Ghost groaned. Ever since Amber had seen that blasted film she had been fascinated with whips. Granted they had the potential to be useful in a world where bullets were in short supply and buildings were often falling apart. The problem was they were a lot harder to use than they looked. And much harder than it looked on film. They’d finally compromised on a sort of safe version that she practiced with in what had once been a spare room and currently looked like ghouls had taken up residence. His main concern was simply that she didn’t take out her own eye by accident.
“Kayta,” Silver said with a triumphant smile.
The look of dismay on Ghost’s face was promptly explained for one of disbelief. Kayta was pretty much an Urban Legend. As such he didn’t know how much was true and how much was the result of people “improving” the stories with each telling. Still, even allowing for that her skills with a whip were impressive. If she would spend even an hour with Amber there might be hope.
“A week.” Silver grinned. It was rare to see Ghost’s mind spin and she savoured the moment.
“A week?!” Getting Kayta here at all would have required some major favours to be called in. An hour’s lesson with her was like gold dust. Probably even more valuable he reflected, as unlike some weapon masters she didn’t normally teach. But a week? Suddenly he was very glad the cd was in Silver’s possession and not his responsibility any more.
“I have something for you too,” Silver continued to smile.
“More?” Ghost took a large drink of his tea.
“You know the old theatre between the Library and here?”
Ghost nodded. He’d been there a few times when he was younger.
“It’s yours.”
For the second time Ghost’s mind span. “Mine?”
“I know you, always having multiple places to run to when you need them. There’s a tunnel from here to there so you can move back and forward undetected. There’s also plenty of space there for Amber to practice, assuming you tell her about it of course. Everyone thinks it’s empty and what with the Librarians, wandering zombies and me, no-one’s interested in taking it. It does however come with custodians so you don’t need to worry about defending it.”
Ghost managed to salvage enough of his wits not to look in the direction of the cd and gently took a deep breath. Things were changing. He knew from experience that it was dangerous being around when giants fought. Often they didn’t notice the ants scampering around underfoot, and crushed them without a second thought.
“Thank-you,” he said with a smile of his own.
Silver put her arm around his and led him towards the tunnel.
Next
