Page 37 of Crossing Quinn

“What is necessary.”Adan’s tentacles abruptly wrapped around me and pinned me against his slimy hide. “You will accompany me.”

“Wait! What?”Adan was suddenly in my mind, going through my memories of the slavers’ outpost. “Get out of my head!”

Quinn jumped to his feet with a roar. “No! You’re not taking Xenia.”

Clio wailed in fright and clamped her tentacles around his arms.

“I must. She is my witness,”Adan responded.

I struggled desperately to break Adan’s grip. “Witness to what?”

“Vengeance.”

“No, Adan. They’ll kill you,”Detja cried.

An incandescent orange light formed around us.

“No!”I kicked Adan as hard as I could. “Let go of me.”

The light spun faster and faster and faster until it became a vortex. Slurppp! We were sucked inside. It was like going from zero to warp drive in ten seconds flat. The horrific, twisting funnel of energy rocketed us across a weird black void.

“Holy Goddess. Don’t drop me! Don’t drop me!”

Adan’s tentacles tightened painfully. “Be quiet. I need to attract the Executioners’ attention.”

“Are you nuts?”

“I’ve been told I’m quite mad.”

A hysterical laugh escaped me. “Why in the nine hells would you want to draw the Executioners’ notice? Detja said they have a death warrant on you.”

“Females and children are precious to us. I cannot allow the mother’s murder to go unpunished. If you hadn’t stepped in, the Tai-Kok would have slaughtered her child too.”

Strange shapes emerged out of the blackness. The shapes turned into dark, wraithlike creatures.

“Uh, are those creepy things the Executioners?”

“Yes. They are our law givers.”

“So, Executioners are like enforcers?”

“They are much more than that,”Adan replied.

What do you need them for?”

“To help me destroy every living thing on Jandjviles,”Adan answered.

“Whoa! What about the slaves? You can’t kill them too. They’ve done nothing to deserve death.”

“You are very much like Detja.”

“We are blood relatives. I want your promise you won’t harm any of the slaves.”

“You have my word.”

I gestured to the Executioners who were dangerously close. “What about them?”

“I make no promises.”

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