I glanced around. Every window of every building now had someone standing in it. And every one of them looked exactly alike. Gray suit, gray hair, gray face, two arms. They were all the same shape and same height.
And when one of them moved, every other creature I could see moved the same way.
“This is creeping me out,” Tanda said.
The next instant the dust smashed into my face.
“Warning next time,” Aahz said.
“This is Vortex #4,” she shouted over the wind. “We’re hopping again before the bunnies find us.”
For an instant there was no dust, then it hit again.
I knew this had to be Vortex #1. I mean, with the dust and all, what else could it be?
Then we were back in the tent with the Shifter. And right at that moment what I really wanted to do more than anything else was just walk out of the tent and forget this entire thing.
“Vortex #6 please,” Tanda said to the Shifter, who had lost his couch shape and now looked more like a cross between a cat and a table.
“Twenty-five percent.”
Aahz ground his teeth, the sound filling the tent.
“You’re making my friend angry by repeating that,” I said.
Then I realized I had spoken my mind. Tanda hadn’t sealed my lips for this visit. Aahz glared at me and I shrugged.
“It is a bargain at twice the price,” the Shifter said.
I was about to tell him that dealing with a Deveel was a bargain as well, but Tananda put her hand over my mouth and spoke to the Shifter. “Vortex #6 please. We have agreed to twenty-five percent total to this point.”
The Shifter nodded, which looked a lot like a table lifting its leg, then we were back in the dust storm.