Poison Tree by Amelia Atwater-rhodes

Author:Amelia Atwater-rhodes [Atwater-Rhodes, Amelia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780375985720
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2012-07-09T14:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

“YOU’RE UPSET,” JEHT observed as Sarik led the cubs back toward the front of the administration building.

The obvious reply, reminding him about the recent attack and the deadly fight that he had finished, would mean nothing to him. The less obvious answer, though, was much more complicated.

“Are you ever afraid?” she asked him as they entered the lobby and paused.

For a moment he looked offended; she saw the defensive answer form on his lips and the way he looked at his younger brother as if concerned about his reaction. Then he paused, taking in Sarik’s expression. “Sometimes,” he whispered. “When the blue men captured us, and then you came, I thought you would kill us.”

Jeht and Quean had been picked up by human police after they had been thrown out of their own tribe, casualties of a coup that had overthrown the king, their father. It had taken time for SingleEarth to hear about them, to find someone who spoke their language, and then for Sarik to reach them.

Quean said in a tiny voice, “Sometimes I still think that.”

Sarik resisted the urge to pick the smaller boy up and hug him tightly. He still saw her as his queen. Such an informal display would panic him.

“Sometimes I’m afraid, too,” she admitted. “I’m afraid now, but there is nothing I can do about it. Every time I try to fix anything, people get hurt.”

“Is the woman from earlier someone you hurt?” Jeht asked. “Is that why she is hunting you?”

“The woman who interrupted our meeting?” Sarik asked. Jeht wouldn’t have understood anything the woman said, only that she had shouted a lot. “She’s also afraid, I think,” she answered. “Some people get angry when they’re scared.”

Jeht frowned. “She didn’t smell angry or scared,” he said. “She yelled like a tiger, like she was trying to frighten people, but her scent never changed except when she looked at you.”

The words caught in Sarik’s anxiety like a fishhook, tugging. Jeht was right—everyone in the room who spoke English had been focused on their own concerns and on the woman’s words. They had all acknowledged that her behavior seemed “off,” but none of them had consciously considered her body language.

“Mary,” she asked as they entered the lobby, switching to English to speak to the secretary, “could I see the lobby tape from when our visitor came in?”

Mary pulled up the footage with a few clicks, then moved aside so Sarik and Jeht could see. Sarik watched and listened as the distressed woman who had come to look for Alysia paced and pleaded with the receptionist.

“Why isn’t she here?” the woman demanded of Mary.

“She had to leave on business, I believe,” Mary replied vaguely.

Sarik wondered if Mary had been fully informed yet about Alysia’s situation, or if she was trying to make the situation seem less dire in an attempt to calm the woman.

“I have to see her.”

“She isn’t here.” Mary was obviously losing her patience. “Please, let me show you to the conference room.

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