Angel Arias Read Online Free PDF Page A

music was softer. Ruzalia allowed them to listen to music but set curfews on how late they played it.
    The sun had only just set and the sounds from the radio caught Naif’s attention. She’d never heard music like it.
    ‘What is that?’
    ‘Radio Rangol,’ said Riss. ‘We found it accidentally. The music is cool, huh? All plinking sounds, but pretty as well.’
    Riss was right; somehow it was discordant and melodious at once.
    Naif glanced at Markes and saw the rapt expression on his face. Without seeming to realise it, he was drawn to the radio. She and Charlonge kept close to him, skirting the clusters of people.
    In the far corner of the ballroom, Naif noticed rows of desks set up with games featuring little wooden pirates and dolmen. Only one table was occupied.
    Naif felt drawn to the games in the way Markes was to the music, as if the puzzles might hold some explanations for her; some wisdom. On Grave she’d played simple memory games but nothing with such beautifully carved figurines and smooth lacquered boards.
    ‘Who is it?’ asked Markes.
    The circle around the phonogram opened to let Markes enter. Too late, Naif saw that Rajka and his friends were part of it.
    ‘What do you want?’ said Rajka, his face flushed.
    Markes stopped, but held his ground. Naif applauded him silently.
    ‘The music is beautiful,’ he said simply.
    ‘What would you know?’
    Rajka’s friends sniggered.
    ‘You are the one who knows nothing,’ said Charlonge angrily.
    ‘Don’t waste your time on them, Char,’ said Riss, who’d strolled up behind them. Shotz and some of the other boys were with her. She pushed Charlonge aside and slid an arm around Markes’s waist, then spoke directly to Rajka. ‘He’s one of ours, idiot. They all are. So back off from now on.’
    Rajka’s eyes sparked at the challenge and his friends all looked at him for a signal.
    ‘ Not yours, Riss,’ he said. ‘He’s with Ruzalia. The three of them are spying on us. It’s obvious.’
    ‘That’s just stupid,’ said Charlonge.
    ‘You’ve taken too many pods, Rajka. I’ve seen that kind of paranoia on Ixion. You’ve lost it.’ Riss’s taunt was clear and loud.
    Tension ran through the circle and beyond into the ballroom, the same way it had in the dining hall earlier.
    Naif saw hands move to pockets and inside shirts, where home-made knives were hidden. Now, though, there was no Ruzalia or Long-Li, or the threat of Plank’s enormous size.
    Desperate to stop the situation escalating, she touched Markes’s elbow and spoke in a voice that cut across the waiting quiet. ‘I want to play one of the dolmen games.’
    Markes kept staring at Rajka but nodded. ‘Sure. The music doesn’t sound so good over here anymore.’
    Naif gave Charlonge a steady look and they began to back away, pulling Markes from Riss’s grasp.
    The muscles in his arm were rigid, his legs stiff as he walked, but he let them shepherd him to the other side of the room.
    ‘Yours is coming, Riss,’ called out Rajka. ‘And you can’t be with them all the time.’
    Markes faltered but Naif urged him on. ‘He’s baiting her. And us. Don’t let him.’
    But as the three of them walked past the clusters of young people, she caught snatches of their conversations.
    ‘They’re spies!’
    ‘Rajka’s sayin’ . . .’
    ‘. . . got beads . . .’
    ‘Riss and Rajka . . . tonight.’
    ‘. . . gonna stay in my room . . .’
    ‘You think they’ll fight at the . . .’
    They stopped at the tabletop with the game and stared at the figurines.
    ‘It’s not over, is it?’ said Charlonge.
    ‘I saw their knives.’ Markes began to tremble now he was away from Rajka.
    Naif opened her mouth to try to reassure them but Long-Li appeared silently at her side.
    ‘Come,’ he said. ‘Ruzalia wants you.’
    The huge pirate Plank was standing behind him and reached out to slide his thick fingers around her upper arm.
    ‘But I want to stay with my friends,’