Appointed Read Online Free PDF

and he would stay out of the basement and not say a word about its pig sty state. He only went down there for those two things anyway. Anj had learned a long time ago to not try to socialize with his brother whenever Zes played his video games. Instead, they spent time talking out on the patio where it was quiet.
    The movie was still playing, but Anj had a sneaking suspicion it was the end credits because he could only hear music. There weren’t any other ambient noises, only bass thumping through the subwoofers accompanied by some kind of rap song. Whatever it was, it was giving Anj a headache, another reason he didn’t like to go downstairs into Zes’s lair. His brother liked everything loud.
    He turned left three steps after the last stair, kept going straight until he felt the cool metal of the washing machine with his hand, and then turned left again. Zes’s door was closed. Anj knocked.
    â€œGive me a minute,” Zes called back. There was some shuffling going on in the room, no doubt cleaning so Anj could enter without having to worry about tripping over something.
    Waiting about a minute, Anj slowly opened the door. “Is it safe now?”
    â€œShould be,” Zes said from his bed. “What’s up? Shouldn’t you be all cutesy and cuddly with Jewl right now? Don’t even pretend you aren’t together again, because Chey and I saw you two making out in the kitchen.”
    â€œWe weren’t making out. We kissed. There’s a difference, and I’m not denying anything. I came downstairs because Mom called and she’s coming home tonight.”
    â€œOh.” The disappointment in his brother’s voice was obvious, because his tone became low and his volume quiet. Anj almost didn’t hear it over the music of the movie.
    â€œThat’s how I felt as well. At least we had one day, right?”
    â€œYeah… I’ll be upstairs soon. I just woke up from a… nap, so I need to take a shower.”
    â€œKind of sweaty and gross in here,” Anj said. He’d noticed the smell right away. Zes’s room always had a kind of peculiar smell to it since he let his dirty clothes linger all over the room for a while. Sometimes there was old food in there too. But something was different this time. More sweat? More something was in the air.
    Anj shook his head. “When was the last time you washed your bed sheets?”
    â€œUm… a while.” There was shifting in the bed, a lot of movement actually.
    â€œSpeaking of being couplish, where is Chey anyway? Why aren’t you with her?” Anj asked with a frown.
    â€œShe fell asleep on the couch. I came in to read then fell asleep too,” Zes said.
    Doesn’t quite make sense to me. Anj stood in the doorway, and he wondered if maybe it was time to go. He turned around so he could head back the way he’d come.
    â€œYou don’t need to rush. The house isn’t messy anyway. I just wanted you to know so you could mentally prepare yourself for Mom being, well, Mom,” he said on his way out.
    â€œThanks, I’ll be up soon anyway to start on dinner,” Zes said.
    Anj went back up the stairs. The instant his foot stepped onto the linoleum of the kitchen floor, he could see colors. What he saw wasn’t his kitchen floor, however, but the thrones of the Elders. He wasn’t using any magic either. He was having a vision.
    Not now. I’m not even sleeping. But the Elders appeared before him anyway, as real as if they were physically standing in front of him. Never before had he had a vision while awake, so he wasn’t quite sure what to do. If he moved, would his physical body react too?
    â€œWhat’s going on?” Anj asked, hoping the Elders would answer. All three stared straight ahead. Footsteps could be heard from behind him, and someone passed through his body — his dead father. Startled, Anj stumbled backward and was grateful to find a