The Clock Winked (The Sagittan Chronicles Book 2) by Ariele Sieling Page B

myself until it becomes public knowledge, or until
I get permission from Auvek to tell everyone about it. What kind of monkey is
he?”
    “A Vervet monkey,” Bronwyn replied. “From Earth, I guess. I
don’t know much about Earth.”
    “I don’t either, except that it’s supposed to be a model for
cultural development and shorter lifespans. There hasn’t been much news out
about it lately, though. So, tell me, since you don’t know much about your
family history—who are you hiding from?”
    “Just Butler. Aunt Llewellyn has
him follow me all the time, probably to make sure I don’t learn anything about
the legend. It’s very irritating. I give him the slip a couple of times a week,
and I’m quite good at it—I just have a friend who trades places with me.” She
smiled a little. “But if he caught on, I wouldn’t want him to catch me. Or if
my double happened to walk by, I wouldn’t want him to notice me—you know, he
thinks he’s following and then—surprise! I’m sitting in a coffee shop window
and twenty five paces in front of him at the same time!”
    Salve let out a hearty laugh. “That is a very good point. I
won’t give that secret away either, so you needn’t worry .
Anything else you have to say? What would you like most in the world?”
    “I would like to meet my parents. I don’t know anything
about them. I haven’t seen pictures or heard stories, and my aunt won’t even
tell me their names! I don’t even know if they’re alive or dead. I go back and
forth between really wanting them to be alive, but feeling that if they were
alive they would have come to find me already.”
    She shrugged, a tiny smile playing across her lips.
    Salve nodded. “That’s rough. My parents split up when I was
in high school, and then my mom died and my dad went insane. Now I’m telling
stories because I don’t know what else to do.”
    “Yeah, that’s why I’m researching the Clock—I haven’t got
anything else to do either.”
    Salve scooted his chair back from the table. “Coffee’s on
me,” he said. “I have another appointment in fifteen minutes, so I have to
scoot. But I’d love to get together sometime just to chat, if you can sneak
away from that pesky old Butler of yours.” He smiled.
    “Yeah, that’d be nice,” Bronwyn smiled back, and watched him
as he strolled confidently into the light. She glanced at her watch. There was
still plenty of time left in the day. She stood and headed towards the bookshop.
    *****
    Auvek rose at dawn and began to clean. The shop needed a lot
of work; dust covered every available surface and torn pages of books peeked
out of many nooks and crannies. Auvek assumed that many interesting things lay
hidden among the heaps of literature that filled every crack and corner of the
building. Simon was extremely helpful, pulling things down from top shelves,
dusting everything he touched, and providing helpful tips about how to arrange
shelves and furniture. He also surprised Auvek by being able to identify the
loose pages that lay strewn about, even when there was no title or author
listed in the text.
    At about seven in the morning, Auvek heard a banging on the
front door. The little bell made a quiet ding; it sounded a bit like a baby
bird learning how to sing.
    He made his way to the front of the building and saw a man
peering through the glass. Blue stripes draped over his face, appearing at the
top of his bald head and running down onto his cheeks, but carefully avoiding
his eyes and brows. Auvek had only seen a few individuals of this race before,
but he at least knew that the stripes were part of the gentleman’s skin
pigment. He looked towards the gentleman’s eyes.
    “I’m sorry, we’re closed!” Auvek said loudly.
    “I look for William Oliphant,” the man said in a strange
accent. “He in this store?”
    “Oh, I’m sorry,” Auvek replied, unlocking the door to speak
with the stranger. “He’s not here right now.”
    “I old family