The Rathmore Chaos: The Tully Harper Series Book Two by Holt Adam

Author:Holt, Adam [Holt, Adam]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Createspace
Published: 2015-04-04T16:00:00+00:00

IN AN ALLEY OFF THE BEACH

We regrouped in an alley behind the stores on the beach. Above us stood an enormous statue.

“Stars, it’s not like I was looking for a date with the hottest alien on the beach! I got out of the water and she wrapped that towel around me.”

“You needed a towel, not a wife!” Janice said. “She thought you were about to get married.”

“I know, I know. She did think I was hot though, right?”

“Oh, sure. Nobody is hotter. Oh, but it might help that she thought you were one of the Lord Ascendant’s warriors, too.”

“A pretty prince,” Sunjay corrected her.

“She was flattering you because she wanted power,” Janice said.

“It was the muscles…wait, are you jealous?”

“No!” Janice said. “I was terrified! If we were found out because you couldn’t stop from flirting with the first alien that bought you an octopus on a stick—”

“That thing did taste pretty good, even with the white sauce,” he said.

“Okay, enough,” my dad said.

That was too bad. I was enjoying the conversation, and so was Sunjay. Somehow, I think that Janice was, too.

We disrobed and my dad handed us each a blue tunic and sandals—clothing of the Third Step, he explained. We tucked our towels into the back of our tunics to cover our untattooed calves. It looked stupid but did the job.

“We have to make some inferences here,” he said. “First, all five of us are engaged to be married. That will draw suspicion. We need tattoos. Second, we are at the foot of Step One. Everything there is gray, including clothing. Look farther. Step Two is yellow.”

We looked up the spiral staircase. We could see the next two steps but the fourth and fifth step wound around the other side of the newel. Each step had a slightly larger gap. A mile over our head was the bottom of the Seventh, and final, Step.

“Based on your conversation with the girl, this is a hierarchy,” my dad explained. “Each step is a different rank in society, from lowest to highest, from gray to the very top—purple. The Third Step clothing will buy us respect. The Firsters and Seconders won’t ask many questions, even if we don’t have tattoos.”

“The Ascendant babe showed us her IV tattoo,” I said. “So we must need the Roman numeral III to be Thirders.”

“Don’t call her a babe,” said Janice. “That’s insulting to women.”

“She’s an alien, Janice! Maybe she likes the word ‘babe,’” said Sunjay. “Who cares?”

“I do!” she said.

My dad shook his head. “Janice, Sunjay, listen up. I will not repeat this, and I will not have to. The both of you need to learn to cut each other some slack. You’re both trying to score points in an argument. And do you know who loses in that game?”

“Both of us,” said Janice.

“No. Tabitha loses,” my dad said. Just the mention of her name and I could envision her in the tower. He never had to ask them to knock if off again. “Now it’s getting darker.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.