House Immortal by Devon Monk Read Free Book Online Page A

relax.
    â€œNed Harris,” I said. “I’ll have none of that kind of talk in front of our guest.”
    â€œThe stitch is crazy,” Left Ned said. “And there isn’t any mending you can do to fix crazy. He should be taken down before he hurts someone, Matilda Case.”
    At the sound of my name, the man behind me jerked. I expected the scissors to fly from his hand toward Neds, but instead his arm around my shoulder loosened and he released me.
    â€œCase?” he said as if he’d just remembered where he was. He inhaled, his breath hard and wet—who knew what kind of damage rolling off the bed had done to hisexisting wounds—and his posture straightened. The scissors fell to the floor with a
clunk
.
    Suddenly I wasn’t standing against him at all.
    â€œStep to the side, Tilly,” Left Ned said, the gun still trained up and to my right a bit, aimed at what I supposed was the man’s head.
    Right Ned nodded slightly, a silent plea for me to clear away for the shot.
    Instead, I turned and faced the man.
    He slumped against the wall, both hands at his side, his stomach dripping with blood and showing far too much of his insides. His color had gone chalk gray, with green shaded in the hollows of his cheeks and around his lips. Eyes that just a moment before had burned sharp were now as dull as cold ash.
    â€œI’m sorry,” he said. “Please. Forgive my manners. Your hospitality has been . . . has been more than kind . . .”
    â€œYou got that right,” Left Ned said. “Now we’ve run all out of hospitable.”
    The slosh of the water bucket hitting the floor startled me. I glanced over my shoulder just in time to see Right Ned with another gun in his hand.
    It occurred to me that my hired hand was packing an awful lot of heat around the farm. I had a brief moment to wonder if Neds had even more artillery stashed in his overalls before Right Ned squeezed the trigger.
    Instinct made me duck. Good thing too. That gun was aimed straight away at me, as much as at the man.
    The projectile dart hit the big man square in the chest. He frowned, looked at the yellow feather sticking out of his skin, then slid down the wall, out cold.
    â€œI cannot believe you just— Put the guns down!” I said.
    â€œIt’s a tranquilizer,” Right Ned said.
    â€œNow. Down. Both of them,” I said. “We do not shoot our guests. Honestly, I don’t know what’s gotten into those heads of yours.”
    â€œSense,” Left Ned said. “He was holding you hostage. You understand that, Matilda? How dangerous a thing he is? How powerful?
Galvanized.
” He spit.
    â€œWhat in the—? Since when do you have an opinion on the galvanized? Do you know him? Know something about him I don’t know? Because now would be a good time to share.”
    Grandma peeked around the corner of the door. “There you are, dear. Is it time to go? The men are outside,” she said. “Men in cars.”
    Left Ned swore soft enough Grandma wouldn’t hear him, but I threw him a mind-your-manners look anyway.
    â€œWhat kind of cars, Grandma?” I walked over to lead her out of the room, and noticed the blood on my hands.
    â€œWhite, dear.”
    â€œWhite?” Right Ned said, surprised.
    â€œDid you call them?” I asked.
    â€œYou know I wouldn’t. But White’s Medical, and he’s hurt. We could hand him over.”
    So House White must have been tracking the unconscious guy.
    â€œIs he House White?” I asked, wishing I’d kept up with this sort of House information. “Running from House Gray?” Yes, I was the communication hub for House Brown. We tracked where the Houses were taking over land, drone paths, and resource dumps. We also handled seed exchanges; goods bartered; and even kept a books, recipe, and repair exchange. None of those things involved keeping track of the