Alien Architect Needs a Nanny (Alien Nanny Agency 1)

Tenet 50

Go above and beyond.

- Dr. H. VynFleet, 132 Tenets of Childcare & Maintenance

Emilia

Emilia picked her way through the trees, screaming Dyrk’s name every few steps.

But the storm had picked up so much that she wasn’t sure he would be able to hear her unless she was practically touching him.

And though she had followed a path into the trees, there was no more path now. Maybe it had been washed away, or she had simply wandered off it.

Rivulets of water sliding through the muddy forest floor had her slipping and grabbing onto the trees around her in order not to be washed off the side of the mountain to the rocks below.

She had entered the forest with her thoughts only on Dyrk. But she was beginning to wonder if she would be able to get him home again even if she found him.

Without warning, her footing gave way, and she grabbed the nearest sapling to keep herself from being washed down the hillside.

Something hissed at her and slithered up the trunk.

Sun gods, please protect me…

She hadn’t thought about the animals that would be in these woods. That might have been a haloed viper just now…

You have two jobs, Emilia, she reminded herself inwardly. Find the boy and get out alive. Everything else is just a distraction.

“Dyrk,” she screamed again into the belly of the storm.

But there was no reply, so she took another step forward, hitting an unseen rock under the muddy swirl of water. Her foot twisted under her, and pain blossomed in her ankle.

No, no, no…

But still she hobbled forward, letting the pain shoot up her leg.

She had made so many mistakes since getting here. But none so unforgivable as not recognizing Dyrk’s despair when they returned home to his angry father.

She should have run up the stairs after him and let his father stew. She could not imagine the depths of misery that could send a person into these stormy woods.

Find the boy and get out alive. Find the boy and get out alive.

The howl of the wind filled her ears as she ventured deeper into the forest.

And then she heard something else.

Something crashing toward her through the underbrush.

Something big.