Page 130 of Seven Oars
He was so alien.
But he didn’t feel alien at all.
Her consciousness flickered like a candle in the wind, and she passed out.
Chapter 18
Rosamma woke up shivering. It was so cold, like she was inside a freezer.
She tried to pull her thin, crinkly blanket more firmly over her shoulders, but something was in the way.
She sat up and blinked at the dim lights, sensing she was alone. Her eyes were swollen, and her face stiff from dried tears.
A shadow nearby caught her attention.
Then it all came rushing back.
She lurched, pulling her forced co-joint twin, Father Zha-Ikkel, into swaying and squeaking like an old swing in the wind.
Cold forgotten, she clawed at her neck, at the metal band encircling it.
The miracle of miracles, it gave under her trembling fingers and snapped open.
Dragging her precious blanket after her, she stumbled out of the Meat Locker like a drunk spilling from a bar in the wee hours of the morning.
At the Cargo Hold, Gro and Eze sat together in a small, forlorn group, eating. Anske was with them.
“She!” Anske went wide-eyed as she pointed first at Rosamma, then at Gro.“You told me she died!”
Gro was already in motion, rushing forward to wrap Rosamma in a bear hug. She was crying, and Gro never cried. So Rosamma started crying too.
Eze groaned.“Not this again! You promised me you were done with the watershed.”
“That was when we thought she’d died.” Gro clung tightly to Rosamma.
“And now?”
“And now it doesn’t count!”
That made no sense, but Rosamma got it.
She cried unabashedly, grateful to still be alive.
Gro inspected her face, which no doubt looked swollen and pallid.
“What did he do to you?” she asked, smoothing Rosamma’s unkempt hair.
What did you do to me?Rosamma thought accusingly.
He’d changed her. She couldn’t undo the change.
“He took me to the Meat Locker,” she said.
Gro blanched.“Another sick fuck!”
Rosamma opened her mouth to describe what had transpired, to explain, but she didn’t know how to make it sound any less awful than it really was.Plus, the memory of the headless corpse so close she had smelled it made her throat close up.
“I want to take a shower.”
