Page 42 of Riv's Sanctuary

Lauren the Not so Lucky.

It’d sell heaps.

Staring upward at nothing in particular, she wrung her hands as she lay flat on her back.

It was morning and she’d spent much of the night before thinking about the fact she’d made a fool of herself in front of Riv.

She’d been leaning against the door for much longer than she’d care to admit when he’d opened it and she’d lost her balance and fallen directly against him…

Ugh.

She’d said sorry, explaining that she was just clumsy, falling over her own two feet but he’d only looked at her strangely and walked away.

Nothing said.

Huffing out a breath, she folded her lips and pulled out one of the meal bars from her pocket.

The thing was as hard as a rock and she was pretty sure it was made for an animal that constantly grew teeth that needed to be filed down—like a guinea pig or something.

Maybe that’s what the zookeeper had seen her as.

A little rodent that needed meal bars.

God, she didn’t miss that place. Just thinking about the terrarium made the hairs on her skin bristle.

It hadn’t been a living space. It had been a cell.

One that she’d convinced herself was home. One she’d told herself wasn’t so bad because things could have been far worse.

Judging from how some of the visitors had looked at her, some even miming in front of her just what they’d like to do with her, she’d reckoned that living on the outside of that transparent barrier had to be worse than being enclosed behind it.

And now she was out.

It was so strange waking up in a different place.

Back at the zoo, as soon as she’d wake up her eyes would move to the transparent barrier that sealed her in. Ninety percent of the time, there’d be someone there looking back at her.

Today when she’d awakened, her gaze had moved automatically, expecting to see the view outside the terrarium. Except, all she saw was a wall.

For a few seconds, her brain didn’t compute what she was seeing. It took a few moments for the events of the day before to return to her and with that came the memory of her falling out of the room and unto her host.

Grinding the meal bar against her teeth till her saliva softened it enough to bite off a small piece, Lauren moved toward the window and looked outside.

The sky was a reddish pink that took her breath away. It was a beauty to look at.

Back at the zoo, she hadn’t been able to see the sky.

All she’d had were the artificial ultraviolet lights, which she’d found out were ultraviolet because the zookeeper had so kindly pointed that out to her on several occasions, as if he’d been doing her a massive favor.

The cow-hippos were moving about lazily and, far in the field, she could see the robots working tirelessly.

Chewing the meal bar, she swallowed hard. It was so dry it was always difficult to get down and she didn’t have any water to help her.

Turning to look at the door, she gnawed on the bar some more.

She hadn’t heard Riv move about but she was sure he wasn’t still asleep.

Something told her he wasn’t the type that slept in.