Nightmare by Steven Harper Read Free Book Online Page A

cheek like a friendly aunt. Her bare hand touched his face, and a jolt slammed through Lizard’s body. Lizard gasped, and the room twisted around him. The tray fell from his shoulder with a ear-shattering crash of breaking crystal and ringing silver. After a moment the vertigo faded and he became aware he was on hands and knees amid shards of glass and scattered serving spoons. A ring of people had surrounded him. The orchestra had fallen silent. Tira’s angry face appeared among the crowd, and a part of Lizard knew that his chances of promotion to house slave had vanished like water on a hot stove.
      "Lizard?" Pup said beside him. "Are you hurt? What’s wrong?"
      "I don’t know." He let Pup help him to his feet. "She touched me, and—"
      "What’s going on here?" demanded a new voice. Giselle Blanc, dressed in a pale green gown, pushed her way to the front of the crowd. She took in the scene at a glance and turned to face the crowd. "A small accident. Thank you for your concern, my friends. Please return to your conversations. Everything is under control. Orchestra?"
      This last was clearly an order, and the music immediately resumed. The crowd drifted away, leaving Mistress Blanc, Pup, Lizard, and the old woman in black.
      "Get this mess cleaned up," Blanc snapped. "How could you be so clumsy?"
      "It wasn’t his fault, Giselle," said the old woman. "The boy is Silent. Didn’t you know?"
      Blanc blinked. "Silent? What do you mean? How do you know he’s Silent?"
      "I touched him," the woman said simply. "You should have him tested, of course, but the touch is never wrong."
      Blanc stood motionless for a moment. Conversation and music mingled on the ballroom floor behind her. Then she pointed at Pup. "You. Clean up this mess. You—" she pointed at Lizard "—come with me. Clara, would you mind?"
      "Not at all, dear."
      The two women turned and walked toward one of the exits without looking back. Bewildered, Lizard shot Pup a glance. Pup, who had knelt to gather up the debris, gestured at him to follow and gave him a thumbs-up sign.
      "What’s Silent mean?" Lizard hissed at him.
      "Go!" Pup hissed back. "And be sure you remember your friends later."
      More confused than ever, Lizard trotted away. He followed Mistress Blanc and the old woman named Clara out of the ballroom, along a corridor, and through a set of double doors into a large room paneled with blond wood. A huge silk rug covered the center of the burnished floor, and an enormous desk sat next to a stone fireplace. Shelves were crammed with bookdisks, and statues of frogs were everywhere. A wet bar occupied one corner. It was well after sunset, and the windows showed only a reflection of the room itself. Blanc motioned Clara to a leather easy chair while she opened a decanter at the bar.
      "Brandy?" she asked.
      "No thank you, dear," Clara said from the depths of the chair.
      Lizard wasn’t sure what to do, so he stood next to the door. His heart pounded like a hyperactive hammer and he was starting to sweat. Was he in trouble for dropping the tray? Doubtful—Pup had looked happy for him. So why was he here?
      Blanc splashed red-brown liquid into a glass the size of a balloon and took up a chair behind the desk. She swirled the brandy, sipped. "You say my slave Lizard is Silent."
      Clara gave a prim smile. "Of course."
      "I don’t understand how." Blanc set the snifter down and tapped her desk. A holographic screen winked into view and text scrolled across it. "It’s as I remembered. His papers state he was found on an STL colony ship that left Earth some nine hundred years ago."
      Lizard stood by the door in his tight shoes, feeling like some new species of frog that had caught Mistress Blanc’s eye.
      "So he wasn’t born into slavery?" Clara said.
      Blanc shook her head. "And I know what you’re thinking. Listen, someone else would have bought him and his dam if I hadn’t, and I treat my people well. He