by Linda Taimre
Wildly Harriet pushed against the man’s body, levering herself to stand.
“Lord Fiennes. If this communicator was in his pocket, then he’s dead.”
“Dead?” Lady Trinh touched her forehead lightly with distress. “Tell me. Who are you? Is anyone there with you?”
Why does she care, what is this?
“Who are you to ask?”
“I must know, now.” Lady Trinh’s voice trembled as she considered the worst.
Harriet swayed on the spot and widened her eyes. “I am Harriet.”
“Harriet Braxton.”
“Yes. How did you know that?”
“Harriet, is anyone else with you?”
Harriet surveyed the bodies surrounding her. “I don’t… no. No one is here. I mean, yes, they are.”
The silence made Lady Trinh’s heart rate rise. “But?”
Harriet dropped the communicator, unable to grip anything, not wanting to feel anything any longer. I can’t, I can’t do this. This I can’t do. She fell to the floor once more, helpless.
Lady Trinh allowed her hand to fall to her lap. Steven almost completed his task. No matter. There will be another to finish the job. She could hear the sound of Harriet sobbing on the other end of the line, a wrenching of sound. Or perhaps… perhaps this is enough.
She rose slowly from her desk, pushing the chair back with thin wrists. She walked to the window of her office and gazed out over the protected city. Night had now fallen. City sparks had been illuminated, sending a glow of warmth out into the protectorate. The river had reflections of gold running through it. Apartments snaked up the sides, winking with the lights of dinnertime rituals the city over. Lady Trinh grasped her hands behind her back and forced herself to stand straight and true. The protectorate, and beyond, is safe. Humanity is safe.
THE END
Coming in 2019
A new series set between our world and the Underworld…
No one said getting unbanished would be easy.
Sav is stuck in the land of the living. As a fey, this is exactly where she doesn’t want to be – the Upperworld breaks her power and wipes her death-day. This means her countdown to death is way off, and she could expire at any moment.
Plus, having to work in a cookie-shop for minimum wage really cramps her style.
But finding a way back to the Underworld isn’t as easy as evaporating yourself, not when Aunt Tabitha has personally locked the gates and sent a tigerate to spy on you. Between that and the weird neighbours who keep giving her pickles… well, Sav can only hope her next heist is the key to her way back home.
Keep reading for a free sample of Linda’s upcoming novel…
Back in business.
Finally, she had something worthy of getting her struck off the living list. Sav gripped the ruby in her palm, feeling its edges dig into her trembling hands. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to take to Aunt Tabitha. It would give her the credibility she needed to get back on top of the Underworld.
Gotta make it count.
Sav drew back the dusty cloth to reveal the snarling, drooling tigerate.
I WILL END YOU.
She blinked. “I didn’t think they taught increds how to use voboxes these days. How primitive.”
I WILL RID YOU AND SKIN YOU.
The tigerate spat, its saliva sizzling the bars that contained it.
“Oh, come on, I just bought this cage especially for you!” Sav said as she stepped back to avoid the acidic spittle. The small tigerate responded with a headbutt to the cage door, causing a crick to sound and splinters to fly off. “Yikes,” she murmured, and she decided against antagonising the mottled beast further.
“Take this to the other side for me and you will be rewarded.” Well… “Or, at least, I won’t throttle you, how does that sound?” She threw the egg-sized ruby into the cage, drew her spizer and evaporated the tigerate. A sweet scent of jasmine accompanied the sound of air rushing into a vacuum. Nothing was left of the beast save a few drops of still-bubbling spit.
Sav sighed and held her hand out in front of her. It trembled inconsistently, and the longer she held it out, the more the trembles turned into shakes. One of the many unfortunate side effects of banishment from the Underworld. Somewhere, a kitchen timer buzzed. Oh crap.Get a move on . Sav swivelled on the spot, grabbing the dirty cloth and throwing it expertly over the cage (the spit thankfully now gone up in smoke). Her spizer got stashed in the bottom cabinet drawer, the jewel case thrown in the fridge, the ancient codescroll shoved behind a copy of a dad jokes book. In a matter of seconds, the compact space transformed from a mystical den into a storeroom in the back of a cookie shop.
Footsteps slapped on the linoleum outside. Sav watched the doorknob quiver, and tensed as she waited for the inevitable –
“Savvy Savannah Savicious Savoy!” A jolly voice sounded as the door opened, revealing a rotund body supporting an even rounder head, plastered with a wide grin. “Break time is over! Cookie-time fun awaits!” Jim – Sav’s boss in the Upperworld – laughed wheezily to himself and gestured at her with flapping hands.
