Red Skies (The Tales of the Scavenger's Daughters) Read Free Page B

an octave as he looked quickly over his shoulder and saw his boss man getting closer.
    Mari felt a rush of sympathy for the man at having such an angry-looking laoban . At least she didn’t have anyone but her husband to answer to, and he was in too much pain to care much about anything other than getting the medicine he needed to keep him out of his head.
    She wavered. Her first impression was wrong—looking into his eyes, she saw intelligence, but also something more. Something deeper and intense. Something interesting.
    He smiled, showing that he took her hesitation as agreement. “Great! You’ll do it. Here, let me lead your camel. Where’re we going?” The man reached over to take the rope from Mari.
    “Wait. I didn’t say yes.” She jerked her hand back, keeping Chu Chu attached to her. The poor foreigner didn’t realize her camel would never move for him. He didn’t just hate women—he was also racist and hated anyone not Chinese. Just getting photos with them perched on his back was hard enough, but for a foreigner to lead him was out of the question. Chu Chu would spit right in the man’s face, if he got close enough.
    The fat man arrived and bent over, putting his hands on his knees while he breathed deeply. Mari studied him. He was at least a head shorter than the light-haired man. She’d seen big foreigners many times, but this guy had no business trekking around in his condition. She wondered about his lungs and hoped they would hold out. She was wet and tired and didn’t need to be a part of a dramatic medical situation.
    The fat man looked back and forth between them. “Are we ready? I have a meeting at the hotel in two hours,” he said, then slowly stood and examined Mari from head to toe.
    Mari felt naked under his gaze, and it sent a shiver of revulsion through her. She knew her clothes were beginning to stick to her body, and the flimsy gauze of her costume left little to the imagination. She mentally berated herself again for forgetting her raincoat.
    The nicer—and slimmer—one immediately came out of his jacket and took the ladder from her, then draped the coat around Mari’s shoulders. It was huge, swallowing her up and giving her instant relief from the chilly rain. He nodded approvingly. “Here, you can use my jacket until we leave.”
    She met his eyes, and a look of understanding passed through them. His expression told her he knew his boss was a creep, but he needed her help anyway.
    “Can we do this?” he asked. “It won’t take long.”
    He waited for her to answer, and Mari could sense his silent plea. She sighed. She never could say no.
    “Fine. But I’ll lead my own camel.” She turned and took a few steps. But to her continued embarrassment, Chu Chu still refused to move. She cursed him under her breath, then begged him to behave. He still stared blankly ahead, not responding.
    “Let me try,” The tall one said, taking the rope. He swung his backpack around his shoulder and then used both hands to grip the lead.
    Mari’s hands were chapped and sore, so she just let him have it. He was stubborn, obviously, so she supposed he’d have to see for himself that Chu Chu didn’t like foreigners. But to her amazement, the man began trudging up the hill and her stupid camel calmly followed as if he’d known him forever. The fat boss trailed behind them both as Mari stood watching, her hands on her hips.
    The man leading Chu Chu turned around for a moment, smiling at her. “You coming? I don’t know where you want us. Can you lead the way?”
    Mari threw her hands in the air, wondering what she was getting into. Then she let them flop to her sides and jogged to catch up to them. Could this day get any worse? At least with one more customer she’d be able to bring home a profit. Bolin would be pleased—if she could get him awake.
    Mari quickly scrubbed the potatoes and sliced the peppers, then added them to the sizzling oil in the wok. After a quick glance across the