Laina’s smile started small and grew. “You’re very determined.”
“I am. Greth said I should show your mother that you’re known here. That you belong. So that’s what I’ll do.”
“How?”
“I’m still working on the details.” I glanced down the hallway, confirming we were alone, then kissed her. Brief, but thorough enough to make my point.
When I pulled back, her gaze had softened. “We should work.”
“We should.”
Neither of us moved.
Drogar’s voice carried down the hallway, maybe explaining his mossnibble training techniques to Greth, who was probably offering insight.
“If we don’t move,” I said against her mouth, “someone will come looking for us.”
“Probably Drogar.”
“Agreed.”
The hallway lights flickered once, then again.
We broke apart.
“The fizzlings,” Laina said. “I bet one got loose. We should check on them.”
“We should.”
She touched my jaw once, quick, then headed down the hallway. I followed, watching the driftwhisps in her hair sway with each step, and thought about how I’d explain to her mother that her daughter had somehow become the person every creature in this facility chose first.
Not because she tried to be their everything.
Because she couldn’t help it.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
BROVISH
By midday, the school visit preparation had consumed everyone.
We sat in the conference room, going through logistics.
Krem had created a schedule with fifteen-minute increments.
“They’ll need more time,” I insisted.
Krem shook his head. “Fifteen minutes is the optimal amount of time.”
“It isn’t. It’s?—”
“This is an organizing fight,” Drogar said. He tipped his chair back so far, he was going to topple to the floor. “Everyone believes they have a better system.”
“Do they?” I asked.
He paused, studying Krem’s schedule. “Perhaps.”
Traig had reviewed safety protocols on his tablet for the third time, reciting them aloud. Greth had wisely disappeared.
