Pearl

Chapter Seventeen: Homewrecker

>Content warning: contains torture and gore<

Shaun was a well-built, middle-aged woman who met Lyly at the bus station in Lincoln, Nebraska. According to Theodore's instructions, Lyly was to look for a black woman wearing purple, and Shaun wore a fitted purple dress suit, lavender pumps, and a broad smile.

Lyly endured while she was crushed against a soft body and tightly embraced. The physical warmth of the woman who greeted her with such intentional affection gave new meaning to "warm welcome," a phrase that Lyly had heard flung around but never quite understood until now.

"Why, aren't you as cute as a peach?" Shaun asked, drawing back from the hug and holding the much smaller Lyly by the shoulders. "Forgive me—Theodore has told me so much about you, I feel like I know you myself!"

Once Lyly claimed her duffle, Shaun grabbed her by the hand and led her to the edge of the street, where she hailed a car and settled them both in. She offered clear, polite instructions to the taxi driver, and then settled back into the cloth seats that smelled lightly of antiseptic.

She studied Lyly from the close quarters with a small smile, then chuckled to herself.

"Oh, I just can't wait to hear what the ol' gossips in town have to say about you! I bet...homewrecker! I bet you get called homewrecker at least twice by them ol' biddies before I even get to my home," she said with a snicker.

Lyly felt a flash of panic as she moved to deny the accusation. 

That house had been in one piece when she had left! She hadn't broken a thing. She had tried so, so hard not to break it, since it was supposed to be her new nest, after all.

But before she could defend herself, the car pulled up to the curb in front of a worn but well cared for building. It was large, larger than the farmhouse by at least two or three measures. The outside was cased in light blue siding with chipped paint and had white trim edging the front door and windows. The windows dotted the outside at even intervals, and riotous flower boxes lined the first-story windowsills and the front walkway.

Lyly got out of the car and looked up, noting the roof that peaked on either side of the center three stories above. She surveyed the area, letting her hair "float" in the breeze as she assessed.

Good air quality, compared to the bus station. But the constant buzz of humanity pressing into her sensitive feeders caused her to tightly press her hair to her scalp to ease some of the vibrations. It felt like a jolt of electricity was flowing from the tips of her feeders right to her teeth, overloading her processing ability and causing an ache along her jawline. The population density was something she'd need time to adjust to.

And in the meantime, that meant she was vulnerable.

Shaun had grabbed the duffle from the trunk and handed the driver of the car some cash before turning to beam in Lyly's direction.

"This house belongs to a dear friend of mine, and she rents out rooms to quiet people like yourself. We called ahead and verified that she's willing to take you—"

"Is that Shaun?" a small, white woman emerged from the house, cutting off Shaun's explanation. She was older than Shaun by twenty years at least, and although she leaned on the cane in her left hand she nonetheless tackled the front stairs and made her way over to Shaun with vigor.

"Shaun, you scamp! You've been in town for how long, and you're just now coming to see me?" she scolded, waving the cane menacingly. Lyly tensed at the motion, surprised, but Shaun easily ducked as she laughed.