Free Captive Moon by C. T. Adams, Cathy Clamp Page B

lied. “I don’t really know.” She waited to see his reaction, but there was none. He just continued to watch her passively and she couldn’t smell a single emotion over the thick scent of his musk and cologne.

    “We were supposed to be leaving to go home for the holiday in the afternoon, but Rabi didn’t show up for our run. I’d seen him the night before with two friends he’d made in the village. They were drinking and playing cards. I waited until after breakfast was over for him to show up, and then went and told Grandfather that I was worried. But he wasn’t. I guess other men in the village wander off for days at a time and nobody thinks anything of it. But Rabi wouldn’t do that—or at least I didn’t think he would.”

    Matty sat up and took a drink from his beer. “Did you ask his friends? Could be it turned into a rip snorter and he was still rotten.”

    Tahira nodded and scratched at a spot where her palm had started to itch as it healed. “Yeah. One of the men was really nice. Basir took me to where they last were drinking and swore Rabi had been fine when he had gone home. But I didn’t trust the other man, Kemil. I always worried when Rabi spent time with him. Kemil said that Rabi had decided to stay after he went home. I didn’t believe him. He was lying about something, but Grandfather wouldn’t do anything. He wouldn’t send a search party and told me I was a… well, he said I was overreacting.”

    There was no need to repeat that her grandfather had called her a bitter, overprotective spinster. Her grandparents had been shocked she wasn’t married with several children at her age. Oh, it was fine for Rabi to still be single—

    Antoine was nodding as she came out of her thoughts. “So, you thought you would look for him yourself?”

    “Not until the next day when he still hadn’t returned. He has the potential to be a sahip, one of our leaders, so I wasn’t really concerned he would get hurt in the wild. But we missed the plane, and he had been so excited to go home. It seemed … strange.”

    Margo had abandoned her attempts at the computer and was listening raptly. “It should. If he was raised in America, he knows better than to leave for days without contacting someone.”

    Tahira hoped that nobody had heard her stomach growl. But there was clattering in the kitchen, so perhaps not. While there had been a tray on a table in her room when she woke, the food had been cold. “It was Gram who finally convinced me to go. Normally, she bows to Grandfather’s will, both as her husband and as the leader of our people. But she had a … well, she’s a ruhsal, one who sees the future. She said that he was being held by bad people and that I could find him if I hurried. She told me of a green truck she saw and the clothing of the men who had taken Rabi. So I set off in the direction she told me, and by the end of the day, I’d found the truck.”

    A female voice called out from behind the kitchen door. “Dinner is ready!”

    Antoine clapped his hands against his thighs, startling her. “On that note, I believe we should find some lunch and hear the rest while we eat. It sounds as though Grand-mère has returned from her run. Shall we see what she has caught?”

    Although Tahira was hungry, she didn’t want to presume that she was invited and didn’t stand when the others did. In reversed circumstances, she wasn’t positive that a stray Sazi would be offered food in the village.

    Margo and Matty walked toward the kitchen doors, chatting amiably. Antoine started to follow but stopped when he noticed that Tahira remained seated.

    “Will you not be joining us?”

    She felt heat rise to her face. “Well, I didn’t know if—”

    He crossed his arms over his chest and raised one eyebrow. “You are a guest in this home, Tahira. Why in the world would you think you would not be shown every courtesy? Yes, I heard your body protest the lack of food and I am famished as