Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 124077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 620(@200wpm)___ 496(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 620(@200wpm)___ 496(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
“I can’t wait to see it.”
And as he led her away through the glowing forest, she realized that was absolutely true.
22
TERRA
Taurex’s domicile was even more alien than the Market.
Terra had expected that after everything she had already seen on the Monstrum Mother Ship—the glowing flowers, the enormous wole creatures that served as public transportation, the market stalls grown directly out of living trees and the produce that literally sang when it was ripe—she would be prepared for just about anything. But when Taurex led her down a softly curving path bordered on both sides by feathery blue ferns and stopped in front of what was apparently his home, she could only stare.
The domicile seemed to have grown directly out of the surrounding forest. There were no straight walls or sharp corners anywhere that she could see. Instead, enormous pale-barked trees had twisted together to form the sides and roof of the structure, their trunks curving gracefully upward before joining in a dense canopy of overlapping branches covered in dark green leaves.
Wide windows had somehow been grown between the trunks—smooth oval openings covered in a transparent substance that looked like glass but shimmered faintly with a pearly iridescence when the light struck it. Long vines trailed over the roof and down the sides of the house, heavy with clusters of glowing lavender flowers, and the front door appeared to be made of some kind of thick living bark polished until it had a satiny sheen.
Terra stood at the end of the path with her mouth slightly open.
“You live in a tree house,” she said at last.
Taurex frowned.
“This is not a tree house. It is not a house in a tree.”
“It is literally a house made out of trees,” Terra pointed out. “Same thing.”
Taurex shook his head.
“It is a domicile grown from several different species of structural flora,” he corrected her.
Terra raised an eyebrow.
“So…a tree house.”
The corners of his mouth twitched.
“If you wish to call it that.”
“I do.”
Taurex sighed with exaggerated resignation and touched his palm to the bark of the door.
Immediately, a pattern of tiny golden lights spread beneath his hand like glowing veins. There was a low rustling sound, and the thick bark door curled inward upon itself, opening like an enormous leaf.
Terra stared in surprise.
“Okay, that is seriously cool.”
“It recognizes my biological signature,” Taurex explained as he gestured for her to enter. “Once you have been added to the domicile’s memory, it will open for you as well.”
Terra stepped over the threshold and the first thing she noticed was the smell.
It wasn’t the closed-up scent of an apartment or house on Earth. There was no trace of paint or carpet cleaner or artificial air freshener. Instead, the interior smelled like a forest after rain—fresh leaves and damp earth mixed with something lightly floral and sweet. The air itself seemed cleaner somehow, cool and soft against her skin, and she could hear faint rustling sounds all around her as the living walls shifted almost imperceptibly.
The second thing she noticed was how beautiful it was.
The main room was huge, with a vaulted ceiling formed by interwoven branches overhead. Glowing flowers grew in clusters along the walls, providing pools of golden and pale blue illumination, and the floor beneath her feet appeared to be made of tightly braided roots covered in a layer of soft green moss. The moss compressed beneath her shoes but sprang back the moment she moved, leaving no footprints behind.
There was also furniture, of course, though Terra had to look twice before she realized what she was seeing.
An enormous couch occupied one side of the front room, but instead of leather or fabric, it was made of densely packed vegetation. Thick branches had grown up from the floor to form a broad curved base, and the cushions seemed to be composed of layers upon layers of velvety green leaves and soft moss. Several armchairs had been grown in the same fashion, each one shaped from living vines intertwined so tightly that they looked almost woven.
Terra eyed the couch suspiciously.
“Am I actually supposed to sit on that?”
Taurex followed her gaze.
“On the couch? of course.”
“It looks like a hedge,” Terra said. “Like something someone grew around the perimeter of their property.”
He smiled.
“It is not a hedge—I assure you.”
“It looks like one.”
He made an amused rumbling sound deep in his chest.
“It’s actually quite comfortable. Sit on it and see for yourself.”
Terra approached cautiously. She could see branches beneath the thick mat of vegetation and the last thing she wanted was to sit down only to have some twig jab her in the ass—or someplace worse.
“If I fall through this thing, I’m blaming you,” she warned the big Monstrum.
“You will not fall through,” Taurex assured her.
She raised her eyebrows.
“And if I get stabbed by a branch?”
“You will not be stabbed by a branch, either. I promise you that.”