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Sam wasn’t sure what to do with the grayling’s corpse, so he left it where it was. Any trash he produced in his room was usually food waste, and leaving the scraps inside of bowls on the counter in the corner of the room was enough to make them disappear. The grayling was small enough to fit on the counter, but he wasn’t sure Ellie or her mother would be too happy about it being processed the same way apple skins were. They probably wouldn’t be happy there was even a grayling corpse leaking cranial fluids onto the floor either, but that couldn’t be helped.
Sam exhaled and looked around before heading to the corner of the room. Although Ellie had told him to stay under the bed no matter what happened, he didn’t know how long she was going to be gone, and things already happened to force him out of hiding. In that case, it wouldn’t hurt to pick up a little snack or two. He selected his favorite go-to food, granola bars, and the packaged calorie-dense meals were dispensed from the wall onto the counter. Then, he ordered some more. If Raindu was coming back, he didn’t have to worry about carrying an impractical amount of granola bars; he could stash the excess inside of Raindu’s fur or wherever the ferret stored things.
After obtaining enough food to feed a starving village—he wasn’t sure how much food Ellie and her mother had stocked for him, but he didn’t plan on finding out—Sam brought all of it underneath the bed. Then, he moved the grayling corpse aside, so the fluids leaking out of the hole in its head wouldn’t touch him as he followed Ellie’s instructions and hid next to his stash of granola bars. Sam let out a sigh and turned his body over to look away from the dead grayling. Now, all he could do was wait for either Ellie or Raindu to find him. On the edge of his vision, the wall that the grayling had opened caught Sam’s eye. Well, even if he left the room, he still wouldn’t be able to open the door to leave the residence.
Sam closed his eyes and focused on the space below his bellybutton. Since he had free time, he might as well try to unlock his sacral chakra while waiting. A furrow appeared on his brow, and he opened his eyes before crawling out from underneath the bed to his backpack where the orange stone Ellie had gifted him was located. He took it out and stared at it for a bit before crawling back to his hiding spot. He rested the crystalline sphere on his bellybutton—as long as it was located near the chakra, it would help; it didn’t have to be directly on top of it.
Meditating was difficult. Sam couldn’t help but worry for Ellie. The graylings were staging a rebellion, and they were everywhere. Every reptilian owned one or two graylings, and stores and public places had even more. They were convenient, bending to the reptilians every whim. If a reptilian needed someone to drive them around, pick up their groceries, clean their residences, or even someone to take out their frustration on, there was always a grayling available. If Sam had to take a guess, the graylings outnumbered the reptilians by four to one. Then, if the graylings freed the humans…, well, Sam doubted many humans would help the graylings fight against the reptilians considering most humans were as defenseless as rabbits unless they had combat-related talents.
Sam sighed, feeling a bit useless. He didn’t even know how to lock and unlock reptilian residences. If he were in the human city, he could enter places by placing some duct tape on the windows and smashing them with a bat, but the reptilians didn’t believe in windows—or, they had windows that Sam couldn’t register with his human senses like their broadcasting systems; he still didn’t know how they received the great seer’s prophecy.
Stomping sounds entered the room, and Sam blinked. There was someone outside the room in the residence, but he couldn’t tell by the sound whether it was a reptilian, grayling, or human. One thing was for sure: it wasn’t Raindu.
“Sam?” a feminine voice asked from the hall, one that was very human and familiar. “Are you here?”
Sam’s brow furrowed. Why was Dee in Ellie’s home? How did she enter Ellie’s residence? Was the door already unlocked? Were graylings capable of mimicking humans? Wendy hadn’t said anything along those lines, and he hadn’t seen any graylings perform illusions before. No matter the answer, there was no reason for Dee to even be here.
“It’s me, Dee,” Dee’s voice said, growing louder along with the footsteps approaching the room.
Chills ran down Sam’s spine, and he chose to remain silent, trusting his intuition and Ellie’s orders. There were too many unanswerable questions about this situation. Sam slowly wiggled his body, positioning himself to see the entrance to his room—which he didn’t know how to close; maybe, he should’ve asked the grayling how to do it before punching its brain.
Boots came into Sam’s view. He narrowed his eyes, squinting to get a better look at the footwear. They were fuzzy, but not because of the shoes’ material. It was as if a layer of static had been applied on the surface of the boots, preventing Sam from seeing them clearly. He closed his eyes and realized he couldn’t say exactly what color they were. In fact, he couldn’t describe Dee’s appearance at all as if something was blocking his memory.
“Sam, are you here?” Dee asked. The boots traveled across Sam’s vision, clomping footsteps echoing through the room. The boots came to a halt in front of the grayling’s corpse, close enough to the bedside for Sam to spit on if he so pleased. Long hair dipped beneath the underside of the bed, and Sam froze as Dee’s face came into view. A grin appeared on her face. “Found you.”
