Page 16 of Arctic Panda's Secret Mate
Haisley sat up, knowing that hiding or running was useless now, and turned to meet her fate.
The white-haired woman was not old at all.
She was tall, and painfully thin, which was particularly obvious because she was wearing nothing at all over her pale limbs. Her silvery hair was very elaborately braided back but teasing free around her face. Smallish, firm breasts said she wasn’t an adolescent, and the direct stare that she gave Haisley with dark eyes suggested she wasn’t entirely neurotypical.
“I couldn’t hear you,” the woman said accusingly, furrowing her brow. “And of course, I wouldn’t know you would be here. Isn’t it funny that you canhearsomethinghere, but nottheirsomethingthere?”
Haisley had to laugh, because it was so deeply absurd, and she was both relieved and terrified to be found out. “I’m sorry—” she started to say.
“I’m Gizelle,” the woman said, darting forward with a hand outstretched.
But when Haisley rose to her feet to shake it, Gizelle seemed to reconsider, and she shrank back with her hand behind her. “Not yet,” she said. “Maybe later. It’s still hard.”
Haisley blinked rapidly, trying to make sense of her and failing. “I’m…Haisley?” Her voice rose at the end uncertainly.
“Are you sure?”
“Pretty sure, but not positive,” Haisley confessed. It all felt very surreal. The woman’s nudity, at least, was beginning to feel less jarring, as if it was perfectly natural for her to wander around naked at night.
“I’m very sure I’m Gizelle,” the woman said confidently. “Neal named me.”
“Neal is…?” Haisley hadn’t heard the name. Was he the chef?
“Neal left. But he came back.”
Haisley hadn’t heard anyone leave; she was pretty sure that the roads hadn’t been cleared yet.
“Speaking of leaving?—”
“You weren’t supposed to be here.”
That was the crux of her problem. “I’m sorry,” she said again. “I had nowhere to go, and my car wouldn’t start.”
Gizelle looked blankly at her, like she didn’t understand the problem. “Start to what?”
“Start…to drive?”
“I’d like to learn to drive, but even Breck says I’d be a hazard. Do you ever wonder if you’ll never be good at normal things?”
Haisley had a deep stab of sympathy and all of her fear vanished completely. “Oh, do I ever. But you can find ways to cope. For me, it’s making lists and leaving notes. Once I figure out how to do something, I want to remember it again, and share it.”
“You’re the one who left the notes!” Gizelle sang happily. “I read them all! All the ones I could find. Some of them were hidden. Some of them were secret.”
“Not very secret,” Haisley protested.
“Not like you,” Gizelle agreed.
Haisley was completely confused again. “Are you going to keepmea secret?”
“Should you be?”
Haisley hesitated. She didn't particularly love staying hidden, but she still wasn’t sure what the reaction of the others would be if they found her. This woman seemed by turns very simple and very sharp, but she didn’t appear to be a threat. Haisley could not assume the same of the others.
“I should be,” she said reluctantly.
“I’mvery goodat secrets,” Gizelle promised, bouncing a little on her toes like an excited child.
There was a sudden CRASH from out in the great room, followed by some muffled cursing, and Haisley jerked her head towards the door in alarm. There was a clatter behind her, and then she turned back to find that there was a long-legged antelope standing between her and the fridge, all four legs spread out like it was ready to leap away at any moment.
