Metal Wolf by Lauren Esker

Author:Lauren Esker [Esker, Lauren]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Icefall Press
Published: 2018-06-10T16:00:00+00:00

11

___

“W

HERE ARE YOU going?"

Sarah paused in the doorway, clean clothes bundled in her arms. She hadn't meant to wake Rei, but she also hadn't expected him to sleep through her quietly slipping out of bed, into the bathroom for a shower, and back to the bedroom to collect a sweater and jeans from her closet.

He was normally so cautious, so alert. But it was she who had wakened a dozen times during the night, startled by the presence of another body pressed warm against hers in the narrow bed. Every time, Rei had been deeply asleep, limp and heavy, not even stirring when she propped herself up on an elbow to watch his lax face as he breathed softly and steadily in the gentle green glow of her lightning-bug-shaped nightlight.

As if he hadn't truly slept in days—weeks—months; as if all it took was having her beside him in the bed to relax him.

"I'm going to class," she whispered, closing the door. Her father was still asleep; she didn't want to wake him. She began pulling on her jeans in the dark bedroom.

Rei sat up in bed. The light coming in around the door from the hallway, and the gray light of dawn through the lace curtain over her bedroom window, gave just enough light that she could see him shake his head.

"To class? I don't understand."

"Class? School? College? That's where I went on Monday, er, the other day, you know, when I was gone all day."

He nodded. "I remember that. I couldn't understand most of what you were saying then. It's a kind of training that you're going to?"

"Sort of. I'm studying astrophysics. That's a type of science, about stars and planets and gravitation."

"Science training?" He smiled, a flash of white teeth in the dark. "That's impressive. I didn't know you were a scientist."

"Just a rookie scientist who's still learning. And based on what I've seen so far of you and your spaceship, I now know that almost everything I'm learning is wrong." She pulled her sweater over her head and ran a hand through her damp curls. "But still, I paid for those classes, so I need to not flunk out. I won't be gone for long. Just a few hours. You can sleep for a while longer."

"I'm not sleepy," he began, and interrupted himself with a yawn.

"I can see that. Oh!" She looked up from tying her shoes. "I just had a thought. I'm going to be in the city today. It's not a big city, but much bigger than our little town here, with better stores. While I'm there, I can buy you some clothes so you don't have to keep wearing Dad's. Do you know what—oh, what am I saying, of course you wouldn't know what your sizes are. I need to measure your waist and leg length so I can buy you some pants."

"You don't need to obtain clothing for me," he protested as she rummaged in her sewing drawer for a tape measure. "What I already have is fine.

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