Sam scrambled out from the other side of the bed, plowing through his stash of granola bars. He climbed to his feet and whirled around, making sure the bed was between him and Dee still. As for following Ellie’s orders, the underside of the bed was only a place to hide, not a protective ward that would keep him safe after he was discovered. “Dee,” Sam said and awkwardly smiled. “What are you doing here? How did you enter my owner’s residence?”
“The door was open,” Dee said. She blinked at Sam, leaning forward and placing her palms against the top of the bed, resting her weight on them. “You don’t look too good? Did you fight with this grayling? They’ve been acting weird.”
Sam stared at Dee. “Why are you here?” he asked, ignoring her question.
“Have you heard the prophecy?” Dee asked. One corner of her lips curled upwards. “A pet named Sam is going to decide the fate of reptilian society, and I happened to know someone named Sam. How could I resist checking out the situation around you?”
“How did you find out where I lived?” Sam asked.
“Is that important?” Dee asked and stood up straight. “Why don’t you come with me? I can take you somewhere safe.” She held her hand out towards Sam, but thanks to the size of the bed, there was no way he could reach her.
“It’s very important,” Sam said, taking a step back. “Quite frankly, I’m not sure if I can trust you.”
Dee heaved her shoulders as she let out a sigh. “Why are humans always like this?” she asked. Her body trembled, and Sam’s eyes widened as Dee expanded, growing taller and wider in front of his very eyes. She spoke in a deeper voice than before. “Maybe it’s me; I must be doing something wrong in my approach. Why were you suspicious of me?”
Sam gulped, freezing in place as he made eye contact with a pair of orange eyes with slit, yellow pupils. He didn’t even notice Dee’s skin becoming rougher, turning white as scaled patterns appeared all over her body. Her clothes tightened around her body, and tearing sounds filled the room as the seams on her outfit burst apart, revealing her scaly skin that rippled with every movement of her bulging muscles.
“Well?” Dee asked, looking down on Sam from her new height advantage. “Speak.”
Sam shivered and averted his gaze, training his eyes on Dee’s legs. As long as he watched her legs, if she made a move, he’d be able to react in time—a trick Ellie had taught him. “The details didn’t add up,” Sam said. “There’s no explanation for you to be here, so something was clearly wrong.”
“Are all humans as perceptive as you?” Dee asked.
Although Sam wanted to tell the reptilian his perception was just average, and it was her poor attention to detail that gave away her disguise, but it was probably better for him to not criticize the hulking beast in front of him. In fact, it’d be better for him to avoid fighting Dee at all costs. The knife-like claws on the tips of her fingers were nothing to scoff at. One good swipe by her and he’d be disemboweled. If he used Toughen, perhaps he could withstand three or four swipes before being critically injured. Ellie had trained him to fight insects and human competitors, not reptilians. “How long have you been disguising yourself as a human? I think you should know the answer to that.”
Dee flickered her forked tongue in Sam’s direction. “You know,” the reptilian said, her eyes narrowing, “you haven’t been speaking respectfully to me at all.” She leapt on top of the bed, causing it to sink in under her weight. “Call me sundak, human.”
Sam retreated, his back pressing against his wardrobe. He took in a deep breath, and his eyes glanced at the open door. It was far, way too far for him to make a run for it. By the time he got halfway through the room, Dee would dig her claws into his back thanks to her much longer, stronger legs. There was nowhere to hide, nowhere to run, and fighting would end in his death. In that case…. “Yes, sundak,” Sam said and bowed his head, staring straight at the ground. Would it matter if he could react faster by watching Dee’s legs? He’d just figure out what killed him. “Earlier, you said if I went with you, you’d take me somewhere safe. Is that option still available, sundak?”
“I thought you knew I was lying to you,” the white reptilian said. “I’ll take you somewhere, but….” Dee smiled instead of finishing her sentence, but Sam didn’t have to hear the rest of the words to understand her meaning.
“Okay, sundak,” Sam said. “I’ll willingly go with you. Please don’t hurt me; I’m afraid of pain.”
Dee let out a short laugh and nodded. “I won’t hurt you,” she said. “Undamaged merchandise costs more after all.” She stepped off the bed, approaching Sam. He stood still even when Dee wrapped one arm around his waist and heaved him over her shoulder with his knees touching her back and his head by her ribs. A glint appeared in Dee’s eyes as she looked down at Sam. “Do you want to try using Sick Attack or any of your other unrestrained tricks?”
“No, sundak,” Sam said, staring at the ground. “I won’t resist.”
“No, no,” Dee said and grinned. “Try it. It’s an order.”
Sam furrowed his brow before concentrating on his root chakra. Since Dee had insisted and was giving him a free chance to possibly incapacitate her and turn this situation around, why wouldn’t he take it? A chilling pulsation rushed through Sam’s body, but instead of flowing into Dee’s body where he was making contact with her, the pulsation bounced back, reverberating inside of himself. He couldn’t stop himself from vomiting, the nauseating sensation caused by Sick Attack over three times as intense compared to usual.
“Wasn’t that fun?” Dee asked, not seeming to mind the bits of vomit that had landed on her. “Do you want to do it again?”
