Found (3 page)

“But Sylvan’s friend isn’t here either,”
Sophie protested. “I mean, we knew it was iffy when we invited him
but I was hoping there would be
someone
besides Baird to
stand up with him.”

“Well you could have had Deep and Lock if I
hadn’t needed them to help,” Kat remarked. “But as it is, Lock is
stationed at the docking bay to grab Nadiah and Sylvan’s friend the
minute they get here and Deep is at the entrance of the sacred
grove to be sure they get into their places quickly and quietly if
the ceremony’s already started. So either way, you’re covered.”

“Thanks, Kat.” Sophie gave her friend an
impulsive hug. “You’re right—I should stop worrying. I can see you
have everything under control.”

Kat hugged her back. “Of course I do. So just
relax and enjoy your big day. You look beautiful. Sylvan’s a very
lucky guy.”

“Look who I found, wandering around.” Olivia
suddenly pushed back into the tent holding someone by the arm. It
was a tall, slender girl with pale blonde hair and bright blue
eyes.

“Nadiah!” Sophie exclaimed happily.

“Sophie! Omigoddess, you look
gorgeous.”
The Tranq Prime girl threw herself into Sophie’s
arms and hugged her enthusiastically.

“You look wonderful too.” Sophie hugged her
back. The last time she’d seen Nadiah, her pale blond hair had been
cut pixie short and frosted purple and blue at the tips. Now it had
grown out past her shoulders and had just one deep blue streak
which framed her face dramatically.

“I’m so sorry I’m late,” Nadiah said,
breaking the hug at last. “The stupid transport I hitched a ride on
made an unscheduled stop and then when I
did
finally get
onboard the Mother ship, I got lost. This place is
huge.
Much bigger than my home grotto.”

“It really is big,” Sophie agreed. “I’m so
glad you got here in time but we have to hurry, we only have a
minute to change you into your dress before the ceremony starts.”
She nodded at the long pale gold gown hanging from the rack which
was the twin of the one Olivia was wearing. “I hope I got the right
size. I had to guess so—”

“Oh, no need for that.” Standing directly
across from Liv, Nadiah stared hard at the bridesmaid’s dress she
was wearing. “See that?” she murmured, stroking the sleeve of the
dark green jumpsuit she was wearing. “Emulate.”

The dark green jumpsuit shifted and then
shivered like a live thing—which was exactly what it was, Sophie
realized. Nadiah was wearing a
tharp—
a living furry
blanket-type creature that fed on body heat and could be worn as
clothing. But she had never seen a
tharp
like this one.

It didn’t look furry, for one thing. And
though she knew an intelligent
tharp
could be trained to
configure itself into almost any kind of garment, she’d never seen
one that could change color like this one was doing. It actually
went from dark green to pale gold as she watched—even its texture
changed. In less than a minute it was an exact replica of Olivia’s
dress—right down to the lace on the sleeves and the deeply scooped
neckline.

“Wow!” Sophie smiled in admiration.

“That’s amazing,” Liv, who usually didn’t
care for
tharps,
which she referred to as ‘creepy living
blankets,’ exclaimed. She stared at the dress Nadiah was still
wearing in astonishment. “I didn’t know
tharps
could do
that!”

“Well they can’t, generally.” Nadiah grinned.
“This is a new kind they’re breeding and Mamam got the very first
one. It was going to increase her social status immeasurably—only I
got to it and imprinted it first.”

Sophie didn’t care much for Nadiah’s mother,
who also happened to be Sylvan’s aunt, so she laughed. “I bet she
loved
that.”

“Almost as much as she loved me hitching a
ride to the Mother ship right before what was supposed to be my own
bonding ceremony.” Nadiah sighed dramatically. “Of course I’ll have
to go back eventually. Yo-dah and I have the bond of blood between
us—my parents saw to that when they enacted our engagement.” She
shook her head. “I still remember crying when they pricked my
finger with the stylus. I was just a little thing and it scared me
to death.”

“Wait a minute.” Kat held up a hand. “Did you
just say your fiancée is a guy named
Yoda?”

Nadiah nodded. “Yo-dah Licklow. He’s the son
of the local magistrate in my grotto.”

“Yoda Licklow?” Kat was cracking up.
“Seriously? That’s his name? So if you married him you’d be
Mrs.
Yodah Licklow?”

