You Stand Guard!
Something inside you tells you that you’d be better off as far away from the safe as possible while Odeon opens it. You don’t know why, but you’ve learned to go with your gut feeling in situations like this.
You offer to stand guard while Holly helps Odeon and he nods.
You take your place near the door, keeping one eye out the in the yard and the other back on Holly and Odeon. Odeon presses the tips of his fingers into the triggers—manual buttons with alien writing on them dispersed around the face of the safe. Once all four are pressed down, the code had already been cracked and so the safe door pops open.
Your heart thunders inside you for some unknown reason. When the trap is triggered anyway, despite your efforts, you understand that this is why. A dart hisses out of a hidden compartment in the safe and stabs into Odeon’s neck. He falls over with a soft cry.
Holly is by his side immediately and leaning over him, looking for a way to help.
She calls you to help and you join her.
“Grab the money. I’ll help Odeon,” she says, then she addresses Odeon in a strong voice. “Sing, my friend, quickly, before you can’t sing any more.”
“It’s paralyzing me,” the Yasoan whispers.
“Don’t waste your breath. Sing, dammit, sing!”
He obeys. Immediately his voices gains strength. The song gets louder and you watch even as you grab armfuls of money from the safe. Without taking her eyes from Odeon, Holly absently hands you a satchel which you fill with glowing purple novas. You’ve never seen so much money in one place.
Soon Odeon has recovered, the dart’s been removed, and Holly is cussing out someone called the Shadow Coalition.
You hate to think of what might have happened if that dart had landed in you. Yasoan singing can’t heal humans, so death, probably.
…to be continued.
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