Shadows in Amber by Thomas K. Carpenter

Author:Thomas K. Carpenter [Carpenter, Thomas K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Black Moon Books
Published: 2023-06-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

In the aftermath of the duel, Kuma found himself near one of the smaller pachinko parlors on the west end of the Terreno without his friends. He risked a brief use of his amber only to find himself bent over from the overwhelming assault on his senses.

"Never do that in front of a pachinko parlor," he reminded himself as he massaged his temples to ward away the migraine induced by thousands of clinking balls ricocheting through the brightly lit machines.

Kuma walked around the clubs, looking for others of his clan, finding only Yara and her cronies drinking beers outside the Umbra. He wasn't in the mood for hearing her brag about her father's win, even though it'd been far too close, so he headed around the other half of the circle towards the regular clan exit, hoping to find his friends.

He spotted Pandora and another Drops clan member on the far side of the Terreno. Kuma paused and was admiring her from afar when he remembered the remote again. The idea had been swirling around the edges of his thoughts, but seeing her again crystallized the idea that she'd been the one to plant the weapon. He'd found the remote under another table. When she got shot, it would have been easy to toss it away. At the time, there seemed to be no logical reason why a waitress would want to get involved with clan business, but seeing how quickly she'd risen to waku status made it clear. She'd leveraged the brief heroism into gaining the valuable faez crystals.

"There are shadows behind shadows," he whispered to himself, following them even though he knew it would be dangerous.

At a safer location, he risked a peek with his amber. It was like getting hit with a two-by-four of information. Pandora was calm, albeit a little rattled by the gruesome end to the duel, but her companion was buzzing with anticipation. The emotion was strange given what they were doing. Kuma was certain that he was misreading the Drops waku until he caught a glimpse of black metal at his back, beneath his shirt. A gun. Illegal in the Terreno, but not unexpected either. He couldn't read his thoughts, but the pairing of nervous anticipation with the weapon seemed prophetic.

More curious than ever, Kuma followed the pair as they slipped through the seedier parts of the Terreno. They disappeared through an alleyway that he knew led to passages heading southwest, which would bring them back to the Drops-controlled area.

He wished he had his friends with him, but there was something about to happen that he didn't want to miss. Kuma tried to convince himself that it was only clan business that drew him forward, but he couldn't hide his attraction to Pandora, even from himself.

Kuma stepped lightly once he reached the caverns behind the Terreno. Phosphorescent fungi gave off enough light that he could use his amber stone to see by instead of using his headlamp. Without the stimulus of the Terreno, Kuma gave his amber stone the reins.

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