“Yep, Jim, I just need to grab my apron,” said Sav. She indicated towards the storeroom door where her bright pink apron with Mr Jim’s Cookies emblazoned in Comic Sans was hanging. There ensued an awkward step-one-two dance where Sav reached around the back of the door while allowing Jim to squeeze himself under her outstretched arm and back out into the main store. Over his head, Sav could see the impatient faces of young teenagers waiting in a line that stretched into the large walkway of the indoor mall. Jim’s cookies were particularly popular with the after-school kids rush – plenty of Brisbane children looking to disobey their blonde-haired stepmothers for the sake of an afternoon sugar fix. Sav’s apron back on, securely fastened with the pink ties at the back, she stepped up to the counter as Jim disappeared to watch the layered ovens.
“So. What do you all want?” Ten pairs of teenaged eyes blinked at her, taking in Sav’s scowling, no-nonsense look, before one bold girl announced she wanted the five-for-three deal. Bagging cookie after cookie, Sav couldn’t help but consider grabbing a bite of something delicious to keep her energy up. But no, eating them was off-limits for more reasons than just Jim’s hawk-eye for missing batches. She’d have to content herself with watching the humans eat them – and did they ever eat them, handful after handful. But why wouldn’t you, not knowing when you’re going to die? May as well cram life full of as many experiences as possible.
A sharp, acrid smell – wildly contrasting to the gentle scent of the chocolate triple fudge-dipped cookies Jim was pulling out of the oven – hit Sav’s nostrils. She jerked her head back. Rats . Aunt Tabitha’s off-target again . A swirling of dark orange fur began to whirlwind in front of the cookie shop, right outside the door in the middle of the mall’s busy walkway. Fluorescent overhead lights made the edges of the spinning mass hard to pinpoint, but Sav knew what it was. So far, the school-uniformed teenagers milling around hadn’t noticed it, but it wouldn’t be long until their sub-par senses picked up what Sav had – and as soon as they did, the smartphone cameras would inevitably follow. This was not going to plan. Aside from one unusually flamboyant bufflebear employed by her Aunt Tabitha, increds – half-mortal hybrid creatures that could bounce between the Upper and Underworlds – rarely liked becoming YouTube sensations.
“Ah, Jim? I just gotta… go out for a second. You know. Just for a sec,” Sav called as she ran through the crowd.
Jim’s booming voice followed her out the door. “Sav, your break is over – savvy workers use their breaks wisely!” Jim cackled, congratulating himself on that pearl of a pun. He looked where Sav had run, hoping to see her roll her eyes. Punny jokes were the main reason Jim had hired her – she’d certainly had nothing else to recommend her as an employee, with precisely zero experience, no high school certificate, and somewhat limited people skills. But beyond the shop door, Jim saw nothing except the maroon and yellow blazers of the l
ocal high school kids. No, wait… was that…? Jim rubbed his eyes to clear the hazy smoke, and then blinked rather stupidly as he realised it must have been nothing. “Savvy workers…” he mumbled, then turned to give the waiting teenager her raspberry white chocolate cookie. Spending 12 hours under fluoro lights can really make someone start seeing things.
In the middle of the walkway surrounded by a sea of grey polyester school shorts, Sav crouched with her arms curled around the thrashing tigerate, her thumb firmly holding down the central button of the blanketing buzzer she’d pulled out of her pocket. The blanketing buzzer provided her, and whatever living thing she was touching, with a blanket of protection from prying eyes, shielding them from sight. Not, however, from touch – and the wriggling hybrid was not exactly making it easy to manoeuvre through the people flooding the mall. “Stop moving so much you duffelhead,” she hissed at the tigerate.
I HATE YOU AND WILL DESTROY ALL YOU HAVE EVER LOVED.
“Yes, yes, sure, can you just wait until we get outside?” Sav shifted sideways through the crowds, slowly but surefootedly, and eventually made it to the service corridor for the foodcourt. Pushing on the heavy swing doors with her back, she slipped through the gap with the tigerate still in her grip and strode down the long passageway. Something about service corridors always made her feel homesick – maybe it was the gentle smell of rot, or the dampness of the atmosphere, or the cockroaches that ran the length of the passage, an honour guard that accompanied her on her journey to the exit.
