Avoid Read Online Free PDF Page B

looked at him with one brow arched, “Are you finished?”
    He shook his head and got up with a wheeze. “That is the most perverse assignment I have ever heard of.”
    She grinned. “I think I am about to specialize in perverse.”
    He was about to respond when a chime emanated from a panel in the wall.
    Idara grimaced. “I am guessing that it is time to pay the piper, so to speak.”
    Harken stiffened. “I hope not.”
    Before he said anything else, he quickly checked on the tall spire off to one edge of the city. Grimly, he returned and wrapped his arm around her. “There is another level on the tower. Know that wherever you go, I will go.”
    She cocked her head. “How cheery. Come on. Better to get this over with, I have already been strangled once this week, I hope they mix it up.”
    He was looking down at her with amused surprise as he transported them to the council hall.
    “You have a peculiar way of looking at things.”
    “Now that my eyes aren’t focused on the floor, I am seeing things I never knew were there.” She grinned, patted him on the ass and sauntered into the council chambers where the seven were waiting.
    Only six of the seven were seated around the central icon on the floor.
    Ravikka was smiling grimly. “Idara, please come forward.”
    Idara stepped forward, but Harken was at her back. She could feel his warmth through her suit.
    “You have broken one of the cardinal rules of the Nameless. You have stopped a young child from losing her life in a stupid accident.”
    Idara played it dumb. “Did I?”
    Ravikka flicked her fingers, and the image of the child standing and wailing over her destroyed toy filled the screen. “She was supposed to die.”
    “I was sent there to follow the direction of the Orb. It wanted the disaster stopped, so I stabbed the ball. Where did I affect time and space?”
    Ravikka narrowed her eyes. “You know what you did.”
    “More or less.”
    She nodded and waved her hand. “You are hereby confined to the tower until such a time as the council rules on your actions.”
    Energy surrounded Idara and Harken was right behind, grabbing and holding onto her as she transported from the council chamber and into a huge room.
    Harken staggered slightly and released her. “Well, that is new.”
    She looked up at him. “You knew that would happen?”
    He blinked innocently. “I had a suspicion. Come on and let’s explore.”
    The entire width of the tower was at her disposal. There was a small communications node, a delivery panel that was a faint outline on the wall.
    “Okay, what is this place?”
    “This is the tower. By putting you here, the Council of Seven can pretend that you don’t exist, and therefore, you do not fall within their rules.”
    She leaned against the kitchen counter while he selected food from the digital screen. “You mean to say…”
    “That something is going on and you were sent here for a reason. There is something going on behind the council doors, and none of the Nameless know what it is.” His fingers glided over the dispenser buttons and soon there was a cup of tea pressed into her hands.
    She looked up at him and his earnest expression. “Why me, why this? Why am I seeing two branches of each life that the Orb sends me after?”
    He ran his hand through his hair. “Sit down. This is going to take more than a cup of tea.”

Chapter Eight
    “When the Orb called its first candidate, there was confusion as to what was expected of him. He muddled about, and when the Nameless began to appear at Home, there was a need for regulations.”
    He paused and retrieved the food he had ordered. Harken lay out the meal he had punched up and put a plate in front of her.
    She picked a few pieces that seemed familiar to her and gestured for him to keep talking.
    In between bites, he explained how the Nameless had started.
    “The first Nameless were wild and drunk with power. They changed time as they willed it and caused endless ripples