Page 24 of Uprooted
“Not much. Actually, I haven’t even left this section.” I wince.
“Well now is a perfect opportunity to fix that. Let’s go for a walk, and I can show you around a little,” Aro offers.
Before I can give him an answer, he’s up with his hand out to help me off the couch. When our hands touch, that same electric pulse passes between us. My “no touching” rule is already out the window.
“Was this Bri’s plan or yours?” I ask.
“It was all Bri. She gave me strict instructions to show up on time and bring a friend,” he says with a laugh, then clears his throat. “It did take a little convincing to get Tai to come along." He confirms what I already suspected. Tai was an unwilling participant in their little plan.
“He doesn’t look very enthusiastic about it”. I hope he’s sullen and bored the whole time and makes Bri miserable with his bad attitude. She deserves a little bit of karma for trying to mastermind the situation between me and Aro.
“He’ll be just fine. Bri will have him wrapped around her finger in no time.” Aro already seems to have a pretty accurate insight into her.
He leads me to a section of the dome I’ve never seen before. I'm anxious about where he could be taking me. I quickly brush away the possibility that he could be leading me to his room—that is not going to happen. As I continue following him, I promise myself that if we end up at his room, I will not step through that door. I’ll turn right around and find my way back to the rec room.
“This way leads to the south side,” Aro points out as we walk down the hallway. A dozen knee-high cleaning bots whir past, pushing us up against each other as they sweep the floor. My pulse picks up and my hands get clammy at his proximity. I jump away when they aregone. This is exactly why I shouldn’t have taken his hand to get up. Touching just leads to more touching.
Aro activates the next door we come to. He presses his palm against the square touchscreen next to it. The screen lights up green when it scans his hand and the door slides open.
I follow him into a cavernous room that is easily four or five times larger than my lab. In tidy rows, stacks of uniform black storage containers rise nearly to the ceiling.
"You brought me to the warehouse?" I choose to ignore the twinge of disappointment I feel at our destination.
“As you know, there isn't much to do around here.”
Aro saunters down the aisle. I follow him from a safe distance. The tension between us feels manageable with some space. We reach the back corner and Aro picks up his pace a little.
“Follow me. There’s something I want to show you.” Aro ducks into a smaller room that's separated from the rest of the warehouse by a clear plexi wall. The safe distance away from him is erased when I step into the confined area.
It’s darker in here, the only light coming from a dim control panel that runs the length of the room. Aro lights it up with a swipe of his finger. He taps through the glowing hieroglyphs without any explanation.
“Here we go.” The panel emits a soft hum at his touch. Aro slides his finger forward and a lit-up cube on the panel follows his movement. Simultaneously, metal and gears grind together in the warehouse. At the other end of the room a magnet activates and lifts a crate into the air. It raises up and lowers down, synchronizing with Aro's finger on the panel. He taps twice and the box drops to the ground with a clang. Aro picks up another crate, swings it through the air and stacks it on top of the first one he moved. He arranges the stacks effortlessly.
“Want to take a turn?” he asks me once the containers are all lined up. “Just select a unit here and slide it up.”
I gently rest my finger on the control pad over the lit-up cube. A container at the far end of the warehouse rises. The panel vibrates as I move it up, down, and side to side. “This is fun. You come in here to play blocks when you’re bored?”
My quick glance at Aro takes my attention away from where I should be looking. The crate crashes into the next row, knocking a few boxes to the ground. I jerk my hand back like it’s about to be bitten.
“Shit, I’m sorry. I got distracted.” I step back wanting him to take over the panel. With a few swipes he has everything back where it should be.
“You should’ve seen the first time Bennet worked the panel. He destroyed the entire place.” Aro laughs. “Now let’s get out of here before you break something.” He playfully nudges his shoulder against mine as he leads me out of the room.
“Let’s see if I can find somewhere that’s Elowen-proof. I’d hate to see you having to explain to your director that you destroyed millions of credits’ worth of equipment,” Aro says nonchalantly. “
“What’s in the boxes?” My stomach drops to my feet.
“Not exactly sure, but it must be something important to be stored in a secured room,” he casually tosses over his shoulder.
My legs stop and I feel like every ounce of blood has drained out of my body. “Oh no.”
Aro turns around to look at me and laughs. “The crates are empty. You didn’t break anything. I wish you could see your face right now.”
“You scared the shit out of me.” I playfully punch his chest for emphasis. Before I make contact he flicks my fist aside like he’s shooing away a fly.
“Be careful, little human. You keep touching me like that, I might think you’re flirting with me.”
“I should kick your ass,” I say, narrowing my eyes at him.
