Page 93 of Hellbent

She twisted up the stairs and disappeared.

Another human. Out of sight. Inside his place. Doing whatever humans did.

He looked over at the vertical garden. It looked back. He wondered if the plants were as uncomfortable as he was.

“This might be a very bad idea,” he told them.

He thought again of David Smith in his frayed school shirt and swallowed his own discomfort.

After a moment Joey came back downstairs, running a hand along the curved handrail as if she wasn’t sure it was real.

“Is it okay?” he asked.

“It is,” she said, “more than okay.”

“Let’s get to work.”

“Okay. Quick question: Where are the extra sheets? And pillows?”

He looked at her.

“Like for guests,” she said.

“Guests,” Evan repeated. He gave a nod. “We’ll figure that out later.”

Joey turned to the east-facing windows, gawking at downtown in the distance. The discreet armor sunshades were raised, the glass tinted. She took a step closer. The entire wall was transparent. At least in one direction.

She said, “You can see into so many apartments from here.”

Evan said, “Yes.”

She set her palms against the Lexan pane. He made a note to wipe off the smudges later.

“Did Jack teach you about the Mangoday?” she asked.

“Genghis Khan’s cavalrymen.”

“Yeah.” She laughed, her breath clouding the glass. “He said they were the first elite special-operations force. They fought without fear, beyond the limits of the human body. Know how Khan trained those warriors?”

“Built a regimen based on starving wolves.”

“Yeah,” she said. “The hungrier a wolf is, the braver and more ferocious he gets.”

“You’re saying that’s what we are.”

“Yes. That’s what we are. And this place? This place looks like the home of someone who’s always hungry.”

“For what?”

She looked back at him, her hair flicking over one shoulder. Her hands remained on the window. “For everything out there.”

Evan broke off her stare, heading down the hall to the master suite. “Let’s get to work,” he said again.

He could hear Joey jogging to catch up. He opened the door and stepped into his bedroom. She crossed the threshold and halted.

“Um,” she said. “Your bed is floating.”

“Yes.”