Page 21 of Gunslinger Girl

“Evening, Flossie.” Santino pecked her on the cheek. “How’s business?”

“Brisk as always, sugar.” Her voice lilted like a bell.

“You seen Halcyon tonight?”

“Oh, yes,” Flossie purred. “He’s upstairs. With Miss Selene.”

“Hmm,” said Santino. “Can you let them know we’re—”

“She already knows,” said Flossie. “She wants y’all there, pronto.”

Santino indicated Pity. “We picked up a stray. Can you have someone take care of her until we’re done?”

“Oh, honey, you know I’d make sure she had the best of care…” Flossie sauntered over to Pity and eyed her. “But Miss Selene said all of you. And when she says all, you know she means all.”

Pity turned to Max, whose face was tinged with apprehension. “Who’s Miss Selene?” she whispered.

“Someone,” he said in an equally low voice, “we shouldn’t keep waiting.”

CHAPTER 7

Pity’s gaze flitted between safe and unsafe as they traveled through the room: the luxuriously patterned carpet… a pile of cushions swarming with bodies… Santino’s broad back… a couple in a booth furiously grasping at each other. Her body roiled with nervousness, embarrassment, and a twisted knot of other sensations she didn’t want to dwell on.

They came to another elevator, with more Tin Men positioned on each side. Pity pressed herself into the back of the space, feeling her stomach drop as their ascent began. There were no buttons for other floors, only a single display that ticked up steadily. Finally, the doors slid apart to reveal a vast floor of black marble. It was so polished that when she stepped onto it, Pity locked eyes with a reflection of herself.

This room was as large as the one they had left but nearly empty, its dark floor stretching to meet bleached white walls with high, arched windows. Plants in massive stone pots were positioned at intervals—ferns, bushes, even small fruit trees. The only other fixture in the room was a desk, set before an open terrace. Gauzy curtains floated in a light breeze.

Two men flanked either side of the desk. The one on the left, wearing an immaculate gray suit, had pale eyes in a handsome but severe face. Not a hair on his head was out of place. Clean was the first word that popped into Pity’s mind as his raptor’s gaze tracked them. Dangerous was the second. But it was the lanky man on the right who invariably drew her attention; he was dressed in a purple-and-orange-striped tuxedo.

It wasn’t until the woman behind the desk stood that Pity took note of her, though it was the tuxedoed man who spoke first.

“Santino, Santino, Santino, my good man! Wonderful to have you back.” The long tails of the tuxedo fluttered as he approached them. “Dear Olivia! Cessation was a drearier place without your presence.”

Olivia snorted.

“And Max! Without Max the color was all gone. Everything was gray, cloudy, dismal—”

“Halcyon.”

A single word from the woman quieted him immediately. He backed away, smoothing his dark hair as she stood.

“It’s good to be home, Halcyon.” Santino bowed his head respectfully to the woman. “Miss Selene.”

In a sleek black dress, her petite form moved with feline poise, eyes downcast as the tips of her fingers trailed across the desk. Pity could make out the digital displays set into it, reflecting off a shallow bowl filled with decorative glass spheres set on a corner of the surface.

“Everything went smoothly?”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Santino. “The porters—”

“Delivered your package moments ago.” She flicked a hand at a transport container nearby. “And it appears you acquired an additional body as well. Who is she?”

Pity felt the woman’s eyes sear into her before she found the courage to meet them. Once she did, she was afraid to look away. Full-cheeked, with a delicate nose and golden skin, Miss Selene had the look of a predator considering its prey, trying to decide if she was hungry or not. From the strands of gray in her deep brown hair and the faint lines that crimped the edges of her eyes, Pity guessed that she was a few years older than her mother would have been, had she still been alive.

“Your show, Max,” said Santino.

Max cleared his throat. “We found her on the plains, ma’am. Scroungers killed her friend. She was injured.”

The careful subservience in his voice unnerved Pity even more. Who was this woman?