It had been a long flight to Tyriss. An even longer month before that, longing for freedom from Mr Fezius and his carousel of meetings, interviews and “guests”. Tena had dreamt of soaking in the rays of Goh III ever since that billboard went up. Now, she was finally here, free of the smog and traffic, drink in hand and spa time scheduled in. Didn’t she deserve a little breathing space? Some luxury? A chance to be irresponsible for once? Except—
“Look, Auntie Tena! A doggie!” The voice belonged to Mak, her eight-year-old cousin. Tena’s mother had insisted that she bring Mak along. Not for the first time, Tena wished she’d declined.
She sipped her cocktail, doing her best to ignore the child, but the pleas continued. When Tena finally dared to look in Mak’s direction, she saw an aradog stalking him from the other side of the magnetised particle field, fangs bared and dagger-shaped ears tilted back. Hard luck, doggie, Tena thought. Not enough meat on that kid.
As she turned back to her drink she heard a guttural bark, an electric sizzle and a squeal of alarm. Mak began to sob loudly; the creature had pounced. Tena gave a long-suffering sigh before downing the rest of her drink and doing her best to placate the kid.
“It’s alright,” she cooed. “The doggies can’t get us here.”
But as she cradled her charge, Tena felt more eyes on her from deep within the fungus outside.
Kommentare