Free Successors by Felicia Jedlicka

tend to stay out of our way.”
    “Clearly not, since they have invaded this house,” she sneered. She started to get the impression that this guy was dicking around and had no intention of doing anything but provide her with a sounding board for her problems.
    “The house is usually reasonably secure. You didn’t set any baked goods out on your windowsill, did you? They have an excellent olfactory sense.”
    “You mean they just smell the food in the house and come running?”
    “No, they mind themselves when people are in the house. They hate people, really. It’s just when the house is quiet and leftover food has not been properly disposed of in the garbage disposal. If the dishes are left unattended for too long, they would be attracted to that.”
    “Son of a bitch!”
    “I beg your pardon?” Belus said, affronted.
    “He knew this would happen. That bastard knew they would come in here. He should have told me.”
    “Danato didn’t tell you to do the dishes? That seems unlike him.” Belus’s tone indicated sarcasm, but he was playing it off innocently enough.
    “No, but he didn’t tell me why.”
    “He didn’t tell you why to clean the dishes? For the same reason you do in any other household chores, my dear: cleanliness. The only difference is, here there are consequences much bigger than roaches.”
    She rolled her eyes and lowered her voice to a growl. “He should have explained.”
    Belus lost his secretarial voice, revealing the depth of his gravelly vocals. “Danato is the warden of the most dangerous prison on the earth, filled with the most dangerous entities on earth. He can hardly be expected to explain everything he asks you to do. Someday it may be a matter of life or death. You should learn to trust him. He is a good man, despite his burly ogre appearance.”
    She didn’t know who this Belus was, but she could already tell she and he were not going to get along. “Fine,” she drawled, “he’s wonderful. I shall endeavor to be a better slave in the future. Just tell me how to get rid of the goblins.”
    “Well, you could try to catch them.” Belus started another bout of laughter.
    “Stop that!”
    Belus coughed to regain control of his comical outburst. “Or you could remove the food from the house, sometimes they follow, depending on how cold it is outside.”
    “The door is locked,” Cori said.
    “Are you sure?” The tone of conspiracy in his voice annoyed her. “I have a feeling not today.”
    Cori realized she never even checked it. “What if they don’t go out?” she asked.
    “Then you will have to wait until they decide to leave on their own. Just remember though, they don’t like humans, at all.”
    “Will they attack me?”
    “Not viciously, but they will throw a lot of stuff at you. Whatever they can get hold of; they aren’t especially strong, but they are quick… very quick.”
    Cori hung up the phone and prepared for her mentally and physically challenging day. She returned to the kitchen with her antlers cocked and her neck freshly cracked. She looked onto the six Little Debbie addicts with the fortitude of Dirty Harry. “Okay, you little green twerps, it’s time to—” Her clever pre-attack speech was interrupted by something wet slapping up against her cheek. Cacophonic chittering spread contagiously throughout the room as she wiped away the greenish-brown glob.
    Concerned by its appearance she sniffed it to be sure. She was positive. It was, in fact, goblin poop. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me!”
     
     
     
    12
    After they finished viewing the basement, he and Danato moved up to the animal level via a lift on the east end of the building. Ethan noticed the elevator didn’t offer a main floor button like the west side, but he didn’t ask why.
    They arrived on the second floor and Ethan was relieved to see that there were other human beings inside the prison. A couple men, dressed in militant black, passed them as they exited the carriage.