The Betwixt Book One Read Online Free PDF

saffron flower of one of my more
exotic plants. ‘Hey, monkey, monkey, where are you?’
    Silence. I braced myself for the little critter to jump at me
from one of the vines that was clumped across the roof (it really
was a jungle in here). He so did like to climb. But there was
nothing.
    ‘ Helllllloooo,’ I called.
    ‘ Hello.’
    I whirled, heart as frozen as a drop of water on the tail of a
comet.
    It was him. That two foot tall, blood red alien monk that had
been ever so keen on grabbing my hair yesterday. And now, now, he
was in my quarters.
    ‘ What are you doing here?’ I put a flat hand on my chest, my
fingers squeezed together till the joints felt like
popping.
    The guy didn't lunge at me, thankfully, just cocked his little
head to the side, and looked.
    My body was braced for an attack, palms sweaty, mouth as dry
as the desert by day. But the thing just kept on
looking.
    I took another shuddering breath. ‘Look, this is my room, you
have no right to be here, please leave.’
    If it understood me, it didn't give me any indication. It just
kept on staring.
    ‘ I'm going to call security,’ I said bravely. I would march
across the room to my com-panel, I told myself firmly, and I would
call security. I didn't need to be afraid of this, I didn't need to
be af-
    ‘ Hello, Mini,’ the thing's voice was very quiet, but very
clipped and polite.
    It was unsettling. It had the calm tones of a dearly beloved
grandparent, not that I had ever had one of those, but I could
imagine.
    ‘ I am very sorry for the rude interruption, I fear I have taken
you quite by surprise.’
    I blinked, hand releasing from my chest and floating towards
my mouth. This was . . . bizarre. This little alien,
well, not only was he not throwing himself at me and hissing, he
was conversing in the most articulate, refined of manners.
‘I—’
    The alien put up a hand, which had previously been clasped
firmly behind his back, his baggy brown robe obscuring it from
view. ‘I really have to apologize about yesterday. I was,’ his
pinprick black eyes suddenly widened with obvious excitement,
‘unduly surprised. I simply didn't expect to
find . . . you. Not here, not after we'd searched so
long.’
    My surprise at his good conversation skills quickly dwindled,
and I started eying off the com-link again. ‘Sorry?’ I said as I
shifted one subtle step towards it.
    ‘ You, I . . . well . . . we have
searched the galaxy so long, only to find you now, on the cusp of
the great quickening.’
    ‘ Ah, the what?’ I had that com-link in sight and I just sidled
step by step towards it.
    ‘ There's no need to be afraid, Mini.’
    Oh, I didn't know about that. Yesterday this little monk was
launching himself at me with no provocation, desperate to get a
hold of my ice-white hair. Now he was trying to convince me with
clear oration that this was absolutely fine. I was a bit of an
innocent in this galaxy, I knew that, but I wasn't that
dumb.
    ‘ I knew your mother.’
    I stopped dead. Why would he even say that?
    ‘ Well, I knew of her. Who of my race does not?’
    ‘ I don't have a mother,’ my defenses were starting to rise,
making my back tingling cold. The mere mention of her had shifted
this situation.
    I walked for the com-link.
    But the little alien got there first. He was like a blur,
quicker than he had been yesterday. He tucked into a roll and
sprang up between me and the electronic pad on the wall.
    ‘ You can't be too hasty in dismissing me, child. There's so
much I have to tell, and there's so little time.’
    ‘ Get out of my room now—’
    ‘ There's one on the station, on that ship that came in. The
fools, they are fools for bringing that ship to a populated
station.’
    ‘ What are you talking about?!’ I tried to duck and weave around
him, but he kept up with my moves like a cat chasing a sick
mouse.
    ‘ A Shadow, it came on the ship, killed the crew. Now it's here.
We have to hurry; we haven't the time. Those