“Well, not exactly. When speaking formally,
we break up the names to show the possessive of bonding,” Nadiah
explained. “So my formal name would be Lady Lick Yo-dah Low.”

“Lick…lick Yoda…low…” Kat dissolved into a
fit of giggles and Sophie and Liv couldn’t help laughing too.

Nadiah smiled at them quizzically. “I’m not
sure what’s so funny. I got a shot of translation bacteria but
maybe they’re not working right.”

“They’re working fine,” Sophie assured her
with a smile. “Sorry—I’ll explain why it’s funny later but right
now the ceremony is about to start.” She sighed. “I’m afraid
there’s not going to be anyone for you to do the luck kiss with,
though. It looks like Sylvan’s friend couldn’t make it.”

“Oh, he’ll be here.” Nadiah was unexpectedly
serious. “I know he will—I have forseen it.”

“You what?” Liv asked, frowning.

“I forsaw him.” Nadiah blushed and looked
down at her fingers. “It’s a new thing for me—I just came into my
powers when I came of age. But so far it’s always been
accurate.”

“Your powers?” Kat asked blankly. She had
finally stopped laughing and was dabbing at the corners of her
eyes.

“The Sight. It’s hereditary in my family,”
Nadiah explains. “It skips every other generation. My Grandmaman
had it and I have it too. Basically it just means I can see things
before they happen.”

“So…you’re psychic?” Liv sounded
skeptical.

Nadiah lifted her chin. “Call it what you
want, but I
do
have the Sight. And before I came here I saw
myself standing in the sacred grove during Sophie’s bonding
ceremony and kissing a Kindred male. He’s big and powerful and he
has truegreen eyes.” She gave Sophie’s arm a squeeze. “Don’t worry,
Sophie—he’ll be here. And when he shows up, I’m going to give him a
luck kiss he’ll never forget.”

Detective Adam Rast had the strangest
sensation of coming home the moment he set foot on the Kindred
Mother ship.

Of course, that made no sense. He’d never
even been off the planet before—let alone aboard an alien ship. The
closest he’d come to leaving mother Earth was during his stint in
the marines where his squadron had been taught to sky dive. Rast
hadn’t cared for that much—he preferred to keep both feet planted
solidly on the ground. So being in a ship a fourth the size of the
moon orbiting high above the planet he’d been born and bred on
should have been an uncomfortable experience. Instead it
seemed…oddly familiar.

He tried to shake the ridiculous feeling as
he climbed out of the shuttle and thanked the Kindred pilot who had
ferried him up from the Human/Kindred relations building in Tampa.
Say what you wanted about the aliens who were protecting Earth, but
they were damned polite. And no-nonsense, which Rast approved of.
Time spent in both the military and the police force before he’d
left to start his own detective agency had left him with little
tolerance for any kind of foolishness. He appreciated the precision
and dignity that seemed to be innate to the Kindred.

Of course, he wouldn’t be aboard the Mother
ship at all if his latest job hadn’t led him in the strangest
direction imaginable. Rast specialized in missing persons cases
which meant he was usually tracking down runaways or kidnapped
children—usually taken by an estranged parent during or after
divorce proceedings. When Abigail Jakes had approached him about
finding her missing daughter, Lauren, he’d known that the case was
different right from the start. It had appeared that she’d
disappeared into thin air, vanishing right out of her clothes which
were left in an oddly orderly heap on the floor.

In fact, that was exactly what had happened.
After a lot of probing, Rast had discovered that Lauren Jakes had
been taken by the AllFather himself—the leader and overlord of the
evil Scourge. He’d been assured by Lauren’s cousins, Olivia and
Sophia, that she was in fact well and on her way home, but he would
believe that when he saw it. In the mean time, Lauren was still
technically missing and the Kindred seemed to have more information
about the case than anyone else. Rast was hoping that meeting
Commanders Sylvan and Baird face to face would help him establish a
working relationship and maybe even get Lauren home faster—if they
knew more than they were saying.

Speaking of Commanders Sylvan and Baird,
where were they? Frowning, he looked around the huge, echoing
docking bay. Someone was supposed to meet him and escort him
somewhere they could talk. Just as he was thinking he would have to
find someone to ask for directions, a tall blond Kindred came over
to him.

