Van Terra

Chapter Thirteen ~ How To Shoplift At Mota Mart And Not Get Caught

"Day two! Give it up for day two!"

It wasn't Jasper screaming from the kitchen that woke Grace, nor was it the pots banging together. Despite crashing hard her first night in the apartment, she'd struggled to sleep through her second and found herself lying awake long before the others were up.

By the time she'd dressed in simple white pants and a blue top and entered the kitchen, the others were waiting. Thea had two smartspheres and a tablet in front of her, and alternated between typing on the tablet, reading text on the first smartsphere, and watching a video on the second. Holly had headphones on, blasting technopunk music loud enough for everyone else to hear. Jax's attention was focused on digging through a bag of clothes.

"—and that's probably the worst theater on Kronos," Jasper said. "This other time I snuck into a horror movie after a bank robbery—"

Grace slid onto the stool next to Thea. "What's she talking about?"

Thea shrugged. Jax glanced up from the bag. "Sorry, I was listening for a minute, but I got distracted trying to find a shirt."

Holly slid off her headphones. "Probably drank too much Nova Cora. She's running purely on sugar and caffeine and whatever other garbage she's put in her body."

Jasper paused and leaned toward them. Grace froze, wondering if she'd be upset at Holly's comment.

"Coffee, Angel?" Jasper asked.

"I'll just have water, thanks," Grace told her. "Were you saying something?"

"Was I? I think I was just going through the plan for today." Jasper chugged the rest of her drink and slammed the mug down on the counter. "I want everyone in the car in ten minutes!"

Chaos followed, a mix of cleaning and throwing on shoes and tossing things into bags. Grace somehow wound up with a piece of toast in her hand. Jax put makeup on her face before darting off to the back of the apartment. Someone's smartsphere blasted a news station that was repeating Governor Starr's address from the day before. Thea juggled even more tablets. Jasper gave Grace a push toward the door, and then they were all leaving.

Today's drive to Starchatter was less terrifying, though at this point Grace was starting to think she was becoming desensitized to near death experiences.

"I'll try to scan Attom's messages and put together a list of everyone who's invited to the party," Thea said as they walked into the office.

"Great," Jasper told her. "Holly, Jax, keep an eye out for anyone suspicious."

"Besides us, you mean?" Holly asked.

"Duh. Angel, stay with me. We're going to—"

"Galax!" Attom shouted from the other side of the office. "Come here. I want to talk to you."

"Ha, someone's in trouble," Jasper sang.

Holly rolled her eyes. "Jasper, you're Galax."

"I know that!" Jasper left to meet Attom at the edge of the room.

Holly sighed. "Either she's in trouble, which means the whole job is in trouble, or Attom has taken a legitimate interest in her work."

"That would be good, right?" Grace asked. "He might give her an invitation to the party."

"Anyone who likes Jasper has something seriously wrong with them," Holly muttered. She headed for a section of cubicles. Jax and Thea dispersed as well, leaving Grace to stand awkwardly by herself. In a panic, she ran to catch up to Jasper.

Before she could get Jasper's attention, Jasper followed Attom into his office. The door clicked shut. Grace paused outside. Should she go in? She settled for waiting. Hoping to appear casual, she leaned toward the door. Maybe she could catch what was going on.