“Nothing. Looking for my grandma.”
Grandma? She had to be… little? I hadn’t been around all that many kids, but she looked like she might be freaking cute.
“Do you… need help finding her?” I hadn’t seen any other kids in the ballroom now that I thought about it.
“Uh-huh.”
“If you let me finish peeing, I’ll help you look for her after.”
I saw her bob her head through the slats. “Okay,” she answered in a sweet, squeaky voice.
But she didn’t move.
Was she…？
“You don’t have to keep watching me if you don’t want to…” I trailed off. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. Maybe watching people while they peed was no big deal. I wasn’t going to be the one to shame her. Her parents could have this conversation with her.
“I want to,” she said, totally seriously.
I tugged the front of my dress down, knowing all she could see were thighs anyway, and kept going. As much as I could at least, because apparently, I could go in front of Alex but not in front of a Peeping Tom of a little girl. I finished and wiped carefully before flushing and opening the door just as she backed up.
She was adorable.
Her hair was down, straight to her shoulders, bangs were cut straight across her forehead, and in a mint green dress that looked like it had been made by some fashion designer, she blinked bright blue eyes at me.
Selene and Achilles’s eyes. How was she related to Alex? Was her grandma his mom?
“Hi.”
“Hi,” I told her, going straight for the sink to wash my hands. “I’m Gracie. What’s your name?”
“Asami,” she answered. “I like your boobies.”
I was in the middle of rubbing soap between my fingers when I snorted so hard my head hurt. “Thank you. Me too.”
“My mommy doesn’t really have boobies. I hope I do,” she let me know.
Thrusting my hands under the water, I couldn’t help but grin as I said, “Well, I hope you do because you want them, but if you don’t, they are still boobies, just smaller ones.”
“Uncle Leon calls them jubblies.”
Did she just say jubblies?
I started cracking up again and could barely say, “I like the word boobies more.” And if Leon was her uncle, Alex had to be too.
“Me too,” the little girl agreed. “Can we go find my grandma now?”
I reached for a towel and stalled just as I saw there weren’t paper towels but cloth ones. That was the epitome of rich. I dried off, taking in the soft texture as I said, “Sure. My friend might come with us though.”
“Okay,” she agreed, reaching for my hand, threading her tiny fingers through mine.
It made me smile.
We marched forward, and I felt something in my chest at her easy friendship and soft little hand in mine. Like she knew I was thinking about her, she beamed up at me.
Oh, I knew that smile.
It was a no-good one.
And it looked awful, awful familiar.
There was a tiny zip of energy coming through her palm too, I noticed.
Oh boy.
I opened the door for her and let her go out first. Part of me expected to find Alex right outside, but he wasn’t there, and the little girl started tugging on my hand, heading in the opposite direction of the ballroom. “She’s over here,” she said. “Come on.”
So she knew where her grandma was?
Well, Alex could sniff around to find me, I figured.
“You wanna play Trouble with us?” she asked, leading me in the direction of a big, ornate door on the left.
“I need to find my friend first,” I told her, pleased by her invitation and that deceivingly sweet smile she kept shooting at me.
“Uncle Lexi?” she asked, confirming exactly what I’d already put together, before pulling me straight for the cracked door she pushed open. “Grandma?” Asami called out. “Grandmaaaaa?”
“You were gone too long,” a dry, almost raspy feminine voice said.
“I found my friend,” the little girl replied, pulling me into a space that resembled a really grand living room. There were two couches, a rug that might have been Persian, and two walls of bookshelves. A big TV was mounted front and center. There was even a fireplace with two spacious chairs in front of it.
But it was at a table with four seats around it that I found a woman sitting. Her hair was pure silver-white, her skin the same deep gold as The Primordial’s. She had to be in her… I had no idea. Seventies? Eighties? Nineties maybe?
“Hello,” the woman said, the slightest accent to her words.
The hairs on the back of my neck and on my forearms rose.
And it wasn’t fear exactly that peppered through my spine, but…
I’d gotten used to the energy that Alex put off. It was almost second nature now. Even Asami’s slight buzz had been a pleasant tickle. I wasn’t sure I could get used to the vibes that Alex’s mother radiated, but chances were, I’d be able to. But the power, the intensity coming off this woman…
Part of me expected to grow a third eye, or at least some hair on my chin.
“It’s okay,” the little girl assured me as we made it to the table, like she knew why I’d hesitated.
I gulped and tried to focus on something else to calm down.
That was a sturdy-looking table. Was that redwood it was made of?
“Grandma, she’s nice, and I like her boobies,” Asami said suddenly as we stood on the opposite side of the table from where her grandmother was.
I let myself try again and slid my gaze back to her.
The woman looked at us with eyes that were way too perceptive, too clear and bright, and honestly frightening when they lingered on me. A bright purple glow flared from them before she focused, then smiled, revealing a mouth full of white teeth I had a feeling weren’t dentures.
“She needs to find Uncle Lexi, but maybe she’ll play Trouble with us,” the little girl went on as she climbed onto a chair beside her.
The grandmother kept looking at me, still smiling her creepy, too strong smile.
I wanted to back out of the room slowly without giving her my back.
“Hello,” I croaked out.
“Hello,” she greeted me again.
Oh boy. “It’s nice to meet you, ma’am.” Was this Alex’s grandma?
“He can wait. Sit down,” the woman said as the chair beside her was pushed back.
He? Could she smell him on me? I really hoped that had been her foot that had moved the chair.
“Yes, ma’am,” I replied in a hurry, not wanting to irritate her.
Her eyes ran over my face, and I watched as she smiled even wider after a moment, like there was some joke she’d thought of.
I wanted to hide under the table. Use Asami as a shield, and that was embarrassing. It took everything in me to smile and even then, it was weak as fuck.
“She’s pretty, huh?” The little girl took a long inhale like there were croissants in the room and let out a dreamy sigh. “I like the way she smells.”
“Because she smells like intelligence and cunning. Well done, Asami,” the older woman praised her, her focus entirely on me.
I was still considering hiding under the table, but… intelligence and cunning? If she was going to break my neck, at least she thought I was smart and crafty? Did Asami have the same abilities?