Avenger Read Online Free PDF Page B

chest, words the younger Luke would have savored, even as a mock. The laugh in her voice made him turn toward her. “I don’t, usually, but there are exceptions to the rule.”
    Confused, she asked, “You don’t what?”
    “I don’t watch this kind of movies but I have a job to do and it takes me to odd places at times.”
    “Hmm.” She walked silently by his side until he sat. “The theater is half empty. Why crowd yourself by sitting behind someone?”
    “Shh,” he said. Others in the theater would think him odd talking to himself.
    A couple were locked in a face sucking contest on the last row, a fat middle aged man sat alone in the middle of the theater, and a group of giggly teenage girls huddled on their seats, waiting with anticipation for the movie to begin. The main reason behind his silence, however, was the woman sitting in front of him. If she noticed him, she might leave along with her unwanted hitchhiker.
    “Don’t shush me. Besides, it’s okay to like these movies. They’re not my type of course, but hey, everyone has a quirk.”
    He glanced at her, eyebrow raised. A quirk? He’d noticed this woman’s unusual orange aura as he stepped out of the gym. Celestine had run him through the Laymour’s aura color system and there was no mention of an orange one.
    “Don’t look so stunned, even I used to have a quirk,” Pru said, pulling him out of his thoughts.
    He looked at her quizzically, daring her to explain.
    “You must remember how I couldn’t pass a pocket without dipping in it.” She raised her chin proudly.
    Luke snorted, he did remember.
    “Don’t laugh, it’s not a small thing. It started as a party trick to impress others but then it became a distorted habit I couldn’t break from. I’m no thief, I always returned what I lifted. I had to go cold turkey by immersing myself in busy places like malls and such. More pockets, less opportunities to return what I took, and more risk. It was an addiction that made me waste so many days daydreaming up where I would go next. Eventually I had to stop, worry was eating up Mom and…” Her voice choked up and she turned aside.
    She was missing her old life. It somehow hurt Luke to know she suffered this way. A girl like her shouldn’t be throwing herself at anyone just to get noticed. He shook his head, it didn’t matter. She was not alive, and that did matter.
    She cleared her throat and turned back to him. “I guess you’re here to exorcise someone. Who?”
    Deciding to humor her, he pointed at the woman before him.
    Gaze on the woman’s head, Pru asked, “Why?”
    “Orange aura,” he whispered.
    “Orange isn’t good?”
    He nodded.
    “I thought orange aura meant protection, which would make her a good person. Look at her, she’s not dangling from the ceiling or spewing colored puke.”
    “Doesn’t work like that,” he said.
    The woman turned back, glared at him, and faced the screen again.
    Luke rolled his eyes. For fuck’s sake, previews were playing. The movie hadn’t even started yet.
    Since Pru wouldn’t leave, the best option was to get her to do the talking. He leaned toward her and whispered, “Tell me about you.”
    “What do you want to know?”
    He sighed. “Everything.”
    Another glare from the front seat.
    Pru pursed her lips as though considering his request. “Okay. As I mentioned earlier, I’m not dead. I was driving with some friends to a concert when I had an accident. Then, boom! I’m like this.” She went silent for a while. “Being like this sucks big time.”
    Even though he’d tried to focus on the woman before him, the sadness in Pru’s voice pulled his attention back to her. “What did you do for a job?”
    This time the woman didn’t turn. Either she gave up on him or was totally into the movie that had just started.
    “I work at an animal shelter where I get to be around my favorite creatures.”
    He nodded remembering how animals surrounded her in the park. He slowly drew out the