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The longer they stayed in the Upper Disk, the more uneasy she felt. There were weird things going on here and not just the kinky sex. The sucking flowers and the way the Viridians had worked out a way to impregnate their females immediately were both a little too strange for Seline. She was anxious to get the Far Box and get the Seven Hells out of here, as the Kindred would say.
Carefully, she reached behind the decorative plate—which was mounted on a kind of wooden stand—and flipped up the metal lid.
The metal carrying case opened easily, its hinges working smoothly without even a squeak. And inside was a familiar half-cube made of smaller, black and white stone cubes.
Seline’s heart leapt in her chest. Yes! It was here! Now they could bargain with Master Lendrex for it and start the process of going home to their own universe!
She thought of just taking it and running…but that seemed like a bad idea. Master Lendrex seemed willing to bargain and now that their cred chips were worth even more than they had been in their own universe, they ought to have enough to buy the other half of the Far Box from him easily.
Carefully, Seline put the lid of the metal box back down and started to withdraw her hand…only to find she was stuck!
“Hey…what…?” she muttered as she tugged at her hand. But no matter how hard she pulled, she couldn’t get her hand past the shelf. It felt as though an invisible foam cuff—soft but immensely strong—had encircled her wrist.
Peep-a-cheek peeped and fluttered around her head anxiously. It was as though he was asking what was wrong.
“I don’t know!” Seline told him. “It feels like my hand is trapped!”
“That’s because it is, my dear,” a voice said behind her. “And I do believe you have been caught in the act of thievery.”
TWENTY-SEVEN
SELINE
The voice behind her startled her so much that Seline nearly broke her trapped arm trying to twist around and see who it was.
“Oh my God!” she gasped, when she saw Master Lendrex standing there with a cruel smile on his golden face. “Oh, I’m so sorry—this is all a big misunderstanding, I promise, Master Lendrex!”
As she spoke, Peep-a-cheek whizzed past the Viridian leader and out of the room, making her feel utterly abandoned.
“How many times must I tell you that pleasure girls are to be seen and not heard here in the Halls of Pain?” he snapped, coming forward. “So tell me—which of my valuable artifacts were you trying to steal?”
Seline glared up at him.
“Do you want me to answer your question or keep my mouth shut like a good little girl? You can’t have it both ways, you know.”
The Viridian leader’s black eyes flashed.
“You’ve got a smart mouth on you, little female. But now that you’ve been caught red-handed, I do believe I can finally punish you for it!”
“What? No!” Seline gasped, shrinking away from him. She yanked as hard as she could on the invisible foam cuff that was still keeping her in place but it was completely immovable.
“Don’t bother trying to get free of my anti-theft system,” Master Lendrex sneered at her. “Did you really think I would leave shelves full of priceless artifacts out in the open without protecting them in some way?”
“I know how this looks but I wasn’t trying to steal anything—honestly!” Seline exclaimed. “It’s just that my pet flur’fa woke me up and brought me here because he found the artifact we’ve been looking for!”
“He did, did he?” Master Lendrex crossed his arms over his broad, golden-scaled chest, looking thoroughly skeptical.
Seline tried again.
“Yes, he did!” she insisted. “Look, I know that sounds crazy, but I wasn’t going to try to take it. It’s just, I saw the metal carrying case and wanted to know if the other half of the artifact we’ve been looking for was inside. So I just took a little peak and then I was going to go back to bed and tell Nox—I mean, Master Nox—that you do have the artifact after all.”
“And you expect me to just take your word that you weren’t trying to steal from me?” he growled. “I don’t think so. You’ve been caught in the act of thievery and here in the Halls of Pain, we punish such crimes.”
“But I didn’t take anything!” Seline’s heart was pounding and her palms were sweating. She was feeling more and more panicked. “Please!” she begged. “You have to believe me!”
“I do not have to do anything—I am Lord and Master here!” Master Lendrex thundered. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t punish you right here and now, girl!”
“I’ll give you a good reason,” a deep, growling voice said from the doorway. “Because if you touch her, I’ll kill you.”
TWENTY-EIGHT
SELINE
Seline felt a rush of relief as she looked up and saw Nox standing in the archway. His silver eyes had gone red and he seemed to have grown somehow, so that his broad shoulders filled the arch. Hovering around his head was Peep-a-cheek—the little flur’fa must have gone to fetch him, Seline realized.
