Free Odette Speex: Time Traitors Book 1 by Padgett Lively Page B

market shopping in some of the dicier parts of town, she immediately pricked up her ears. To her knowledge only the old lady and little girl had been in the shop with her, but she could not dismiss the possibility that she was being followed. Odette quickly turned the corner onto a smaller side street of family shops and walked purposefully into the nearest one.
    It was a milliner’s shop. The two women inside looked up in surprise as Odette made her way past their workbenches and out the back door. She crossed the alley and slipped into the recessed entrance of the neighboring stoop. From this vantage point she could see the back door of the milliner’s shop without revealing herself. In the space of only a few breaths the little girl from the apothecary stepped out into the alleyway and looked both ways in confusion.
    Before she could retreat back into the store, Odette leaped from her hiding place and grabbed the little girl by the arm.
    “Ow! Boiler Hag! Let go’a me!” the girl howled and kicked Odette in the shin.
    Fortunately her thick leather boot absorbed the shock. Odette tried to hold the girl gently away from her. “Why are you following me?” she demanded.
    “What’a ya talkin’ about you tarted up ole Street Shrew?” The girl had a mouth on her for sure. “I’m lookin’ for my cat.”
    The lie was so transparent Odette laughed. “Your cat? I saw you in the apothecary. You left the stor—ow!” The little girl’s heel hit Odette hard on the thigh, and she loosened her grip. The girl twisted out of her hold, but Odette grabbed her again before she could run far. This time tightly, by both shoulders. She gave her a little shake. “Stop this! I saw you in the store. Why are you following me?”
    “Ow, you’re hurt’n me,” she whined.
    Odette smirked. “Not any more than you deserve. I’m going to have a big bruise there.” She nodded toward her leg.
    The girl blinked and two large tears rolled down her cheeks. She looked like a hurt puppy. Odette gritted her teeth. “Listen, you, that’s not going to work. You’d better tell me what you’re up to, or I’m hauling you to the constable and telling him you tried to pick my pocket.”
    It was the girl’s turn to smirk. “Not in them clothes you ain’t. They’re indecent. You’d get a citation som’em quick.”
    Odette narrowed her eyes. This was no helpless puppy. “Okay, well I’ll just haul you off to my lair and pull your fingernails out one by one until you spill your guts.”
    The girl practically rolled her eyes.
    “Okay, okay. I’m not going to pull your fingernails out,” Odette quickly amended. “But I can haul you off to my lair where my brother will question you. He’s the evil one.”
    The little girl snorted. “Mr. Odell? He’s the easiest mark ever.”
    Odette raised her eyebrows and pulled the girl further into the alleyway. “What’s your name?”
    She struggled halfheartedly and then stopped abruptly. “Cristabelle.”
    “And how do you know my brother, Cristabelle?”
    “Every apothecary ’round here knows Mr. Odell. He buys the strangest stuff.”
    “Like globular sea slugs?”
    “Well, you ain’t dumb.” Cristabelle heaved a big sigh. “If you had’n jumped outta there and scared me like. I’d a told ya right off.”
    “Why didn’t the apothecary just tell me?”
    “Pistons and Coal Fire! You gotta be kid’n me? Madam Bazarov? She’s tightlipped and tightfisted. You ain’t gonna get nothin’ outta her. She’s mean.”
    Odette looked down at the little face. The girl couldn’t be more than ten years old. She might easily be pretty, but her features were pinched with fatigue and her dark blond hair hung lank and dirty. Odette felt a little constriction around her heart. “Do you apprentice for Madam Bazarov? Is she unkind?”
    “Like I said, she’s tightfisted. But I seen worse. Don’t you be feel’n sorry for me. I get by. And you can tell Mr. Odell, I know he lets me pick his