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“Uh…no,” she muttered. Pushing the drawer back into the built-in dresser, she found…another bikini—this one made of what looked like blue snakeskin. Another no. Though Seline was proud of her curves, she didn’t like wearing such a skimpy outfit around people she didn’t know. Especially Master Lendrex, who gave her a serious case of the creeps.
She tried another drawer and another and another—all bikinis made of different material. Some had little capes attached to the shoulder straps or flimsy little skirts that were part of the bottom but all of them showed more than she liked.
Finally, twelve drawers in (there were a lot of drawers) she found something she thought might work. It was a long, silky gown that felt as airy as spider webs as she slid it over her head. It clung to her curves but it also hid them, though it was cut low in the front and even lower in the back. It was made of some shimmery material which looked golden when she turned in one direction and deep blue when she turned in another.
“Hmmm…nice,” Seline murmured to herself, turning back and forth to watch the fabric change colors. She could see herself wearing something like this to a fancy party at Yonnie Six. She’d be setting a whole new fashion trend!
She was just getting into admiring the way the fabric draped when Peep-a-cheek flew down and pecked her—hard—on top of her head.
“Ow! Hey!” Seline looked up at the little creature which was hovering around her face, his wings beating so fast they were nearly invisible. “All right, all ready! What is it you want me to see so badly?”
Seeing that he had her attention, the little flur’fa darted out of the bathing and changing area, flew through the bedroom where Nox was still sleeping, and headed for the archway that led into their suite. There was no door, but there was a privacy curtain, unlike the other entrances they had seen in the Upper Disk. Peep-a-Cheek flew through a small gap between the curtain and the archway and Seline slipped out after him.
“Hey, where are we going?” she whispered loudly—but not too loudly, the hallways were dark and it seemed that everyone was asleep. Seline wondered what time it was—it felt like the very early hours of the morning but she wasn’t quite sure.
She followed Peep-a-cheek down the curving hallway—making sure to steer clear of the black climbing vines and their blood-red flowers, while trying to stay in the shadows. They passed the Punishment Room and the Harvesting and Breeding Room—both deserted—and finally came to another familiar archway.
The archway leading into Master Lendrex’s office.
“Hey, what are you doing? You can’t go in there!” Seline hissed at the flur’fa.
But Peep-a-cheek flew into the office anyway, clearly ignoring her.
“Hey—come out of there!” Seline put her head through the archway and saw that the little flur’fa was hovering near the huge set of shelves which displayed all of Master Lendrex’s artifact collection. He seemed to be trying to peck at something on one of the shelves, about the same height as Seline’s head.
“Come back here—don’t do that!” she whispered, making frantic motions at him. “You can’t mess with that stuff—it’s valuable!”
But Peep-a-cheek refused to come—he kept hovering and pecking at the shelf.
Finally Seline realized she was going to have to go get him. She took a look around to be sure the hallways were still deserted and—feeling like a mom going after a naughty toddler—she ducked quickly into Master Lendrex’s office.
The office was still lit by dim glows imbedded in the shelves, probably to display the artifacts, so at least she could see where she was going. Her intention was to just grab the little flur’fa—carefully of course—and hustle out of the office before anyone woke up and came to see what was going on. But the minute she got to the shelf where Peep-a-cheek was hovering, her jaw dropped and her eyes opened wide.
There, sitting behind an elaborately painted plate, was a metal box that looked exactly like the one which housed the first half of the Far Box. It was carved and inscribed in the same ancient Kindred script and made of the same dull gold metal.
“Oh my God!” Seline breathed, taking a step closer to stare at it. “We must not have seen it because it was hidden behind that plate! Good job, Peep-a-cheek—I can’t believe you found it!”
She wondered if Master Lendrex had been hiding it on purpose or if he had simply forgotten it was there. But then again, just because the metal carrying case was sitting on the shelf, it didn’t mean that the other half of the Far Box was inside it.
I’ll just take a quick peek, Seline told herself. That way we can be sure if he has it or not. If he doesn’t, maybe we can sneak out of here early.
