Page 40 of Seducing Jenny
“Are you afraid of the water?”
“No,” she said too quickly. “I like the water. I just don’t know about being submerged in it. Doesn’t seem right thatCheesecakeshould be all the way in water. What if she gets hurt? What if she floods?”
The ship’s voice came on. “Jenny, you mustn’t worry. I am impossible to injure, and I am water tight.”
She sighed, clearly relieved. “Thank you,Cheesecake.”
“Submarine features are old tech for us, Jade,” I said with a smile. “Cheesecakewill be fine.”
“Okay.”
Cheesecakehovered a hundred meters from the house, with no one spotting her. Or at least, no extra lights came on in the house. I lowered us into the water and shifted her into submarine mode to drive us toward the stilts. Night vision mode on the screen allowed us to navigate without light through the water. The marine life was some of the strangest and fiercest I had ever seen.
“Whatisthat?” Jade asked, eyes wide as she pointed to a massive spiny creature glaring at us from the deep.
“I have no idea, but it’s big and does not look happy to see us.” I sped past the enormous creature faster than it could keep up. Before we knew it, we were at the stilts. The ship emerged from the water, only enough for us to be able to climb out the upper hatch without getting too wet.
Just as I reached for the upper hatch button, I said, “Remember what I said about the shoes and the uniform. SinceCheesecakeprinted them for us, they could be a bit wonky.”
She sent me a look. “You trust her to be safe underwater, but you have a problem with her 3-D printing?”
“No, not exactly—”
“You mean, since they areyourcreations and you had to rig them specially for this mission, you’re not sure they will work.”
“Yeah, that.”
She touched my arm. “I trust you, Tiger. I trust your inventions. This is going to work. We tested everything.”
“Where there was nothing at risk,” I said in a wry tone. “Not when we were on top of a building.”
Her smile tilted. “Well, we’re about to find out. Let’s go.”
“Alright, alright. And remember, no speaking unless needed.”
She nodded once.
I opened the hatch, and it was nearly dry. We climbed out the top and stood onCheesecaketo survey the surroundings. No screams, no hand cannons aimed at us. No one seemed to know we were there. I pointed up and nodded. We had agreed she would go first, in case of disaster, since I was needed to pilot the ship.
Jade took a deep breath to brace herself and leapt into the air. She did not come down.
Using the hand control I had fitted in the suit she was now wearing, she was able to control the hover tech pretty well. Sure she wobbled at first, but within seconds she was back in control. She looked down at me and signaled for me to join her. I followed her and soon, we were silently floating around the small house.
Every window was a chance to be discovered, so we carefully leaned around them and peeked inside. Two men downstairs were having a discussion, but we could not hear it through the closed windows or over the crashing waves. We floated up to the next floor to find an office, an infirmary, and two bedrooms, all empty.
At the third floor, a naked woman was crying in front of a mirror, which I found odd. A man was asleep in another room. The fourth floor, an old man slept in a bed. Jade was far from me, but she excitedly waved me over.
I came close to her, and on the other side of the house, Malice lay in his bed.
She grinned at me. “He’s going to freak the fuck out when he sees us like this.”
“He’ll survive it,” I said, beyond happy that Mal was actually here and seemed to be okay. “You first.”
Jade floated up over his window sill and hovered there with her finger pressed to her lips, hoping he would stay quiet.
He saw her and shouted, “The fuck!”
Realizing he probably didn’t recognize Jenny in her Ladrian form, I popped my head up, too.
