime, and this explains why. It’s almost as if they can’t be awake after the midnight hours. I wonder if they will wake again at midnight, or if they have to go to the ocean to rejuvenate. No one has seen one before. Ever.” The mage grinned.
Sleeping? As in alive? Zwaantie had to get out of there. She wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to sleep in her own room again. Zwaantie shivered, wishing she hadn’t had the misfortune to see them. Now she would have nightmares.
Ari appeared in front of Zwaantie. He had no shirt on, and Zwaantie shivered again, but not out of fear this time. He crouched down in front of her.
“I’m going to carry you out of here. I think it’s best if you stayed with Sage for a little bit.”
Zwaantie nodded, grateful she didn’t have to tell anyone she was scared to death to sleep in her own room.
“Oh stars,” said the blonde mage.
The viper fell off the bed and the tail whipped across Ari’s back. He yelled and careened into Zwaantie. He perched on the edge of the chair like a scared bird. His face was only inches from Zwaantie, and he looked terrified.
The serpent rolled under the bed.
“Sorry,” he said and stepped down off the chair.
Zwaantie giggled. “Startle much?” she asked.
He grimaced. “Yo
u know I can just leave you there.”
She shook her head. “No, I’m not walking out of here on my own. I’m sorry I laughed.”
“Well, don’t get used it. I don’t frighten easily.”
He lifted her up, his arms warm on the bottom of her thighs. She blushed again at the lack of clothes she wore. Ari was careful as he tip-toed around the room. Once out, they nearly bumped into the king as he and Lyra spoke to each other in low voices.
“Put me down,” Zwaantie said.
He looked down at her like he’d forgotten she was there. “Oh, sorry.”
He set her down, and the king looked up. “Are you alright?”
“Yes, sir, I’m fine. I slept with Sage last night, so I didn’t get back to my room until after the vipers were asleep. If it’s alright with you, I’m just going to stay in Sage’s room until Leo returns.”
The king nodded, distracted. “That seems like a good idea.”
He and Lyra headed off down the hall whispering furiously.
“Now what?” Zwaantie asked Ari.
“Now Leo comes back. This falls under his investigation, so you’ll get some good one on one time with him.”
“How do you think they got in?”
Ari shrugged. “No idea. Leo will have some insight. He’s already been called. He’ll return this afternoon.”
A small balding man with an enormous shaking belly skirted out of the head mage’s way and strolled toward them.
“Ari,” the man bellowed, grinning.
“Piscus, I didn’t expect you back so soon.”
Piscus grabbed Ari’s hand and shook it vigorously. “Neither did I, quite frankly, but here I am. And I brought him back, m’lord. He’s in your rooms.”
“Fantastic. And there’s Sage.”
Sage stumbled down the hall, her face scrunched up and her hair a mess on the top of her head. “What is all this racket?”
Ari didn’t answer. Sage stood next to Piscus for a second and then moved quickly to Ari’s other side. “Piscus, what are you doing here?”
He licked his lips. “Just on an errand for your brother. You busy later?”
Stella and Sol Box Set Page 27
