“So… she’d be like a show-poodle?” Lois asks.

Yix’s mandibles wiggle before he speaks. “I do not know what that means, but I do not think Svevaari are known to molest their pets in any way. They take great pride in their ownership and treat them lovingly.” He stands there a moment, shaking his head. “I-it is the best scenario I can think of in this predicament. Perhaps I can convince one of them that humans are better off in packs, and she will take all three of you to keep you together?”

I force myself to smile at the tall, lanky bug man. He really is trying to do all he can to help me. “Thank you, Yix,” I tell him, “that sounds a hell of a lot better than most of our other prospects.”

Yix bows his head and takes a few backward steps out of our cell. Glancing at his novelty Halloween watch, he says, “I will try to return before-” he pauses, arranging his arms like the hands of a clock to indicate three o’clock. I nod my head and watch as Yix steps over the electrified threshold with a buzzing noise that indicates that he is permitted to pass through the doorway where us humans would be treated to a shocking bolt of electricity should we try to do the same.

God, I hope he can sell me to be someone’s show pony or teacup pup, because I do not want the alternative.

OceanofPDF.com

7

OceanofPDF.com

Chapter 7 - Niska

When Mama Z’rykby finally wakes up and comes to the store, she is quick to put us to work, cleaning the premises and laundering our clothes and awful, uncomfortable bed linens. There are roughly a dozen humans that she has ‘in stock’ here at the store, but the number fluctuates daily depending on who has been sold, whether a new shipment has come in from the auctions, and who is working off Mama and her husband’s debts in various establishments. I’ve even heard rumors that she sometimes loans girls out to the nearby prison craft to act as ‘conjugal relief’ as punishment if they displease her.

Which is all the more reason I’m the first to offer to prepare Mama her snacks and pour her drinks. Sometimes, she has favorites, and she doesn’t like to see them go until she’s utterly bored of them. The last favorite she had was a girl named Jessica and she was very reluctant to let her go. If I can become her next favorite, maybe she won’t sell me to Joolyx.

It’s a flimsy plan, but I’m grasping at straws here. Yix still hasn’t returned, so I have no idea how well his plan to sell Lois, Jaya and I as prize pets is going. I’d just finished the disgusting job of hand-feeding Mama these stinky little eel-like creatures she likes to eat alive when I hear the tinkle of the storefront door opening and closing again.

“Oh! Customers!” Mama cheerfully claps as she heaves her slug-like body out of her seated position and moves as fast as she’s able to so she can go and greet whoever is out there. I’m left here standing with an almost empty platter, a couple of left over baby eels flapping around in their bed of slime. My Grandma used to take me to church every Sunday, but as the years went by, my faith has faded to a point where I’m really not sure what I believe. But I’m praying now - to any God that will hear me. I pray that it’s not Master Joolyx out there, coming to take me away to a life of trying to please his patrons in any way they see fit.

Unfortunately, it’s not long until I’m called for, the customer apparently asking specifically for me.

Fuck! That’s not good.

My feet are frozen in place, utterly unable to move. It doesn’t take long before Mama sends one of her other husbands to fetch me. My feet walk again now, but it feels like a dream - or more of a nightmare, really, not unlike an outer-body experience as I walk toward the storefront where us humans are paraded to be sold.

When I step out from behind the heavy red drapes that separate the ‘back’ and the customer area, a wave of relief washes over me when I see that it’s not Master Joolyx coming to buy a new worker. It’s not even a male. There are two, very tall and elegant looking females standing with Mama as they watch me enter.

They look-

They look like the Prince from last night. Or his kind, anyway. They look Xaviann.

One of them is slightly taller, and I would hedge a guess that she’s older, too. They both have gray skin, black horns, and pointed elf-ears like the two Xavianns I’d met last night. They’re also wearing what looks like Victorian-inspired floor-length dresses, which only further seems to match them with my Prince.

My Prince?

Get a grip, Niska.

“Here she is,” Mama coos, practically salivating over the possibility of making a sale. “Come, come, stand on the platform so our guests can get a better look at you,child.”

I hate when she calls us that. Like she’s some little, kind, grandmotherly figure.

Nevertheless, I start walking over to the properly lit, elevated stage area. Preparing myself to get poked and prodded.

One of the female Xavianns - the younger one, I think - gasps softly as I step into the light. “A human,” she whispers to herself. “A real-life human!”

“Vel,” the older woman warns, giving her companion a pointed look.

“Sorry,” ‘Vel’ says, blushing as she shakes her head, multiple little pieces of gold jewelry tinkling as they hang along her pointed ears. “It’s just I’ve never seen one up close before. Isn’t she amazing?!”

I can’t help but fidget at that. Is her reaction a good thing? What do they want me for? Is this like that species Yix was talking about? Do they want me as a pet?

The older woman tuts at her friend and starts walking toward me, and it’s now that I realize she is using a gold-tipped cane to aid her movements. “I’ll never understand your fascination with them,” she mutters, casting a critical eye over me as she nears. “And you’re sure this is the one from the ‘Pleasure Establishment’ last night?” she asks Mama Z’rykby without taking her eyes off me. “Because my nephew was told this morning that that particular human had been sold.”

“What?!” Mama splutters, her slimy cheeks taking on a ruddy appearance. “No, this cannot be true. If you find out who your nephew spoke to this morning, I-”

The older Xaviann in front of me cuts off Mama’s flustered babble by raising a single hand, gloved in black, embroidered silk. “I will not be doing that. He does not know I am here,” she sniffs, before tilting her head as she examines me more closely. “And he doesn’t know that I am aware of his failed attempt at purchasing her.”

My stomach does a silly little flip and then a stupidly loud growl. The Xaviann lifts a perfect brow and turns to face Mama. “Do you not properly feed your poor, human charges, Ms. Z’rykby?” she asks, butting the base of her cane on the metal floor like a disappointed school mistress.

“I-”

“Lady Zalora would like some time alone with the human if possible,” Vel cuts in, holding a tablet screen close to her chest. “Just to ascertain a few things from her before we consider purchase. I hope you understand.”

Mama Z’rykby’s chin wobbles as she looks from Vel to ‘Lady Zalora’ and back again. “I-…” she straightens and clears her throat. “Time alone with a human is considered a temporary loan, and will incur a-”

“A charge, yes,” Lady Zalora waves Mama off before turning back to me. “Pay her, Vel.”

While Vel is dealing with Mama’s never-failing attempts at making a quick buck over in the corner, Lady Zalora takes her time looking me up and down, her eyes the same shade of green as her nephew’s had been last night. I can’t tell if she’s pleased with what she sees, or pissed.