Ellie Quin Book 2: The World According to Ellie Quin by Alex Scarrow

entranced by the gently swinging trunk in front of her.
    ‘So tell me, I’m going to get off Harpers Reach, right?’
    ‘Time will come soon, two possibilities, two branches. One branch, you leave. The other….you not,’ the boojam replied.
    ‘Crud. How soon does this branch thingy happen then? Are we talking weeks? Months? Years?’
    ‘Sooner than you think,’ the alien replied. ‘Am smell things already in motion, you…moved by them.’
    ‘Do I get to pick the right branch then? Come on…tell me, do I get off this crud-hole?’
    The boojam hesitated, ‘the answer exist inside you, listen to it.’
    Jez looked confused for a moment, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. ‘I’m listening, not hearing anything though.’
    ‘What you wish to hear?’
    ‘That I get the freg off this world.’
    The boojam hesitated again. Ellie wondered if it was deciding whether to tell Jez what she wanted to hear.
The paying customer is always right.
    ‘That…is the answer.’
    ‘Yes!’ hissed Jez. She turned to Ellie and nudged her arm. ‘Tell me, Kazam, what will I see out there in space? Will I meet some rich young stud and party for the rest of my life?’ Jez asked, grinning expectantly.
    Kazan’s trunk lifted up from her face and hovered in the air above her head. Again they heard the boojam inhale deeply and the whistle of air entering his trunk. He held it in for a few moments before exhaling again.
    ‘Uncertainty in life. Long or short. Unsure,’ he answered. ‘But destiny is not yours. You destiny am tied to things other, bigger.’
    ‘Okay, I’m happy with that,’ she answered. ‘Die young or old, at least it looks like I’m finally going to get off this mud ball. See, Ellie? It’s our destiny to get out of here.’
    Kazan’s trunk gently tapped against her head as he hissed. ‘Now be quiet’.
    It swung across and curled towards Ellie. She found herself flinching uncertainly as the pale, wrinkled end of it wavered only inches away from her face. Her eyes were drawn to the two narrow orifices on the end; slits of flesh that opened, puckered and closed like tiny mouths sipping the air.
    ‘Now, you,’ said Kazan. Both orifices suddenly flared, opening widely as Ellie felt a draft of air being sucked in, brush across her cheeks. She found herself struggling to hold onto a nervous giggle.
    Nerves.
Or perhaps it was the preposterous nature of their fortune-teller. Ellie had never before heard of one’s fortune being
smelled
. She bit her lip to stop her chuckling out loud as the boojam held the air in his lungs and began sampling the unique cocktail of chemicals that was supposedly an indication of her future.
    ‘If I’d known we were coming out to have our fortunes read, I might have had a shower first,’ whispered Ellie uncomfortably as they waited in silence. Jez snorted.
    ‘Quiet!’ Kazan snapped, his rustling, whispering voice momentarily a loud bark.
    Jez closed her mouth and clamped her lips tightly together. She did her best to maintain a demeanour of solemnity. Her jiggling shoulders were all that gave her away. Ellie kept her eyes firmly on the boojam’s trunk, knowing full well that right now - keyed up with excitement as she was - catching sight of Jez would set her off.
    At last the alien exhaled again and she felt a warm blast of fetid air across her cheeks.
    ‘You future complicated. Am difficult to read. Much things in there.’
    Ellie’s urge to giggle was kicked to the side for the moment. She leant to one side to look at the robed figure. ‘Do I get off of this world too?’ she asked impatiently. ‘That’s the one thing I really want to know. Please.’
    ‘Yes. You leaving, am going far, far away this world. See many worlds.’
    Ellie clasped her hands together with sheer unbridled delight. ‘Oh-my-crud! I’m getting off!?’ she cried. ‘Tell me, when. How soon?’
    Kazan nodded. ‘Soon. But…’ he raised one of his two-digit hands. ‘Other things am seeing.