Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 119846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 599(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 599(@200wpm)___ 479(@250wpm)___ 399(@300wpm)
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to steady herself.
No key. No clues. And they were still stuck in this place with no way out.
She glanced down at the bone still in her hand.
“Well,” she muttered. “Might as well take this to the kitchen like Cookie asked.”
And with that, she turned and walked out of the bedroom, heading for the kitchen and praying the guys had better luck than her in finding the key.
53
NOELLE
Noelle trudged into the kitchen, still holding the massive bone by two fingers like it might bite her. The damn thing was almost as long as her forearm and had bits of stringy gray flesh clinging to it, like someone had gnawed it clean and tossed it aside. The stench coming from it was stomach-turning—ripe and meaty with a sour edge that reminded her of ground hamburger left out on a Florida sidewalk in August.
She spotted the barrel Cookie had pointed out earlier, wedged in the corner like an industrial trash can. It had a lid propped open and something wet glistened inside—maybe more bones, or maybe something even worse. She didn’t want to look too closely. Grimacing, she chucked the bone in and heard it land with a damp thud that made her skin crawl.
There, she thought, wiping her hands on her pants with a shiver. That’s one less nightmare lying around the bedroom.
She straightened and looked around. The kitchen was quiet—no sign of Cookie now. Just the steady hum of machinery and the odd flicker of harsh light from the fixtures overhead. She could hear the low hiss of something steaming in a distant pressure pot and the occasional drip from the massive alien faucet above the double-deep sink.
Now that she wasn’t being ordered around, curiosity got the better of her. The kitchen was huge—clearly designed for feeding someone far bigger than a Kindred. Which made sense when she remembered how big Thune the Trollox was—and the fact that he had three heads to feed, not just one. She wondered idly if they all had their own stomachs or if everything he ate with all three heads went to the same place.
Then she remembered the gnawed bone and decided she didn’t want to know.
Putting her momentary curiosity about Trollox dining habits aside, she continued exploring the kitchen. Rows of oversized counters gleamed dully under frosted glass panels, and the cupboards—mounted absurdly high up—looked big enough to store entire carcasses. In the back, beyond the enormous cooling unit and a bubbling vat of… something, she spotted a thick, sealed door. It was almost twice as tall as she was, with a simple looking pull latch on one side.
Noelle edged toward it cautiously.
What the hell is in there? she wondered, placing her hand lightly on the latch. The air around it felt colder—like the kind of chill you get when you open a freezer after it’s been shut for weeks. There was no label and no warning sign. Just the subtle, ominous hum of refrigeration.
Curiosity got the better of her and she started to tug it open.
“Hey now!” a gravelly voice barked behind her. “That’s not for you—not yet, anyway.”
Noelle jumped like she’d been goosed, spinning around to see Cookie stomping toward her, a scowl etched on his doughy face.
“Stay out of old Thune’s special meat locker,” he said, squinting at her. “You’ll see things you don’t like in there, missy—I guarantee it.”
“I wasn’t trying to do anything— I was just curious!” she said defensively, stepping back from the freezer.
Cookie gave her a sour look.
“That curiosity’s gonna get you turned into stew if you’re not careful.” He turned away, muttering something under his breath about stupid breeders and their poky little noses.
Noelle’s heart was still thumping as she backed away from the freezer.
What the hell kind of “special meat” needs to be locked up like that? And why is it a secret?
She wasn’t sure she wanted to know. But a terrible thought flickered through her mind—
What if it’s not animal meat in there at all?
She was still shuddering at the idea when she heard familiar footsteps behind her. Relief flooded through her when she turned to see both Burn and Bright entering the kitchen.
“There you are!” Bright called cheerfully, but before they could say anything else, Cookie waved a spoon the size of a canoe paddle at them.
“Out! Get out of my kitchen if you’re gonna yammer. Take it to your room if you want to flap your lips. This is a food prep zone, not a conference hall!”
Noelle raised her eyebrows at the guys and they both shrugged.
“Guess we’re having a team meeting in my bedroom,” she murmured, turning to leave the kitchen.
54
NOELLE
Back in her oversized suite, Noelle sat on the edge of the ridiculous Trollox-sized bed, the mattress barely denting with her weight. Still, it was nothing compared to Thune’s extra large bed, which she was still sore from making—wrestling that much bedding was like fighting a fabric kraken. She felt lucky that her own bed was clean and neat and not nearly as large—though it was still big enough to make her feel like a kid in a room made for adults.