His Maker's Mark by Kristen Painter

Author:Kristen Painter [Painter, Kristen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-02-13T18:30:00+00:00

Vasmir woke with dreams still lingering in his head. Dreams of flying and Annaleigh. Good dreams. He smiled thinking about them. Sunlight poured through the windows of the apartment, casting everything in a golden glow.

He got up and stretched, then folded the blanket Annaleigh had provided for him and set it on top of the pillow she’d also given him.

Annaleigh was a wonderful person. She had shown him all sorts of things in the apartment last night. How to turn things on and off, like the lights, the shower, kitchen and bathroom faucets, and the television. How to operate the microwave, although he was still not sure about using that. How the refrigerator had to be kept shut after you took something out. Where food was. How to make cereal and toast for breakfast.

His stomach rumbled thinking about food. It was interesting to be hungry. It made him feel very human, and that made him smile. But first he went into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. He’d looked at himself last night, too, but his new face took some getting used to.

Annaleigh said he was handsome. He looked at his face, trying to determine why that was. He bared his teeth. They were so blunt now. So human. He did not see what she saw, but he was happy she found him pleasing.

He took out a bowl from the cabinet, a spoon from the drawer, then a box of cereal from a different cabinet. The box had a tiger on it. He hoped the cereal was not actually made from tigers. That didn’t seem appetizing.

He got milk from the refrigerator, making sure to close the door. He put cereal in the bowl, tasting one piece before doing anything else. It was sweet and crunchy, with no discernable tiger flavor.

He poured milk over the pieces, then returned the milk to the refrigerator. He carried his bowl and spoon back to the couch. He set them down on the table in front of it and used the remote to turn on the television just as she’d instructed him, pressing the power button.

An image appeared. Two people behind a desk, a blond woman and a dark-haired man. They were talking about things happening in the city.

“After nearly a hundred years since it was first constructed, the old Albemarle Hotel is set for demolition today,” the man said. “We’ll be taking you there live in just a few moments.” He touched his ear. “Looks like our Action Nine drone is up and that feed is ready now.”

The hotel appeared on the screen. It looked old and forgotten.

Vasmir sat transfixed, his breakfast ignored. His once proud home would soon be gone. It was uncomfortable to see it displayed for all the world like this, but he could not bring himself to change the channel the way Annaleigh had showed him.

His heart ached, not just for the loss of his past, but for the loss of his brothers. His throat constricted as the man on the television continued to talk about the hotel’s history.

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