Switched: Brides of the Kindred 17 (20 page)

Feeling justified,
she followed the girl in the red sash silently over the
straw-strewn floor—the straw was dark purple here, she noticed—and
didn’t say another word until they were standing in front of a
stall door which was taller and thicker than the rest. It was
reinforced with thick strips of metal too, which made Frankie
wonder uneasily what in the world the ostrich-cat Kerov usually
rode looked like. Was it bigger and stronger and meaner than all
the others in the stable? God, she hoped not! She thought about
trying to access Kerov’s files about his mount but the stable girl
was already opening the stall door.

“
All right—here she is.” The girl slid back a bolt as thick as
Frankie’s wrist, and cracked open the reinforced stall door.
“You’ll forgive me for not getting her ready for you, Commander.
Seeing as how you’re the only one as can handle her.”

“
Oh, sure. Uh…of course.” Frankie felt another stab of
apprehension. What in the world was the deal with this creature
Kerov rode?

“
I’ll just wait out here. She doesn’t care for me much, so she
doesn’t.” The stable girl stood to one side, beckoning for Frankie
to go into the darkened stall.

Frankie swallowed
hard. This was getting scarier and scarier. Still, the girl was
looking at her expectantly and she knew she had to ride this beast
in the upcoming parade in less than an hour.

I
already screwed up Kerov’s love life—I can’t screw up his job
too,
she told
herself. Taking a deep breath, she lifted her chin and walked into
the dim stall though it was the absolute last thing she wanted to
do.

Inside she could barely make out the occupant of the stall…or
rather,
occupants.
Lying on the purple straw-strewn floor were several little
furry bundles in various pastel shades. Most of them were curled up
against an even larger mound of dark purple straw in the corner.
Frankie frowned, her eyes adjusting to the light—what
were
they?

As she bent closer
to look at them, one cotton candy-pink bundle lifted a long,
pointed snout and looked up at her with inquisitive green eyes.

“
Well,
hello
there,”
Frankie said to it gently. “What are you doing in here, little
guy?”

The pink bundle made
a soft, high pitched sound somewhere between a bark and a cough and
unrolled itself to get a better look at her. It was furry and cute
and about the size of a large cat. Aside from the bright green
eyes, which seemed to glow in the dark, it reminded Frankie of a
bear cub. Then it turned around and she saw that it had a long,
trailing tail that seemed to be made of feathers. In fact, its coat
seemed to be feathers too, when she took a closer look. Short,
downy ones that looked just like fur until you examined them
closely.

The pink bear
cub-thing made its squeaky barking cough again and nudged her
hand.

“
Oh, you want some scratches?” Frankie cooed, stroking its
head gently. “You want some scritchy-scratches? Is that what you
want little fella?”

In answer the little
creature bumped her hand again and closed its green eyes in
apparent ecstasy when she rubbed behind its short, stubby pink
ears.

“
That’s right, little guy…little
niño,”
Frankie murmured, stroking its fat little body.
“Aren’t you just the cutest thing?
Que lindo!”

The little creature
seemed to appreciate her attention because it began to make a
humming-purring sound that vibrated her fingertips when she stroked
it. The sound woke up the other pastel creatures sleeping against
the big mound of purple straw and they tumbled over to
investigate.

“
Oh my—look at all of you!” Frankie was soon busy stroking and
scratching all of the little feathery, pastel, bear cub creatures.
In addition to the cotton candy-pink one there was a mint green
one, a sky blue one, and one that was a pale, gorgeous shade of
lavender. Soon the air was filled with their hums of pleasure as
they all vied for her attention.

“
All right—don’t shove, I only have two hands but I’ll get to
you all,” Frankie laughed as she knelt in the straw and caressed
the plump little bodies.
Dios,
they were as cute as a basket of puppies and so cuddly she
wanted to just lie down and let them jump all over her. The humming
sound they made was
loud
too. In
fact, if she wasn’t mistaken, it was getting louder the longer she
stroked them.

Suddenly the humming
rose to an almost deafening crescendo and something moved right in
front of her. Frankie looked up from the tumbling bear cubs and
felt her heart knot like a fist in her chest.

The purple mound of hay
wasn’t
a purple mound of hay at all—it was a huge creature that must
be the adult version of the little cubs. Blazing green eyes stared
into Frankie’s and a low grumbling growl was coming from the
thing’s massive chest.

Ursa—this must be Ursa!
Frankie’s mouth was dry as a bone and her heart
seemed to have forgotten how to beat. She’d gotten so caught up in
petting and stroking the little cubs, she’d forgotten the reason
she had entered the stall in the first place. Ursa wasn’t just
Kerov’s mount—she was also a mother—a mama bear if the cubs were
anything to go on.

Frankie’s mind raced
back to all the awful bear attack stories she’d ever heard or read
about. People who went camping and got mauled and had their faces
ripped off and their limbs torn from their bodies…

Dios de Madre—she
caught me playing with her cubs and now she’s going to kill me. I’m
going to die right here on this alien planet and then I’ll never
get home!

Or would she? Part
of her wondered distractedly what would happen to her if she died
while inhabiting the big Kindred’s body. Would she go flying back
to her own body…or would her spirit be lost, never able to find
Earth again?

Either way, Frankie
was afraid she was about to find out.

* *
* * *

“
Come on, cheer up,” Lacy said when he had come out of the
Lotus Pond and stiffly admitted his defeat. “You know how Sheila
is—she’s a little goofy but she’s basically got a good heart.
She’ll give you another chance.”

“
Do you think so?” Kerov looked at her hopefully. He hated the
idea that, through his ineptitude, he might have ruined Frankie’s
chances at bettering her life and getting a job she really
desired.

