Page 20 of Seducing Jenny
I had to agree that the resemblance was uncanny. The girl had the same shade of cool-toned blonde hair as Jenny with streaks of blue, and the same warm brown eyes. Same height, build, and posture. Even subtle mannerisms were close enough to be unsettling.
“I know you have a real name,” I said, still taking her in, “but I can’t help but think of you as Fake Jenny.”
She laughed. “There are worse things to be called. But I’m Samantha Riggins. I go by Sam.”
“American?” Jenny asked.
“Canadian.”
Jenny tilted her head, curious but cautious. “And you’re unemployed at the moment?”
Sam nodded. “Yes, unfortunately. I was brought to Orhon five years ago to donate a kidney to a human owned by the Sellacs. I ended up loving it here. When that was done, they let me work for their oldest daughter, Golda. She was amazing but she died in a ship raid last month,” she said, her voice touched with genuine emotion. “We were flying through unfriendly territory. Golda hid me in a cargo panel, which is the only reason I survived. I was scheduled for return to Earth when Discord reached out about this job. She dyed my hair to look just like yours.” She smiled and ran her fingers through the highlighted strands.
“No urge to go back to Earth?” Jenny asked.
“Not if I can help it.” Sam’s eyes brightened. “You know how diamonds are really cheap to buy here?”
I nodded, though I had no idea where this conversation was heading. “Go on.”
“I’ve been using my credits to buy diamonds and send them back to my family. The plan is to go home when I have enough to retire, and set up my future kids, and their kids, so they’ll never want for anything. Leaving now would put a damper on all that.”
Jenny looked at her for a long beat before she quietly said, “Just so we’re clear, I don’t own you. If you want to go back, or do anything else, you can. You’re free, Sam.”
Sam smiled. “Understood. Yeah, the wholeowning peoplething is a lot to get used to, right?”
Jenny nodded and rolled her eyes. “And they act like it’s normal. What the hell is that about?”
The two of them could have talked and commiserated for hours, I realized, so I gently cut in. “Since we have you settled, Jenny and I need to head to Halla.”
“So you two are going to the ghost world, and all I have to do is hang out here? Go outside, do whatever and be seen from a distance, right? That’s what Discord said.”
“That’s it,” I said. “All we need is for people to think Jenny is still on Orhon. You can do whatever you want here. There’s a great library upstairs.”
Sam’s eyes sparkled happily. “Perfect.”
“Welcome to the craziness,” Jenny said in a wry tone, then turned to me. “Come on, Tiger. We need to get moving.”
We left the mansion and hiked into the forest behind Mal’s house, the path narrowing until the dense trees swallowed us. Buried beneath the earth was Mal’s hidden hangar, a secret known only to the mansion’s residents. According to Longshot, some of the staff had helped build it during the war and I was grateful for the concealed space. I hadn’t been sure how else to hide the ship I helped Jenny pick out and buy.
As we continued trudging through the forest, I said to Jenny, “I still don’t know why you named your shipCheesecake.”
She flashed me a grin. “You told me to name it after something I love.”
“I meant something meaningful.” I shook my head at the odd name she’d chosen. “Something that symbolizes your purpose or your drive. Something historical, even.”
“In all of human history, there has never been a better invention than cheesecake, Tiger,” she insisted. “I stand by the name.”
I let it go as we reached the tree that concealed the entrance to the hangar. I pressed against the trunk as Longshot hadtaught me, and it turned with a groan of gears, revealing a spiral staircase lit from below. We descended, and when we stepped onto the third stair, the tree rotated back into place above us, sealing us in.
“Do you think Mal always knew he’d need to escape someday?” Jenny asked absently. “Is that why he has a secret hangar?”
I sighed. “I think he knew it was a possibility.”
The stairs spiraled further down before opening into a vast space, large enough for three ships. Only one belonged to Mal:Tenebrous, a sleek black beauty that made me envious. He was the only one who had permissions on it, so I could not enter the ship without his presence. Not even his friends had access to the ship, which I thought was strange.
Jenny, on the other hand, had sharedCheesecake’spermissions with me, Surge, Discord, and Longshot, reasoning that she didn’t know how to fly the ship, so she could use all the help she could get.
Her ship was a marvel, an ultramodern vessel with all the technology and niceties a high-end dealer offered. The arrowhead-shaped hull gleamed in silver alloy, though the surface could camouflage itself instantly by rearranging its hull cells. One voice command could make it vanish into any landscape.
