Page 127 of Return of the Nine

With her wings in place, she got Deniir’s attention and she pointed up. He nodded. He would be with her in a moment.

“I have to take the harnesses off my rocs. I will be right back.”

She set the wings to flapping, and with a few steps and a jump, she was airborne and climbing.

Bertrum and Eleth greeted her with surprise as she set the wings for a laborious hover that was helped along by the updraft. With some effort, she landed near them and she stroked Bertrum. “I don’t know when I am going to be back, so I am taking these straps off. I know you like them, but if you got hung up on something, I would never forgive myself.”

She unbuckled the harness and slid it from him before she moved to Eleth. Eleth didn’t want to part with her pretties, but she eventually settled and let Ula slide the harness free.

“You miss them already.”

She looked up, and Deniir was perched high on the rocky cliff above her. “I do.”

He held his hand out. “Come on, you can ride me all you like. You can even use those straps on me.”

She laughed, and it was a good thing that her wings were not dependant on her ability to speak, because she laughed all the way to the shuttle, her hands filled with leather and her mind filled with light.

The stars were waiting.

Seeing

Return of the Nine Book Eight

By

Viola Grace

Chapter One

Vida walked through the memorial garden and touched some of the carefully cultivated flowers. Five and a half years since the Tokkel invasion and she still was frustrated by the dead end that her investigations led to.

Every spare moment, she turned her mind to the stars and looked for those who had been lost. It was just too large a span to search.

“Ms. Senior, we have an investigation we would like your assistance with.”

The voice jarred her out of her remembrance.

“Of course, Detective Morser.” She nodded toward the head of the colony’s police service. She blinked rapidly to clear the tears of frustration that always welled in the garden.

“I am sorry to have intruded, but a woman has gone missing.”

Vida straightened her shoulders and pulled her mind back to the here and now. “What does she look like?”

“Same as the others, brown hair, brown eyes. It has been six years. I thought that this ended when the Tokkel came.” He muttered it as they walked out of the gardens.

What he meant was that everyone in law enforcement had hoped that the killer had been one of those murdered by the attacking aliens. Apparently, that was not the case.

“Do you remember how to do this?” Detective Morser spoke low as they settled in his car.

“Yes, do you remember that I have to be where she was last seen? I can’t go to where the trail starts; I have to track her from earlier in the day. If I can’t see her before it happened, I won’t be able to find her.”

“Yes, Ms. Senior.”

He had tried to trick her the first two times, and it had resulted in the deaths of the two women. The third had been found in time, but it had been the day of the attack. Vina didn’t even know if the woman had survived the Tokkel after the other monster had taken her.

Now, he was back again.

The car rolled to a halt near the market place. She got out and looked around, getting the rhythm of the people in the area.

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