Sam swallowed, the action stinging his throat. He blinked away the film of tears on his eyes and swallowed again. “No, thank you, sundak.”
“Good,” Dee said and marched out of the room. “As long as you promise to be this well-behaved when I’m selling you, I won’t hurt you on the way there.”
“I promise, sundak,” Sam said. He suspected any of his other techniques involving sending vibrations into the other person’s body would be reflected as well, leaving him with only one defensive move. Without a weapon and no offensive techniques, even Queen Annabeth’s pet dog could put up a better fight than Sam.
“Excellent,” Dee said. She laughed. “If I were your owner, I’d be giving you a treat right now.”
Sam let out a dry laugh. If Dee was going to joke around, he had to pretend she was funny. Sam closed his eyes and concentrated on the space between his eyebrows, trying to summon the field of candy to make contact with Raindu. It worked. The ferret appeared and waved. “Hello, Sam,” Raindu said. “I’m heading to you as we speak.”
“Hello, Raindu,” Sam said. “I need you to hurry up. I’ve been captured by a reptilian, and it’s going to sell me off soon, and there’s no guarantee the people I’m sold to will be nice enough to keep me alive.”
“Oh,” Raindu said and grabbed a nearby flower. “Okay.”
Sam sighed. “I have to go,” he said. “I don’t want my kidnapper to think I’m trying anything funny.”
“I’ll rescue you, Sam,” Raindu said and nibbled on one of the flower’s petals. “Don’t worry.”
Sam stared at the flower-eating ferret before nodding his head. Although it looked like it didn’t have a care in the world, Raindu still relied on Sam’s talent to exist, so it was in the ferret’s best interest to save him—at least, Sam hoped that was the case; Raindu looked extremely relaxed for an animal in a stressful situation. Sam closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, the floor of Ellie’s residence and Dee’s lower half filled his vision.
“You know,” Dee said, “I knew you were special when I first saw you at the human park, but I didn’t expect the great seer to make a prophecy about you.” The white reptilian glanced down at Sam. “You were already valuable, but you’re worth at least ten times more now. Who wouldn’t want to be the owner of the human that decides the fate of our society?”
The obvious answer was Dee, the reptilian willing to sell him despite having him in her grasp, but Sam decided against saying that out loud; instead, he asked, “What are you going to do with the money you get from selling me, sundak? Is there anything you’ve been looking to purchase?”
“Of course,” Dee said. “Techniques aren’t free, and with the mantids’ recent movements, stronger is better.” The reptilian grinned at Sam. “By selling you, I’ll be able to purchase at least three new techniques.”
“I see, sundak,” Sam said. “You, uh, aren’t worried about my owner’s retaliation? Surely, stealing someone else’s pet is a major crime.”
“No, it’s just theft of property,” Dee said as she stepped out of the residence, the orange light from the ceiling of Et Serpentium illuminating her face. “With the right connections—ones that I already have—I’ll get away with a slap on the wrist.” She glanced down at Sam. “It’s not my first time stealing a human, you know. A lot of valuable humans end up at the HKC headquarters; it’s the perfect place to discover their worth.”
Sam furrowed his brow. For some reason, he didn’t think Ellie would stop with a simple slap if she caught Dee kidnapping him. However, would Ellie be able to find him? With the grayling rebellion going in full swing, he didn’t know if she could keep herself safe. He remained silent as Dee boarded a levistone, tapping the floor of the vehicle to activate it. Surprisingly, she drove the vehicle slower than Ellie’s normal speed despite the situation.
Shouts occasionally echoed through the air, but Sam didn’t hear any signs of fighting. Graylings fought by manipulating time and space while reptilians fought by tearing apart their enemies with their claws and powerful muscles. Considering how fragile grayling were—Sam could kill them with a single punch—it was no surprise there weren’t any sounds of combat.
The levistone drove unimpeded through the streets, and they went in a direction Sam had never gone with Ellie before. Dee smiled at Sam before focusing on the road. “Have you ever been to the carnivorous district?” she asked. “I doubt your owner has ever taken you there.”
“I don’t believe I have, sundak,” Sam said and swallowed. Carnivorous district, he didn’t like the sound of that. “Can you sell me to the vegetarian district instead?”
“No,” Dee said. “The people over there are sticklers for unity and following the law. If I do manage to find a buyer, they won’t pay me as much.”
Sam held back his sigh. He had entered Et Serpentium by being trafficked, and now, he was probably going to leave Et Serpentium by being trafficked as well—where was he going? To the underworld, of course. The carnivorous district must’ve been where the human-eating reptilians lived, and Sam was still a human despite living in Et Serpentium for two months. Hopefully, Raindu would make it in time to save him before he was eaten. Even if the ferret had to touch a few reptilians or buildings that obstructed it on its way to Sam, Sam didn’t think he would mind. The no disappearing reptilians rule had already been broken by Raindu after all, and no terrible consequences came out of it.