Read Lupi 04 - Night Season for Free Online Page B

if she should warn Lily Yu about that.
    Maybe later. “We don’t have any windows,” Gan said, frowning as they jolted into motion. The cars she had been in before were called taxis , and they hadn’t gone very fast. She’d hoped the police van would go faster, but even if it did, it wouldn’t be much fun without windows. “Do we have a siren?”
    â€œWe don’t want to draw attention,” Lily Yu said.
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œIn Dis you knew the dangers and I listened to you. Here, I know the dangers. Drawing attention would be bad.” She turned toward the councilor. “Sir—”
    â€œBut this is made of metal. Even a Claw would have trouble opening it up, I bet. At least for a minute or two. Not that you have any Claws here.”
    Lily Yu glanced at Gan. “People can be dangerous, too, especially if they have weapons.”
    That made sense. Gan had seen some of the human weapons on television, though not lately, because the elders didn’t allow television in the underways. “Do you have a television?”
    Lily Yu gave her one of those thinking looks, but before she could answer, the councilor spoke. He told Gan to be quiet or he would have the half-half squeeze Gan’s throat until her eyes exploded. He used the trade tongue, so Gan understood him but the humans didn’t. He smiled the whole time.
    Gan stuck her tongue out at him. Humans thought that was very rude, but he might not know that.
    â€œSo what did he say?”
    That was Cynna Weaver asking, not Lily Yu. Lily Yu was asking the councilor questions, like what his name was. Which was rude, but she didn’t know about gnomes. Gan would tell her…oh, the councilor was explaining now. Harazeed gnomes didn’t even use call-names except with family. The others did, though, so he introduced them: Wen of Ekiba and Tash.
    Then Lily wanted to know how he’d found her and Cynna Weaver at the mall, which was a very good question, but she should have asked Gan. The councilor just talked nothing-stuff back at her about that.
    Gan turned to look at the woman who’d gone to Dis to find Rule Turner but hadn’t gotten to keep him or even do sex with him. For some reason lots of human females wanted to do sex with Rule Turner. Gan didn’t get it.
    Cynna Weaver was interesting to look at with all those patterns on her skin. She wasn’t as dense to Gan’s üther sense as Lily Yu, but she wasn’t thin, either. In fact, now that she looked closely…“Hey, you’re pr—”
    A flat, human hand clamped Gan’s mouth shut. “I’d rather you didn’t mention that.”
    Gan perked up. Secrets were almost always useful. She nodded, and Cynna Weaver removed her hand. “It’s secret?”
    â€œFor now. Are you going to answer my question?”
    Gan shrugged. “He told me to shut up or the half-half would choke me.” Cynna Weaver’s eyebrows went up. That eyebrow motion could mean all sorts of things, but Gan thought that this time it meant surprise. Gan’s gaze drifted. “You’ve got great breasts. What do you think of mine? Pretty nice, huh? Jenek told me to keep ’em covered out here. He said humans have rules about that, but I see breasts on television sometimes.”
    â€œHuman sexual customs confuse us, too, but keeping most of your breasts covered is usually best. I notice that you’re talking and no one is choking you.”
    â€œI’m not talking to Lily Yu.” The councilor didn’t care if Gan talked to Cynna Weaver, which was interesting. Shouldn’t he be trying to get Lily Yu on his side? “You’re a Finder, right?”
    â€œRight. Is the little guy your boss?”
    â€œHuh! You mean the councilor? He’s not in charge of me, but he is in charge of the half-half, who probably isn’t strong enough to make my eyes pop out. I’m pretty strong, too.