Free Kingdom of Stars (The Young Ancients: Timon Book Three) by P.S. Power Page A

after
all.
    "So, we seem to be stalled out here, don't we?" He
spoke out loud, but the thing answered, staring at him again. No sound came
through, but Timon could read his lips easily enough.
    "We do! Why don't you come out and we can finish this
like men?" The look was a bit less pleasant then, being icy and hard,
rather than angry at least.
    Timon forced himself to chuckle, just a little bit.
    "I don't think so. For one thing, neither of us is a
man, are we? I'm a boy and you're a... What exactly are you anyway? A
mechanized human? A nano cluster? A hive?" That last was the right term
for it, or so Brown had taught him in passing. The Larval used communications
hives, so he could get the idea, sort of, if it was the case.
    There was a head shake however.
    "Not at all. I'm made of a living mimetic liquid. Astute
though, to realize that I'm not a man . I've been all over your life for
years now, Timmy. I'm a bit shocked you don't recognize me... Ah, let me show
you..." There was the start of a ripple, familiar female forms being
hinted at one after the other. At first a line of fear started to run down
Tim's spine, but then he got the idea, and shook his head.
    "Sorry." He mouthed the word without exaggeration
at all. "I can feel your field pattern and it's not human at all. That
trick won't work. If you show up as anyone in my life, as you're hinting you
can, I'll know . You also haven't been, not anyone important at least."
That part was bravado. After all, he didn't go around reading everyone he met,
so it was possible. The being had fooled him for a short time by
pretending to be a merchant and Tim hadn't figured out what was going on at
all, which meant that it was possible.
    A real threat that wasn't going to just go away because he
knew about it now.
    The creature nodded though and made himself look like
Countess Alan, no doubt trying to terrify him.
    "Oh? Well, that makes things harder for me, doesn't it?
I'd say it was too bad, but I kind of like our game so far. Do you know how
boring normal people are for me now? Hiding amongst them like I have been is
less than entertaining. I was designed to kill, and most barely represent a
challenge to me at all in this age of man. There's a mere handful that can
survive even this long, Timmy. I think I'll leave now, and come back
later, when you're less guarded and prepared for me. I miscalculated, thinking
that Gray's little present would disrupt you enough to throw you off. Instead
it left you better guarded. Sloppy of me. I won't underestimate you again. Now
that you've been warned..." There was a pause and a bow that followed,
with the creature smiling at him with a very eerie face looking back, a lovely gown
on a tall and slim body, rather than Countess Alan's.
    It was a Queen's. Naturally.
    "Now that you know about me, things will be ever so
much more interesting. I hear from Countess Printer that the others are coming
in a few hours? Sooner perhaps? Tell them that Remy said hello. Remy
Seventeen." Then, without shifting again, the blue velvet dress blowing in
the wind a bit, clearly being a thing made of magic, meaning that whatever Remy
was made of could operate things made of it, the woman that looked like his
Aunt Connie waved, in a way that she really might have herself, and simply
moved around the side of the strange motley Castle at a quick walk.
    Timon didn't leave the relative safety of his craft. That
creature would probably just wait for him to follow and since he had no real
way to fight, and anyone he met would be suspect from then on, it just wasn't a
good idea.
    He decided to just sit and let sweat pool in his armpits
instead. That and let fear spit, bitter and sharp, fill his mouth. This was so
far from good that bad didn't cover it at all. A shape shifting killer that
wanted him dead for some reason. One that was working with Gray.
    Those words meant so much more than they sounded like,
didn't they?
    First, Gray was alive. He'd suspected that the whole