Page 88 of Dark Rebel's Fortune

"Come on, Cyra," Yasmin tried. "It's rude to hide your face from the nice doctor."

Cyra shook her head while continuing to bury her face in her mother's skirt.

Gertrude crouched down next to the girl. "Hello there. I'm Nurse Gertrude, and I want to play a fun game with you."

The girl peeked at the nurse with just one eye, the other still hidden in the fabric. "What game?"

Gertrude smiled warmly. "Have any of you ever played spy games?"

The question caught the children off guard, confusion momentarily displacing their fear.

"Spies?" Parisa's youngest son repeated with a frown.

"Yes," Gertrude confirmed, her voice lowering conspiratorially. "Bad guys sometimes put little tracking devices on people without their knowledge so they can find those people later. We have a special spy-catcher machine. Would you like to see how it works?"

When Cyra nodded, Gertrude offered the child her hand, and to everyone's great surprise, the girl took it and went with her.

Max was sure that the nurse had used thralling to convince the child to come with her. That little girl had only let go of her mother's skirt when she'd fallen asleep, and from the moment she'd woken up, she'd gone back to clutching it like a lifeline.

"She's good with kids," Yasmin said. "Now that themost scared one went first, the others will have to follow."

"Does Gertrude have children?" Kyra asked.

"No," Max said. "But she's been the clan's nurse for many years."

While Kyra and her sisters looked on, the children went through the scan one by one, each emerging with a small sticker badge that Gertrude had apparently prepared beforehand.

At some point, Kyra turned, smiled, and waved at Okidu, who was waiting patiently by the bus.

"Kian's butler is such a nice guy, but he's strange," she said.

"Of course he is." Max watched Gertrude escort Soraya to the van. "Didn't I tell you that he is not human?"

Kyra raised an eyebrow. "I thought immortals didn't age, and he looks to be in his mid to late forties. Did he transition at a later age? Which reminds me," she leaned closer to him, "Will my sisters look the same after their transition, or will they look more youthful?"

Chuckling, Max lifted his hands. "That's too many questions all at once. First, Okidu is neither human nor immortal. He's kind of a cyborg, although the term doesn't do him justice. He was created on the planet of the gods, and he's part machine and part biological being, but he's sentient, and he's constantly learning by mimicking and other means. That's how he can appear so human. There are only seven Oduson Earth, and all originally belonged to the Clan Mother. She gave one to each of her children, and three remained with her. Okidu takes care of Kian and his family."

Kyra stared at the Odu, then back at Max. "And you just have him driving buses and serving drinks?"

Max grinned. "He does a lot more than that. He also cleans Kian's house and some of the spaces at the keep, cooks, and even babysits. Kian treats him as a member of his family."

"Yet he calls him 'master' and behaves like a servant," Kyra said.

"That was his original programming, and he sees no need to change it. He enjoys what he does and gets greatly offended if anyone even suggests doing something that he considers his own domain. The more sentient he becomes, the more he clings to his role. I guess it gives him purpose and satisfaction in the same way that our occupations do for us."

Kyra grimaced. "I'm officially out of a job and need to rethink my career. But back to the butler. If he's part machine, he's probably very strong. How safe is it for him to babysit for Kian? I mean, as long as he's just a robot and does precisely what he's programmed to do, that's probably fine, but being sentient brings with it the good and the bad. You know what I mean?"

Max knew precisely what she meant, and he had no doubt that Kian had done some hard thinkingbefore he felt comfortable leaving Allegra with Okidu.

"The Odus had thousands of years of the Clan Mother's positive influence, and she's always treated them as family, even when they weren't sentient, and more so after. Just as good parents produce good children because they set a good example, the Odus had the best possible example. They've learned kindness from the Clan Mother. Besides, they are programmed never to harm anyone unless they're protecting clan members."

"That's supposed to be comforting?" Kyra asked, keeping her voice low. "There are so many things that can go wrong within those parameters."

"Like what?" he asked.

Kyra pursed her lips. "I can't think of anything offhand, but I'm sure I'll come up with several ideas once I have some time to ponder this. In my experience, no matter how tightly you define the rules, there are always unforeseen consequences when it comes to dangerous tech or weaponry."

He found it fascinating that Kyra had picked up on the inherent danger the Odus represented without knowing anything about them and what they were capable of.

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