“
Yes, I do,” Lacy said firmly. “So come on—we have an hour
before your Brazilian appointment at Wax Me Beautiful. How about if
I buy you lunch to cheer you up?”

A
Brazilian appointment? Was that some kind of medical exam? Kerov
didn’t know but he eagerly agreed to lunch. He hadn’t had time to
eat that morning and he found himself suddenly ravenously hungry.
What he wouldn’t give for a good, protein packed chunk of
vashlo
heart! The oozing green
delicacy was his favorite first meal back home. He wondered if
there was anything like it on Earth.

“
I’ll drive this time,” Lacy said, smiling a little nervously,
he thought. “And we’re going to your favorite
restaurant—Veggie-ville on Fletcher.”

“
My favorite,” Kerov agreed, hoping the food would be good.
But when they got to the small eatery with sunny yellow walls and
roomy booths arranged around the perimeter of the room, he found
himself severely disappointed. Lacy ordered what was apparently
Frankie’s favorite dish, and the server brought it and set the
plate down in front him with a flourish.

Kerov was all set to
dig in…but the contents of the dish made him stop and consider
carefully what he was about to put in his mouth.

“
What
is
this?”
he’d asked, poking the contents of the plate with a utensil
Frankie’s memory informed him was a fork.

“
What you
always
get.”
Lacy frowned. “Organic raw kale crackers, avocados coated in
almonds, sun dried tomato strips, and organic salad with ginger
sauce. Oh—and here’s your beet juice smoothie,” she added as the
server placed an unappetizing looking reddish-purple beverage in
front of him.

Kerov didn’t think
any if it looked remotely appetizing but his stomach growled again
and he realized he needed to eat something to fuel Frankie’s body,
which had just been through a vigorous workout. He still felt sore
from all the strange poses he’d been forced to perform! Such
physical work was taxing and anyway, maybe the food would taste
better than it looked.

Only, it didn’t.

Kerov stabbed one of
the red strips and put it in his mouth. It had a strangely sharp
flavor and a leathery texture he found difficult to chew.
Swallowing quickly, he tried something else—one of the thin,
crispy, dark green wafers. These tasted like nothing but sawdust to
Kerov, leaving a dry, disagreeable residue on his tongue. The salad
with ginger sauce was a little better, although it crunched oddly
between his teeth.

He’d been saving the thick green chunks which Lacy had called
the “avocado coated in almond” for last, hoping it might taste a
little like
vashlo
heart.
It was, after all, green. But when he stabbed one and forked it
into his mouth, he nearly spit it out again. A slick, slimy texture
met his tongue and squished between his teeth, making him feel he
was in danger of gagging. Seven Hells, how could anyone live on
such fare?

Hoping to wash the taste out of his mouth, he grabbed for the
purplish-red smoothie and took a big swig. His mouth filled with a
strange taste that reminded him of oddly tangy dirt. Only by sheer
force of will did he manage not to spit it out. Somehow he
swallowed, his eyes watering from sheer disgust. The food on this
planet was
horrible!

At that point he
became aware that Lacy was staring at him oddly.

“
Frankie? Are you okay?”

He
spoke without thinking. “Frankie eats this on a regular basis?” he
demanded, stabbing at the plate with his fork.
“Voluntarily?”

Lacy arched
one perfect blond eyebrow at him as she stirred her own meal, which
appeared to be basically a bowl of leafy greens, such as an animal
might eat on his own planet.

“
Speaking of ourselves in the third person, now are we?
Yes
, your majesty, you
do
eat that on a regular basis—in fact,
you
love
it. What’s the
matter—you’re not feeling it today?”

“
No,” Kerov said shortly. “I’m not.” Looking up, he signaled
to the server who came over at once.

“
Is something the matter?”

“
Yes, I do not like this food.” Kerov nodded down at his
plate. “I desire something more nourishing.”

“
More nourishing?” The server knit her eyebrows in apparent
confusion. “But this is as nourishing as you can
get
. It’s all natural, organic, raw, GMO
and gluten free and
completely
Vegan.”

“
I
do not care about any of that,” Kerov insisted. “Do you not have
anything with protein in it?”

“
Well, technically the nuts on your veggie surprise platter
have protein but we
do
have
smoked Tofurky—”

“
And is that protein?” Kerov demanded.

“
Well, yes…” The girl’s hesitance made him doubt
her.

“
Let me be specific,” he said, leaning forward and pointing at
her with his fork. “Is it the actual flesh of an animal which has
been butchered for the express purpose of being
consumed?”

“
What?” The girl had drawn back in apparent horror. “The flesh
of an animal? What are you
talking
about?”

“
Yes, what
are
you
talking about?” Lacy asked, frowning. “You know there’s no meat
here. Veggie-ville is completely vegetarian—that’s one reason you
like it.”

Kerov wanted to growl in frustration. A restaurant which did
not offer meat? What was
wrong
with this planet? Did they have nothing decent to eat? He
turned to the server to ask another question but Lacy was already
speaking.

“
Never mind Frankie, she’s making a joke,” she said, smiling
brightly at the confused girl.

“
All right, but…should I bring the Tofurky or not? We have it
barbequed too, not just smoked.”

“
Oh, that sounds
yummy.
Yes,
bring us some of that, please,” Lacy said. As soon as the girl
left, she turned to Kerov, frowning fiercely. “All right, I know
you’re feeling bummed that you failed your yoga test but what
is
up
with you today? You’re
not acting like yourself
at all.”

Kerov suddenly
realized what a very poor job he was doing of impersonating
Frankie. Though he knew he was in her body, he kept forgetting to
act like it. He’d been angry with her the night before for doing
such a bad job playing him when she was occupying his body—clearly,
though, he wasn’t any better at it than she had been.