In this excerpt, Brinn prepares for his next day’s classes and practices his fingersmithing skills, while his companion, Hahlibeth, discovers their young charge, Dresden, is missing. After confirming with idBot—the normally dependable system responsible for tracking all individuals inside the house—they quickly realize that Dresden is indeed nowhere inside their home. Concerned and uncertain about Dresden’s whereabouts, Brinn offers reassurance, hinting that he might already have an idea where the child has gone. This opening sets the stage, providing insight into the everyday lives within a unique family, and the quiet tension beneath their everyday routines.
She's Missing
While Hahlibeth worked on her lesson plan and Dresden napped, Brinn went over notes for the classes he'd be teaching the next day. His three morning sessions were all short, designed for younger students. In the afternoon, he had a two-hour workshop, with an overview of Fingersmithing for Beginners, a sub-specialty for Simple Pickpocket students studying for Level Ten. Those ages ranged from ten to adult. At least, for human students.
HalfKin students usually finished all seven levels within the Simple range by the time they were eight. His foster-brother, Senth, had entered at age five and breezed all the way through by age six. With Dresden's nimble brain, who knew what she could do?
To warm up his hands for the pickpocketing demos, he pulled out a coin and flipped it over the back of his fingers, switched hands, and then sent it back.
"Brinn!" Breathless, Hahlibeth ran into the room.
He leaped to his feet, fumbling the coin. "What's wrong?"
"Dresden. I can't find her anywhere. I put her down for a nap and the last time I checked on her, she was asleep. I just looked in and she's gone. I searched upstairs. She's nowhere."
He tapped his bracelet. "IdBot, location of Dresden Fasra."
"Checking," the soothing female voice responded. "Dresden Fasra is not inside the house."
"Then where is she?"
"IdBot does not have sufficient data to respond to the query."
"Which door did she leave by?"
"IdBot does not have sufficient data to respond to the query."
"Okay, now I'm worried." Hahlibeth crossed to one of the windows overlooking the front yard. "If idBot can't find her, you know she's lost. What's that saying?"
"You mean that idBot sees everything? Apparently, not quite." Brinn picked up the coin and flipped it into the air. "But I think I know where she is."
Book Hooks is a weekly cooperative blog hop hosted by members of Marketing for Romance Writers as part of the MFRW Authors Blog.
Well… no tech is infallible. As we are increasingly seeing!
I love the notion that the Kin are precocious when it comes to thievery…
Don’t you know it!
Now I want to know where she is I am excited about where this story is going. Again you put a healthy dose of tension in the story.
Shalom shalom
Find out next week. 🙂
Why can’t IdBot find her? Flaw in the system or some other issue?
Tech can be overridden and this little one has unbelievable skills when it comes to hacking. 🙂
If this kid has hacked into the system, she is one brilliant child! I love the way you infuse the scene with tension. Hahlibeth reacts like any mother would!
Oh she’s smart all right. 🙂 Scary smart!
Oh no, I hope they find her!
Tune in next week 🙂