Hyde and Seek Read Online Free Page B

inhabitants of the lav.”
    “How long can you hold a sight-only shift?”
    “An hour, possibly longer if it is necessary.”
    “Impressive.”
    “I hope so. It sounds like Equilar is going to be quite the hard woman to impress.”
    “She is stringent in her standards. She has no talent herself, but she has manipulated an entire government into poisoning their own people. The nobles of the Moreski are all confined to their world while they slowly die out.”
    “That sounds horrible.”
    “Well, the Moreski nobles are not very nice people. The dark rainbow hair is the indicator of nobility. For years, they thought it could not be transmitted to half-breed children, or that is what they put about. Mala is one of the only surviving half-breeds on record, though I have heard of a few others, I have never met them.”
    They were walking past a gym, and he pointed out the mechanisms by which she could work out. They continued on their path, and she asked, “Are you truly cousins with Fixer?”
    “I am. Our grandmother was a slave, and she was bred to various partners. My mother was one of the children, Mala’s mother was another.”
    “That explains why I can’t pinpoint your species.”
    He grinned. “I am flattered that you have been trying.”
    “It makes it easier to copy you if I know what I am aiming at. Now that I can access records, if I can find the standard movements and descriptions of your people I can mimic the more subtle nuances of someone.”
    “Does it make that much difference?”
    “To put it in farm terms, if you raise a bird with beasts, flying will not be natural to it. If you put it with other birds, it will move all wrong and the birds will avoid it.”
    He nodded and it flattered her to think that he was actually absorbing that bit of information.
    He showed her the classrooms where folk in robes were working studiously to absorb information.
    The illumination class was amusing. She looked through the door panel into the darkness and flickers of light sparked around the room. Some were light, some were combustion and all were very visible in the darkness.
    “That is very interesting. The idea of folk being allowed and encouraged to master their talents is a little beyond my scope of experience.”
    Keezik nodded. “I am aware of it. I was skulking around your world for a while before I got the extraction assignment.”
    “Does it exhaust you to use your talent?”
    “Not really, it just wears on me like any physical activity. My talent is usually limited to my skin unless I am passing through matter. That is wearing on my senses, I can tell you.”
    She blinked. “Right. I can see where it would be.”
    “Come on, I will show you the gardens. The horticulture talents are really working overtime to get a high-yield plant that doesn’t destroy the soil.”
    Amly didn’t know much about plants, but she did recognize the woman who was coaxing a tendril around a runner post in elegant loops.
    The woman must have sensed her gaze, because she turned around, squealed and ran forward for a hug. Amly caught her and hugged her third rescue. Wekiat had been scheduled for invasive interrogation, but Amly had stepped in and taken over the interview. The agents had been forced to let her go, as the Wekiat Dorsai they had in custody had no idea how to grow any sort of plant whatsoever, let alone have a horticultural talent.
    “I never got a chance to thank you. I never even knew your name.” Wekiat mumbled it into her shoulder.
    “Amly. Amly Hyde.” She hugged the woman back. “How are you enjoying time off world?”
    “It is wonderful. I am normally based on Balen, but with this project in action, they loaned me out to Morganti.”
    “Loaned you out? Like a possession?” Amly was getting irritated.
    Wekiat calmed her. “No, no. Like a specialist. My expertise was needed here. I also have attended a number of ornamental gardens on worlds I had not dreamed of. The soil of Morganti isn’t