The Thirteenth Skull by Rick Yancey Page B

led me into another room. A girl with skin the color of copper, blond hair, and huge blue eyes was sitting on the sofa. She stood up when she saw me.
    â€œAshley?”
    â€œHi, Alfred,” she said, and then she hugged me. I smelled lilacs. I looked down and there were those enormous blue eyes looking up at me.
    â€œThey told me you’d changed,” she said.
    â€œThe dress wasn’t my idea,” I said.
    â€œI don’t mean the dress.”
    She stepped back—the hug had lasted about four seconds too long.
    â€œI thought you quit,” I said.
    â€œThey made an offer I couldn’t refuse.” She glanced toward Abby.
    â€œAshley agreed to return to the Company on the condition we assign her as your extraction coordinator.”
    â€œOh,” I said. “What’s that mean?”
    â€œIt means Ashley is in charge of coordinating your extraction from our interface.”
    I looked at Ashley. “I hate OIPEP,” I said.
    She laughed. “Why don’t you change, Alfred? I’ll meet you outside.”
    She left, a bouncing swirl of golden-haired blondness.
    â€œBathroom over there, clothes in the closet beside it,” Abby said. She looked at her watch. “We need to leave in the next fifteen minutes to stay within security parameters.”
    She patted my arm and started to go.
    â€œAbby, wait,” I called after her. “About Samuel.”
    â€œSamuel?”
    â€œYou know, Op Nine . . . Samuel. Is he okay?”
    â€œYes, Alfred. We’ve moved him to a safe location.”
    â€œWell, if I’ve learned anything from the past, there’s no such thing.”
    Abby laughed.
    â€œI wasn’t making a joke,” I said. “So he’s not here.”
    â€œThere’s no reason for him to be, is there?”
    I thought about it. “No, I guess not. It’s just, we kind of had an argument the last time I saw him. Can you let him know I’m okay—that everything’s going to be okay now?”
    â€œOf course, Alfred.”
    â€œWho is Sofia?”
    She looked at me for a second without saying anything, reminding me of Nueve’s stone-faced stare at the dairy farm.
    â€œSofia?”
    â€œHe said she was a ghost from his past.”
    She slowly shook her head. “I’m sorry, Alfred, I don’t know any person named Sofia.”
    â€œNueve said she was the goddess of wisdom.”
    Abby gave a weird little laugh. “Did he?”
    â€œWhat’s the Thirteenth Skull?”
    â€œThe . . . what?”
    â€œThirteenth Skull. Jourdain is looking for it.”
    â€œIs he? How . . . extraordinary.”
    â€œSo you know about it?”
    She nodded.
    â€œYou’re about to tell me it’s classified, aren’t you? You’ve got that ‘it’s classified’ look.”
    â€œI was about to tell you Jourdain is chasing a chimera if he is searching for it. The Thirteenth Skull is a myth.”
    â€œWhat’s the myth?”
    She shook her head. “What does any of it matter now, Alfred? In a few days, none of this”—she waved to indicate the world according to OIPEP—“will be your concern. You’re free now.”
    She turned on her cherry-red heels and hurried from the room. I took a quick shower to wash off the mud and cow poo, found a toothbrush by the sink, and scrubbed my teeth, then yanked on a regulation black OIPEP jumper I found hanging in the closet. Using the mirror in the bathroom, I combed my hair with my fingers, thinking I probably wouldn’t be combing my hair if Ashley wasn’t my extraction coordinator. She had quit OIPEP after encountering sixteen million demonic fiends in the Sahara, which totally freaked her out, and I never thought I would see her again. Just my luck when I did I was wearing a dress. But I’d also lost a lot of weight and grown another inch and my hair had those funky, cool gray streaks in it and I