Page 85 of Akarnae

As Blake reached out to shake her hand next, Alex tried to make sense of Johnny’s words. What had they heard about her? She looked to Bear for more information but he skilfully avoided eye contact. Whatever his brothers had heard must not have been overly complimentary.

Alex tapped her fingernails on the table until Bear finally glanced up at her, and she sent him a questioning look. It might have seemed more like an accusatory glare, but whatever.

“Hey!” he said. “I’ve seen you in PE and, let’s face it, you’ve had your moments.”

“That doesn’t mean you had tosharethose moments,” she said, feeling embarrassed all over again.

“I didn’t shareallof them,” he said, and Alex felt some relief. Until he added, “Jordan told them about the rest.”

She promptly transferred her glare towards her other friend, who just smiled and waved in response.

Alex turned back to Bear’s brothers and said, as seriously as she could, “Whatever you’ve heard, they were lying.”

Blake breathed out on another laugh. “Don’t worry, Alex. I think we’ve just seen for ourselves how amazingly coordinated you are.”

She felt as if her face was on fire, but she rallied on and said, “That was for your benefit. I didn’t want either of you to be intimidated by my awesomeness—which I’m sure you’ve heard all about—and I chose to sacrifice my dignity to even the playing field.”

“How kind of you,” Johnny said, the corner of his mouth twitching with suppressed amusement.

“I’m actually still feeling a little intimidated,” Blake admitted. “Do you mind going and doing that all over again? Just so I can feel a little less threatened by your—ah—awesomeness.”

Alex had to bite back a smile of her own. It wouldn’t do her any good to encourage them. “I’m sorry,” she said, her voice full of false regret. “Only one show per day.”

“I guess we’ll just have to look forward to tomorrow, then,” Blake said, giving her a sly wink.

“All right, everyone,” Dorothy said. “That’s enough teasing. Alex, dear, will you help me bring the food out? We’ll do our part now and then we can leave the cleaning for the boys to do later.”

Alex eagerly followed the other woman into the kitchen, happy for any excuse to leave the room and regain her equilibrium. As she helped dish out the meal, she thought about Johnny and Blake. While Bear and Evie took after their father with their dark hair and eyes, the two older brothers looked more like their mother. They both had light brown hair just like Dorothy, and while Johnny had inherited his father’s darker eyes, Blake had the same piercing blue ones as his mother. They also both seemed to be casual and easy-going like Bear. Alex was sure that once she got over her embarrassment she would get on with them just fine.

When they all sat down for dinner, Alex had the chance to ask Johnny and Blake what they did for work.

“I’m a Techno,” Johnny answered. At her blank look, he added, “Dad said you were sheltered, but I had no idea—”

“Johnny,” William interrupted, his warning clear.

“Sorry, Alex. I’ve just never met anyone who hasn’t heard of a Techno. Or a Warden, for that matter.” Johnny shook his head as if amazed and then said, “Technos are upper-level Chemists who manipulate technology to sustain and advance communication and integration. The latter involves the transference of matter—like how stuff is transported through TCDs. I don’t have much to do with that, though, since I’m in the communications sub-division. We get to work on TCD applications and software, continually generating new ideas to bring to the market.”

“Sounds interesting,” Alex said. She didn’t know enough about TCDs to understand what he was talking about, but it was clear he enjoyed his career choice. Even so, she didn’t particularly want to get caught up in a conversation that she knew would only hurt her brain, so she turned her attention to Blake and asked, “What about you?”

“I’m with the ISDS—the Inter-Species Diplomatic Service. Mostly I liaise with Shadow Walkers, but I’ve also spent some time working with Flips and with Jarnocks.”

She tried to keep her expression neutral, not wanting to let on that she had no idea what he’d just said.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Blake said.

Alex seriously doubted that.

“Most people say I’m too young to be in the Service,” he said, “but that’s just how it worked out. The ISDS recruited me straight out of school and I continued my training in the field. They’d never let me out there on my own if they didn’t believe I could handle myself.”

He trailed off and Alex realised that she was supposed to say something.

“That sounds awesome.” She cringed at her lame response and tried again. “It must be really interesting work. Especially with the… Shadow Walkers.”

What on earth was a Shadow Walker? Wasn’t that what Jordan had called their SOSAC teacher, Caspar Lennox?

“Yeah, they’re interesting all right,” Blake agreed. “But they’re about as easy to read as a rock, so negotiating with them is near impossible.”

“I’ll bet,” Alex said, as if she knew what she was talking about. Jordan sniggered from beside her and she elbowed him in the ribs.

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