Grower's Omen (The Fixers, book #2: A KarmaCorp Novel) Read Online Free

moment?”
    I slid to a prompt halt. Everyone had a moment for that voice, even if they were late for an important date involving face tats, chocolate, and bootleg cider. I resisted the urge to wipe dirt off my cheeks and turned to face Yesenia Mayes, KarmaCorp Director and the closest thing to a deity in my world. “Of course.”
    Her eyes scanned my face. “You’ve been in the gardens.”
    That was obvious enough that a toddler could have figured it out. “We’re rotating crops at the moment. It’s all-hands-on-deck time.” And an unplanned detour on my way to the storage closet where I’d stashed the cider bottles, which was why I was running late.
    “It’s important work.”
    It was—and this was a very strange conversation. “Is there something I can do for you?”
    “Perhaps.” Yesenia inclined her head slightly. “I realize you’re on leave, but I hoped I might ask you to undertake a small task for me.”
    Nobody sane would say no to that, even if she really wanted to. “Lightbodies are always ready to serve.”
    “Yes.” Something shuttered in the boss lady’s eyes. “Your family is a credit to KarmaCorp and to Stardust Prime.”
    Those shouldn’t sound like curse words. I felt like a clover stem hanging out under an elephant’s foot—trampling was coming. It was just a question of how to pancake so that I’d be able to get up again.
    “I’d like you to work with my daughter,” said Yesenia abruptly.
    I blinked. I’d never heard the boss lady even acknowledge that she had a child—a fact which had caused quiet rumblings at Lightbody dinner tables on more than one occasion.
    “I believe you know Tatiana.”
    I pulled my shit together—the ice shards in that voice meant serious business. “Of course.” Everyone on Stardust Prime knew of the golden child. A lot fewer felt sorry for her, but I was related to most of them. “What did you have in mind?”
    “The third-year trainees have a shadowing day coming up. I know you’re not supposed to be in the rotation, but I’d like her to spend it with you.” Yesenia looked down at my hands.
    I assumed they were as covered in dirt as the rest of me, but that wasn’t something I’d ever been ashamed of and I didn’t intend to start now. I was, however, very curious. There was generally only one reason for a trainee to hang out in the gardens. “Has she developed a Grower Talent?” If so, it had been kept well under wraps.
    “No.” One short, very certain answer. “But she may yet do so.”
    Dangerous territory. The kid was a Dancer, and a good one, and very few Fixers manifested more than one Talent. I was, however, looking into the hard brown eyes of one of them. “You think she may be a Traveler.” One of the mythical Fixers who had all the Talents and could push them through time and space.
    Yesenia’s eyes gave nothing away. “I think it would be useful for her to spend some time with her hands in the dirt, and you’re the strongest Grower Talent we have.” Her lips hinted at something that was almost a smile. “I also assumed you might appreciate an assignment that kept you clear of your pod for a while.”
    My brain neurons snarled. Was the boss lady making a joke?
    She made a quick, pissed-off-royalty motion with her hand. “Please let Lucinda know by the end of the day—she will be handling the matches for shadowing.”
    I knew better than to take hours to consider a decision which only had one possible outcome. And it wouldn’t be a hardship—I loved shadowing days. It was no secret that I wanted to teach trainees one day, and the general consensus was that I had the unflappable calm needed to do it well. I was pretty sure Yesenia wasn’t asking me to work with her daughter because of my sunny personality, but I’d have done it just to make Bean’s life easier.
    And I’d definitely do it to keep myself out of the director’s doghouse. The last Fixer who’d ended up there had recently been assigned to a