Teaser IV(ii), her aerodynamic face – for Rohan Quine’s “The Host in the Attic”

Outside Royal Victoria station, Alaia is aware of every approaching car. One or two stop outside the station, but are not black. A black car then approaches, indicates it will be stopping and draws to a stately halt in front of her. Its windows are tinted (of course they are!), she prepares herself for the grand moment, the car door eases open—and an enormous ginger-haired woman gets out.

Alaia sits back down. Within a minute, however, another black car approaches. She braces herself again. The car slows down, slows—and drives straight past. Peering after it, she is startled when a third black car pulls up beside her without warning and coasts to a stop, with its tinted rear window directly beneath her, reflecting her watchful face on its opaque sheen.

She takes a step back.

After a long, full second, the window winds slowly down…

And up looks Jaymi at her, clear as a bell.

He takes her in, fascinated. Her long straightened hair is pulled back from a smooth black face that he thinks of straightaway as “aerodynamic”, and is held in a small band at the back, from which it falls to her shoulders; and her expression is sleek and sharp, with something in the poise of the eyes that promises not to suffer jerks gladly.

For more about "The Host in the Attic" by Rohan Quine, see

https://www.rohanquine.com/the-host-in-the-attic/

For some great reviews of it, see

https://www.rohanquine.com/press-media/the-novellas-reviews-media/

To watch the complete chapter from which this little teaser was excerpted, or to find any of the nine chapters that constitute the novella’s video-book format, see

https://www.rohanquine.com/t-h-i-t-a-video-book/the-host-in-the-attic-chapter-iv-video-book/

For links to all of these short teasers, see

https://www.rohanquine.com/t-h-i-t-a-video-book/short-teasers-for-the-host-in-the-attic-video-book/

And to pick it up from whichever retailer you may prefer, the retailers’ links for the audiobook are at

https://www.rohanquine.com/buy/the-host-in-the-attic-novella-audiobook/

and for the paperback are at

https://www.rohanquine.com/buy/the-platinum-raven-and-other-novellas-paperback/

and for the ebook at

https://www.rohanquine.com/buy/the-host-in-the-attic-novella-ebook/