“Are you here for Sylvan?” the warrior asked,
looking at him anxiously. “I certainly hope so because everything
is about to begin.”

Rast nodded. “Yes, I’m here to see Commander
Sylvan. Can you show me to him?”

“I can but there’s no time to use a Take-me.
I’ll have to send you in a transport tube. This way.” The warrior
began walking through the docking bay, weaving rapidly through the
rows of ships. His black boots echoed in the vast space.

Rast was every bit as large as the Kindred
warrior and his stride was as long but he still had to hurry to
keep up. His guide seemed to be in a terrible rush for some reason.
“Where are we going?” he asked as they came to a row of round,
tubular structures at the end of the bay. Each of them looked like
an oversized pipe and was a little larger than an old fashioned
telephone booth.

“To the sacred grove.” The Kindred pressed
some buttons on the outside of one of the tubes and its silver door
whooshed
open. “There—get in. It’s a tight fit and you’ll
have to change once you get there. I’ll notify Deep you’re on your
way.”

“Who?” Rast frowned even as he climbed into
the tiny structure. It was a good thing he wasn’t
claustrophobic—his shoulders touched the walls on either side.

“My twin. I’m sorry—didn’t Sylvan tell you
about us? I’m Lock, his second brother.”

“Nice to meet you.” Rast nodded.

“You as well.” Lock studied him intently.
“Forgive me for asking, but did you know our father? Our second
father, I should say—Sylvan and Baird’s sire.”

Rast shook his head. “How would I know your
father?”

“He was one of the First Kindred, from the
home planet—there aren’t many of them left, you know. And with eyes
that color of green, I thought…but obviously I was mistaken.”

“What does my eye color have to do with
anything?” Rast was thoroughly confused by now but the warrior was
already punching a series of commands into the panel of buttons on
the side of the tube.

“Never mind—we’re just glad to have you
here.” He smiled at Rast. “It’s a bumpy ride but it doesn’t take
long. Deep will meet you at the end and get you dressed.”

“Get me dressed in what?” Rast demanded but
the silver door had already
whooshed
shut before he could
get an answer. With a jerk, the tiny tube began to move and there
was no time to think—it was all he could do to hold on for dear
life and hope he made it safely to wherever Commander Sylvan was
waiting for their interview.

Lauren stared at the tall man with pale blond
hair and strange purple eyes apprehensively. “How do you know my
name?”

“Many things are known to me, my dear Lauren.
But let me introduce myself. My name is Anik Blix but my business
associates call me The Spider.” He made a sweeping bow and rose to
give her a charming smile.

“Why do they call you that?” Lauren crossed
her arms over her chest protectively. “Are you a splicer? Do you
cut people up like flies and suck out their DNA or something?”

“Heavens no!” Blix looked suitably horrified.
“I am a purveyor of beauty. They call me Spider because once I have
a customer in my web of goodies, they have no chance to escape
without buying.” He smiled. “A little joke, don’t you see?”

“Uh, well that’s really nice but I don’t have
anything to buy or sell so if you wouldn’t mind leaving…” She
nodded at the door.

“On the contrary, my dear.” Blix took a step
toward her. “I believe you have some valuable commodities here.
Some very valuable commodities indeed.”

Lauren backed away. “I don’t know what you’re
talking about.”

“Of course you do.” He took another step
toward her and Lauren shrank back. If only she had a weapon of some
kind! Xairn had left her the finger-sized stunner but there were no
pockets in the voluminous silver muumuu so she didn’t have anyplace
to put it. She’d been keeping it on the counter across from the
rehydrator machine but now the tall blond alien was blocking her
way.

Blix leaned over her, so close that she could
smell the strange, musty scent of his breath. Lauren was about to
knee him and hope that it would hurt a male of his species as much
as it would a human, when he suddenly reached past her and threw
open the cupboard above her head with a flourish. “Food cubes!” he
announced in the ecstatic tones of a prospector striking gold.
“Genuine Kindred food cubes.” He turned to Lauren. “I knew it—you
have
hundreds
. They’re quite valuable, you know.”

“They are?” Lauren put a hand to her chest to
still her pounding heart. “So that’s what this is all about? That’s
what you’re interested in—just the food cubes?”