A Snake in the Grass by K. A. Stewart

Author:K. A. Stewart [Stewart, K. A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Samurai, demon, katana, jesse james dawson, Fantasy
ISBN: 9780692217023
Amazon: 0692217029
Goodreads: 22051166
Publisher: Pirate Ninja Press
Published: 2014-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

I think the sun was coming up by the time I snuck into the room I was sharing with the Perez boys. Estéban was curled up snoring in his bunk, so I had to assume that Sveta was once again snuggled up with the donkey, which was just too much weird for my brain to even handle at that state of tired.

Even as my head hit the flat little pancake they were calling a pillow, I heard Carlotta’s house slippers whispering down the hallway and knew that breakfast and the chaos that went therewith would be occurring soon. My stomach gave a half-hearted growl at the thought of food, but the rest of me said “screw you, I’m sleeping,” and I didn’t really think about anything after that for a while.

The smell of a fried pork product of some type woke me, and I opened one eye to find Estéban waving a plate full of food back and forth in front of my face. He gave me a small smirk, marred only slightly by the bruises on his face and sat the plate down on the floor. “The family is starting to arrive for the fiesta. You have about twenty minutes before Mama comes to wake you herself and presses you into chores.”

I snorted at his retreating back, but rolled over and helped myself to a couple of strips of bacon. Chores. I could do chores. Chores were going to be the easiest thing I’d done in days. After a few moments of munching on my breakfast-in-cot, I sat up, stretching out muscles that were still protesting my treatment of them last night. I guess it said something that I’d slept through the mass exodus that morning, though the boys usually sounded like a herd of stampeding wildebeest.

Fed and dressed – Mira had confiscating my best T-shirts, but I’d managed to smuggle one out that said “I’m not perfect, but parts of me are excellent” – I girded myself to face whatever the Perez clan could hope to throw at me.

Okay, there were like a hundred people there already, and more arriving every few minutes. I gave up trying to remember everyone’s names after being introduced to the third Jorge and fifth Maria. Carlotta latched onto me the moment I appeared and I was set to work with the older boys, layering firewood into the huge pit out behind the main house. I got the idea there was probably going to be some kind of roast beast issuing from the pit later, but for now, all we had was the grunt work.

On one pass through the courtyard, I caught sight of Sveta teetering on top of a tall ladder as she helped drape strings of lights through the overhanging trees. Terrence was off to one side, surrounded by a circle of ancient Mexican grandmother types, the women cackling at something the old man said like he was the second coming of James Dean.

Somewhere around midmorning, Carlotta collared both me

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