Hiding Places
an excerpt

“I need to get something out of my ship.”

Rue frowned at the datapad he was studying. “There is extra clothing for you in your closet if you have dirtied everything you had with you.”

“S’not that. I need to get my homework.”

Rue blinked rapidly at the datapad, suddenly discovering he’d lost his spot.

“Homework?”

“Yeah. You do know what homework is, right? You know, like, school and all?”

“I was not aware you were still receiving a formal education.”

“I’m sixteen. Why wouldn’t I be in school?”

“I was under the impression that you were also working two jobs. That is generally not
the living pattern of someone who is receiving a full time education.”

Chase was once again a bit disturbed by the fact that his uncle seemed to know all the minor details of his life when he’d only ever met the man once before. He pushed down his growing discomfort, but didn’t quite care enough to bothering hiding the growing ire in his voice.

“It’s called home school. Like normal school, at home, complete with homework. If I’m stuck here at least I can get that done.”

Rue smiled a bit. “You must be truly bored if you are requesting access to work. I was under the impression most human boys your age go to great length to avoid such things.”

Chase threw up his hands. “You know what? Forget it.” He slapped his hands against his sides, ready to make a huffy exit.

Rue shook his head, standing. “No. There is no reason for your being here to interrupt your education.”

Chase contemplated the best way to make a jab about his being here interrupting every other aspect of his life, so why not that one, but his uncle continued.

“I will accompany you to the hangar, but you will not be retrieving this homework yourself.”

“What? Hey, I’m not letting someone else paw through my ship.”

“Technically, it is not your ship. You are very lucky no one has brought charges against you for stealing from the Nomad people.”

“Hey! It was slated for scrap, anyway!”

“It was and is the property of the Nomad military, regardless of what you did to make it flight worthy. As I said, you are very lucky my commanding officer understood the circumstances under which the ship was stolen—”

“Stolen!”

“Yes, stolen.”

Rue opened the door and stood there, clearly, waiting for Chase to go first. He set his feet stubbornly.

“Forget it. I don’t want anyone poking around in my ship.”

“Chase. Please do not test my patience.”

Chase turned his back and sat on the couch, deliberately sprawling as much as possible.

He heard Rue sigh and step away from the door, letting it shut. The room fell into a tense, uncomfortable silence.

“Very well,” Rue finally said, “If you do not wish to leave, you will not mind remaining in these rooms for the next week.”

Chase jerked forward as though he’d been jabbed with a cattle prod. “What?”

Rue was picking his datapad up, sitting back down in his chair. “Everything you need to function is contained within these rooms. Of course, there is very little for you to occupy your attention with, which may pose a bit of a problem if you are already so bored you wish to do homework, but you have made it abundantly clear that such things are not my concern.”

“Fine,” Chase growled, pushing himself stiffly to his feet. Rue made a show of being completely absorbed in his reading. “Alright,” Chase said, more a whine now than a growl. “You’ve made your point, okay? Alright.”

Rue raised his eyes without moving his head.

“What?” Chase complained. “If you’re waiting for me to say sorry, you can forget it. You’re the one who’s being a—”

“Do not finish that sentence.”

Chase shut his mouth, glaring. They watched each other in stony silence.

Rue set the datapad back down, movements carefully controlled. “And once you have what you want?”

Chase waited in confusion for his uncle to continue. Rue folded his hands together and propped his chin on them, watching Chase quietly. His expression turned disappointed at Chase’s continued silence. Chase bristled. He didn’t need to take this kind of crap from this man. Rue extended a hand when Chase began to turn away. Chase jerked his arm back when Rue would have touched him, but he didn’t move otherwise. Rue withdrew his hand, using it to rub at his forehead.

“Once you have what you want, what is to stop this kind of behavior from coming up again?”

“You’re not my father or my guardian. Don’t bother acting like you are.”

Rue had stopped moving and was just sitting there, watching Chase again, his expression unreadable.