Free Prey by Stefan Petrucha Page A

jacket, slapping his hands against his legs. He was trying not to hurry her, but he was clearly freezing. She stopped for a second and turned to him, “I’m sorry about Hobson Night. Maybe you should go without me. I know Penny wants you to.”
    He looked up at the gray sky. “Penny? Nah. They say it’s going to snow tonight anyway. Maybe you can come over to the house and we can watch a DVD or something.”
    She smiled a little, knowing what “something” translated to in his hard-wired male brain. Finally, she managed to push the right key into the lock. They stepped in, Derek strutting ahead as if he owned the place. The first thing she noticed was that with the drapes open, it was lighter but drafty.
    â€œSo where’s the reptile house?”
    Chelsea tugged half-heartedly at a thick drape. Maybe she could leave them open until Ms. Mandisa came back.
    â€œDownstairs,” she said weakly. “The basement door is in the kitchen.”
    As they walked down the hall she could see it was open, like she left it, the yellow glow visible againstthe bottom half of the door. The last thing in the world she wanted to do was the only thing she had to do: head back down there. Maybe she could send Derek alone. No, that would be stupid. Selfish, just like Penny thought. Besides, then she’d just worry that Koko would get him.
    She neared the door and stopped short. “Wait.”
    â€œWhat?” Derek said. He knew her well enough to add, “Come on, let’s just get it over with.”
    Feeling like a child trying to avoid an injection at the doctor’s office, begging for just a few more seconds, she switched tacks. “I’m supposed to feed him today. We have to feed him.”
    It was a good idea, anyway. If they were going to poke around his nest with a mechanical arm, better Koko should have his tummy full.
    â€œGreat! So are the rats next to the brewskis?” Derek said. She’d told him the story, so he walked right over to the fridge, popped it open, and started ferreting around in it.
    He emerged a few seconds later, a look of boyish delight plastered on his face. “Whoa!” he said, dangling one of the plastic bags in front of him. “Check it!” He shook the bag so the rats sloshed in their juices.
    Chelsea turned away, feeling like she was going tothrow up. Gritting her teeth, she led him down the steps, counting the slats in the paneling. As they entered, she realized that, though the room still looked pleasant enough, since she’d thought about it so much and so often, it now held an eerie glow in her psyche, as if it were haunted.
    Ignoring all the dials and instructions, Derek walked right up to the Plexiglas. “There it is, in the corner! Wow! It looks plastic,” Derek said, scrunching his face. “Are you sure it’s even real?”
    Koko had shifted back to lying on one claw, and Chelsea was pleased to see that the collar was nowhere in sight.
    â€œOh, he’s real, all right.”
    â€œKoko! Koko!” Derek said, rapping on the Plexiglas.
    â€œDerek! Stop!” She pulled him back. Then a thought hit her. “So, do you want to feed him?”
    Derek’s face lit up, but then he looked at her suspiciously. “You want me to feed him just because you’re too scared to, right?”
    Chelsea nodded. “Right. Is that a problem?”
    â€œNo.” Derek grinned. “Just checking.”
    She tried to talk him through it, but he was one step ahead of her all the way. He actually scooped therat out with his hands and stuck it in the claw, like it was a worm on a fishing pole. She felt her lunch slosh in her stomach as he did it.
    â€œNow I just stick it at him?”
    She nodded. She was going to tell him how lucky he was that he could just do that sort of thing, but then he made a weird mechanical humming noise as he pushed the claw through the small window in the Plexiglas.