Christina opens the trap door quietly and comes down the stairs, wearing my new gray slacks with navy blazer. She’s barefoot, walking on tiptoes, carrying a roll of duct tape. Haphazardly, she tapes up the Veast, folding in the arms and legs as best she can to make it easier to carry. She hauls it up the staircase.
I wait an agonizing interval, counting seconds, twenty, forty, sixty, eighty, listening to her walk around on cat feet above.
Then she pads down the steps and plucks me out of the aquarium. She holds me in front of her face and addresses me directly.
“Turtle. I’m not waiting around here for Katya to complete whatever insane experiment she’s conducting,” she tells me in a fierce whisper. “I’m rescuing you too.”
Zenna, Katya, Alex and Bar Bar return in Fast Asleep: Volume 2 of the Grendel Hills Fantasy Series, the sequel to Wash Away, coming June 15!