Sav shoved through the doors that led out to the back carpark, employees only. A couple of foodcourt workers – Dan from the salad bar and Prityush from the burger joint – stood smoking. They nodded cautiously at Sav, and received nothing in return, though this time not because Sav was being actively rude, but because she was too distracted by the tigerate that was now biting her and dripping sizzling saliva all over her forearm. “You little rascal.” Sav powerwalked to the corner of the lot where a trundle of wheelie bins stood sentry. She lifted one’s lid and cheerfully dropped the creature in. After a few moments of general thrashing and complaining, the tigerate settled on the discarded overripe sushi to squint up at Sav hatefully.
“So, what have you got to say… you know, I just realised I don’t know what to call you.”
The tigerate squinted even harder, as impossible as that seemed.
YOUR AUNT HAS NAMED ME DODO.
“Dodo?” Sav shook her head. Her aunt always did have a comically cruel streak. “Ok then, Dodo. Tell me, why are you back so soon? And why are you alone?”
TABITHA SENDS A MESSAGE.
The creature wriggled on a tray of sashimi, then vibrated fast for a few seconds. Its back split open, revealing a pouch suspended in transparent goo. Sav’s face twisted. This is never not disgusting . With a squelch, the pouch popped out and landed in some rotting nori, which, if anything, made it more appealing.
TABITHA RETURNS THIS.
Returns … Sav’s heart was heavy as she opened the pouch, knowing full well what she would see. The ruby glittered in her hand, the same ruby she had sent back with Dodo. That could only mean one thing.
TABITHA DENIES YOU ENTRY.
It wasn’t enough. Sav’s banishment was not yet over. Her hand gripped the ruby within the pouch, a deep sadness running through her bones. “Okay. Thanks… Dodo. You’ll have to wait here while I get my spizer, it’s back in the store.” Sav started to turn away, both hands now around the pouch to curb her trembling fingers.
YOU ARE NOT TO EVAPORATE ME. I AM TO STAY WITH YOU.
She frowned and looked back at the wheelie bin, where she could just see the dark orange tips of the tigerate’s ragged ears. “Aunt Tabitha sent you to spy on me?”
IT’S A POOR SPY THAT ANNOUNCES ITS INTENTIONS SO CLEARLY.
Sav sighed out. “Right. A spying non-spy. A spying non-spy called Dodo, of all things.” She stepped towards the tigerate. It wasn’t squinting so much now, though its eyes still weren’t exactly welcoming. You hate this as much as I do . “Well, who am I to contradict Aunt Tabitha?”
YOU ARE A BANISHED REBEL WHO –
“Yes, yes, we all know that. Anyway, Dodo, if we’re going to be spending time together, you’ll need to learn when I’m being rhetorical.”
RHETORICAL QUESTIONS ARE NOT WORTH ANSWERING AND THEREFORE ARE NOT WORTH ASKING.
“What a bundle of fun you’ll be.” Sav reached into the bin and picked Dodo up. Its claws brought a few bits of fish along too. She looked over her shoulder and saw the smokers gone and the carpark clear. Her thumb buzzed the blanketer and the two hazed into invisibility, one outcast plus one reluctant follower.
WHERE ARE WE GOING?
“To work. We have things to do.”
YOU WILL SEEK A WAY BACK.
Sav smiled. “Well, obviously, yes, but first I meant literally to work. My job. Jim’s already going to be pretty annoyed at me, and as they say, the cookies won’t sell themselves.”
WHAT ARE COOKIES? WHAT IS JIM?
“Ah, Dodo. I’m starting to think Aunt Tabitha knew what she was doing when she named you. Let’s go introduce you to the world of Jim and his chocolate triple fudge-dipped cookies.”
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you to Abi, Leanne, Lizzy, Matt, and Maz who helped hone The Fading to its slickest form. Thank you to my family who fostered my love of reading, and now encourage my love of writing. And thank you to Brendan, for making me a bet I couldn’t face losing.
ABOUT LINDA
Thank you for reading my work! Reviews make the writing community stronger, so consider leaving a review on Amazon or wherever you got this book.
I’m an Australian author who writes speculative fiction – anything supernatural, fantastical and futuristic. In the past, I’ve been an actor, corporate improvement analyst, teacher, producer, and operations manager. Nowadays, I’m also interested in neuropsychology, though I still love an occasional theatrical stint.
Keep up with my new releases by subscribing to my newsletter on lindataimre.com . Follow me on Facebook , Twitter , Instagram and Goodreads .
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
Kaustik Press is a publishing house that focuses on work that sears on the mind even after the final page. Kaustik Press is proud to publish The Fading. Find out more on kaustikpress.com .
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Table Of Contents
Dedication
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Coming in 2019
Free Chapter of Linda Taimre's latest book
Acknowledgements
About Linda
About the Publisher
oks on Archive.