How Beauty Met the Beast by Jax Garren Read Free Book Online Page A

mean—”
    She cut him off with a wave of her hand. “No worries. I’ll take cuddling with you over whatever Dickhead and Asshat were planning any day.”
    As compliments went, it was weak. But he’d take it.

Chapter Four
     
    Tiny clockwork dirigibles with mistletoe hanging from the baskets flew lazy circles around the great hall. Fireplaces in each corner crackled merrily as they burned real wood fires, and colorful stockings hung from every mantel, each with a name embroidered in a carefully homemade stitch. In the center of the room a Christmas tree stretched up to nearly brush the sixteen-foot ceiling, decorated in lit candles and metal ornaments that moved like wind-up toys. A spiderweb of clear pipes decked with holly and pungent evergreen zipped more teletext messages up the walls and across the ceiling. A gentleman in a jaunty Santa hat scrubbed the stone floor and discussed politics with a young woman dusting the wooden furnishings, and both of them stopped to wave good morning at anyone passing through.
    Jolie didn’t know which part was most alien, but she beamed in delight at the décor and waved back at the couple. “What is this place?”
    “Welcome to Austin’s branch of the Underlight. Organized in theized eighteen-hundreds, we fight industrial control of our media, government and resources and return the power to the people.”
    Jolie looked Hauk over to see if he was serious. “That’s some mission statement. Don’t most communes grow their own vegetables and call it a day?”
    Hauk laughed with a cheerful sound she found heartwarming. “We do that, too. There’s a greenhouse out past the kitchen. They have it set up so mirrors bring sunlight in from above. The spinach from this morning’s omelets was grown there.” He shrugged. “Although most of our food is from the farmer’s market. We don’t have the space to grow enough to feed everybody who lives here. But there’s nothing wrong with supporting your local family farms.”
    The change-the-world determination in his voice reminded her of her father in earnestness, if not in content. Her father’s rants, however, had more to do with the trampled rights of business owners and fighting immorality in modern society. Papa didn’t know she’d joined a burlesque troupe, and she was keeping it that way. Hauk’s form of idealism sounded closer to her own politics, vague and unformed as those were.
    “So how do you—” she tried to keep a straight face and almost succeeded, “—return power to the people?”
    Hauk hesitated, like he wasn’t going to tell the whole story. Interesting. She crossed her arms and watched him struggle for words. Finally he said, “There are things most people take for granted as normal parts of living today, normal parts of progress. Or so-called progress. And they’re not.”
    “Like what?”
    “Like environmental wreckage. Like our health crisis and the insane way we produce and waste food.” His face darkened. “Like modern warfare. It’s... I’m not saying war was ever a jolly good time, but people who think it’s more civilized because we have guns and smart bombs instead of axes and spears don’t know what they’re talking about.”
    “A pacifist soldier?”
    He shook his head. “I didn’t say that. Anyone excited about war is ignorant or crazy. But there are things—people, ideas, freedoms—that are worth fighting for, and there will always be people who put these at risk. A good soldier fights to protect what he loves or to win something good that can be gained through no other means. I’m proud to be a solider. I’m the strongest fighter the Austin Underlight has, and I choose to forward her mission as best I can.”
    He emphasized “choose,” again giving Jolie the impression there was a backstory he wasn’t telling her. So many secrets down here. If Catrina hadn’t been so confident in her safety, she might be worried. Although truly, she didn’t get anything but good