Another Excerpt From "Tomorrow's Bones"

Here is another excerpt from Tomorrow's Bones for ya'll. I hope you enjoy! :) And some of it won't make sense, perhaps, but that's because it's an excerpt from chapter three or so. XD

Roman sat on a sofa, drumming his fingers on the small table next to it. He knew he shouldn’t be impatient, but nearly everyone who had responded to tell him they were coming had arrived at his apartment already.

Sireus Teono and Jaycin Spinner sat at the table talking in low voices, while Seana Sunfire stood in the corner of the room. He hadn’t planned on contacting her; in fact, he didn’t even know her. She was a friend of the navigator fellow who used to work on board Calderano’s Hope … Anden Ramoor was his name. When Seana heard about the plans, despite Roman’s hesitant protests, she had insisted on coming.

Clearly she had arrived before Mr. Ramoor himself. It was a quarter to 8pm—the man was already forty-five minutes late. Roman found himself tempted to just start the meeting; after all, Ramoor was the only one missing.

Just as he opened his mouth to address the other three, there was a knocking at the door. Sireus and Jaycin both jerked their heads in the direction the sound had come from.

Roman couldn’t keep back a satisfied grin. He started to call that the door was unlocked and that Ramoor could just come in—then he decided that wasn’t very professional and stood up to go open the door.

He swung it open. A tall man stood there, an amiable smile on his face.

“Hello there,” Roman said. “You’re Anden Ramoor?”

“Yes, that’s me. I’m sorry I’m late,” Anden replied.

“That’s okay.” Roman stepped back into his apartment. “Come on in; you can hang your coat on the coatrack or on one of the hooks over there.”

Roman turned and went back to the couch to pick up the newspapers and other information he had acquired on Lenard Calderano’s mysterious disappearance. He heard Anden murmur something inaudibly, and then footsteps coming further into the apartment.

Suddenly, Seana spoke up for the first time since she had arrived, her accented voice soft but surprised. “Anden! Who—?”

Roman spun on his heel, wondering just who the navigator had brought in now. First he had told Seana about the plans, and now she acted as if Anden had brought someone…

All of Roman’s thoughts shut down in confusion when he saw that the newcomer with Anden wasn’t even an adult.

Anden still stood closer to the door than he did to anyone else in the room. A girl who looked to be in her middle teens hid partially behind him, peeking around his side at the other people present.

“Who is that?” Jaycin asked curiously.

Anden glanced over his shoulder at the girl, who was holding tightly to his arm and showed no signs of letting go until she calmed. “This is Skye.”

Roman blinked several times, struggling to remember where he had heard that name before. Then it clicked. “Skye Calderano?”

“Yes,” Anden said, smiling a little. “I was surprised to find her on the way over here; I’ve not seen her in… oh, ages; probably a good five years by now.”

“And… you know her?” Roman asked, fighting to keep from asking thousands of questions all at once.

“That’s something I didn’t tell you about myself yet. Yes, I worked as navigator on Lenard’s ship. But the reason for that was because I’ve… I had been friends with Lenard since we were both teenagers. When he got married, I ended up living down the street from him and his wife. I watched Skye grow up.” Smiling again, this time a little sadly, he added, “I helped take care of her after… after her mother died.”

The room fell silent for several strained moments. Finally, Roman said, “Well… that explains a lot. But how is she here and why?”

Anden took a step to the side, forcing Skye to stand in view of the others. She jumped a little, clearly surprised at her protection having moved away, and attempted to edge behind Anden again.

“Ah-ah, no,” Anden said quietly. “Come on, tell them what you told me.”

The girl drew in a deep breath and then spoke to Roman in a quiet voice. “I found out that you were going to try and figured out what happened to my dad. I want to help.”

Roman stared in shock for a second, and then protested, “Look, that’s understandable since he was your dad and all, but you’re just a kid. You can’t—”

“I want to help,” Skye repeated, her voice a little louder but no stronger. It shook a little as she added, “Please. I want to know what happened to him. Who… who killed him.”

Anden put a reassuring arm around her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her, and both of them looked to Roman, awaiting an answer.

Roman worked to keep his mouth from falling open in complete shock. He stared at the two of them for a long minute, his mind racing.

They were obviously very close, and yet both of them were so different. Skye’s small build, long, straw-gold hair and wide eyes were a stark contrast to Anden’s tall form and dark hair.

Roman knew it was a bad idea to let the girl come. She would no doubt be very emotional, and most likely unable to handle the journey.

However, looking into both Anden’s face and Skye’s, Roman could see that neither of them would take no for an answer. Skye would plead, Anden would reason, and Roman would end up giving in anyway.

Biting back a sigh, Roman said reluctantly, “Fine.” He turned what he hoped was a stern gaze on Anden. “But you’re going to have to look after her. I’m not going to slow down or stop if she can’t keep up.”

A spark of what seemed like protectiveness shone in Anden’s eyes, and Roman almost expected the older man to give him some sort of warning about treating Skye kindly. Instead, Anden said nothing and simply nodded.