Home > The Turn (The Hollows 0.1)(5)

The Turn (The Hollows 0.1)(5)
Author: Kim Harrison

He was gone when she looked up.

Numb, she sat in her chair as the conference took on its normal patter and flow, everyone seeing her but no one making eye contact. “You can’t,” a plaintive voice rang out, and she watched as the NASA rep walked away, Kal’s mother following fast, her steps short and heels clicking. Kal met her gaze with a murderous intent, jumping when his father picked up one of his contracts and shoved it at him.

“Sign it,” the older man demanded. “Before they all withdraw their offers.”

“Father,” Kal complained, clearly not liking that Trisk was seeing this.

“Now!” his father exclaimed. “Sa’han Ulbrine was right. You showed a disturbing lack of control and commonsense over a woman you will never see after tonight. Sign.”

Motions stiff, Kal took the pen and signed the paper. His father all but jerked it out from under him. “Go wait in your rooms,” the tall man said coldly, then strode away to register the contract before midnight, when the gala would be over.

Trisk couldn’t help herself, and she made a mocking face at Kal across the aisle.

Kal’s eyes narrowed. “You cost me my dream job,” he said, his melodious voice clear over the surrounding conversations.

“You went out of your way to hurt me,” she said coldly.

He stood to leave, glancing over his booth as if only now seeing it as the vain display it was. Silent, he walked away. A cluster of young women flitted behind him, ignored.

Trisk slumped, tired. She watched him as long as she could, and then he was gone. The final hours passed, and in groups of three and four, smiling parents and happy graduates left the hall on their way to parties hosted by their new employers, and from there, to a new life. She slowly realized she was alone. The tables were empty, the family banners drooping unattended amid the stray cups of cold coffee and tea. Still she sat, her attention fixed on a glint of crystal missed by the cleaners.

The click of a shutting door roused her. Thinking it was her father, Trisk stirred, muscles stiff as she rose and went to pick up the forgotten crystal. It was cool in her hand, smooth but for one rough edge. There was no tingle of magic left—it was just dead crystal. The time to record her contract had come and gone. It didn’t matter. She had no intention of accepting any of the offers. There wasn’t much available for a twenty-six-year-old woman in 1963, but she’d find something. She couldn’t ask her father to continue to support her.

A pang of guilt almost bent her double. He had tried so hard to give her what she wanted, and she’d failed him. The studying, the practice, the sacrifice—all for nothing.

A scuff brought her head up, and her fist closed tight on the shard. A suited official was moving slowly among the discarded chairs and scattered papers. It was the man from the enclave who had chastised her, and a feeling of defiant guilt rose high.

“What a mess,” the man said as he drew close, and she stiffened.

“Good evening, Sa’han,” she said, wanting to leave but unable to now that he’d addressed her.

“I think we’re going to lose our cleaning deposit,” he said as he wearily sat against Kal’s table, left for others to break down and pack away. “But we usually do.”

She said nothing, waiting for him to dismiss her, but he only leaned back, balancing precariously as he found a copy of Kal’s transcripts, his bushy eyebrows rising as he looked it over. “I didn’t know your GPA was higher than his,” he said in surprise.

She shrugged, not having cared beyond acquiring a spot under the chandelier.

The man slowly bobbed his head, his thin finger tracing a line down Kal’s last eight years. “My mother had dark eyes,” he said softly. “When I complained to my father that she should get them fixed to be like everyone else’s, he told me they helped her see past the crap most of us drape ourselves with. I was never more embarrassed of myself than that day.”

He pushed off from the table, and Trisk backed up, confused.

“I saw what happened,” he said, coming close. “You never used your magic, though you were ready to. I couldn’t hear. What did he say before you punched him in the nose?”

Trisk warmed. “I made an error in judgment, Sa’han. You have my apologies.”

The man smiled. “What did he say?”

She lifted her chin. “He called me a second-rate security grunt, Sa’han.”

Nodding as if unsurprised, the man reached into his suit’s inner pocket and handed her a card embossed with the enclave’s symbol. “As you haven’t accepted any of your fine offers, I’d suggest you put in your application at Global Genetics.”

Trisk took the card, seeing it had his name and a phone number on it. Sa’han Ulbrine, she thought, confused. “In Sacramento?” she said. Global Genetics was a human-run lab, generations behind what any of her people were doing. The enclave was kicking her out, and her heart sank.

But Ulbrine put an arm over her shoulder and turned her to the door. His mood was one of opportunity, not exile, and she didn’t understand. “Occasionally a lab we have no affiliation with makes a breakthrough, and we want to know about it before they publish it.”

They weren’t kicking her out then, but kicking her to the curb, reminding her of her place. “Sa’han . . .” she said, drawing to a stop.

He was smiling when she looked up, his amusement unexpected. “Your excellent grades and background give you a unique ability to infiltrate by taking a job as a genetic researcher. The enclave will pay you a small security stipend,” he said, handing her a contract rolled up and tied with a purple ribbon. “And that is what your title will be on the rolls, but you will have your wage from Global Genetics to supplement your income to the point where you won’t need a spouse to maintain yourself.”

   
Most Popular
» Nothing But Trouble (Malibu University #1)
» Kill Switch (Devil's Night #3)
» Hold Me Today (Put A Ring On It #1)
» Spinning Silver
» Birthday Girl
» A Nordic King (Royal Romance #3)
» The Wild Heir (Royal Romance #2)
» The Swedish Prince (Royal Romance #1)
» Nothing Personal (Karina Halle)
» My Life in Shambles
» The Warrior Queen (The Hundredth Queen #4)
» The Rogue Queen (The Hundredth Queen #3)
vampires.readsbookonline.com Copyright 2016 - 2024