Broken Dreams (The Chronicles of Mara Lantern, Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page B

dirt between them, made it difficult to maintain a steady pace. For about one hundred yards, she resisted the temptation to look over her shoulder. She was sure she could outrun—
    Whup-whup-whup .
    The sound was all around her. Without slowing, she looked up and to both sides. Nothing in sight. Part of her hoped those spider things couldn’t somehow sprout wings. The sound—like something beating the air—grew louder, so much so she could feel the rhythm along the back of her neck. It had to be behind her. It had to be the spiders gaining on her.
    Not knowing what else to do, she stopped, waving her arms to maintain her balance as her toes extended over the edge of a railroad tie. Once her footing was sound, she turned to see the spiders come to a sudden stop two feet away, as if they had been caught doing something wrong. One of them broke from the crowd, each of its eight legs negotiated across the gravel, ties and railings to make its way to her. She readied her foot for a kick.
    A breeze whipped Mara’s hair, and she once again heard the whup-whup-whup sound. It wasn’t coming from the spiders.
    The advancing spider stopped before her, opened its shell and extended its tiny smokestack and blew a puff of steam into the air before her face. The steam floated away in the increasing wind, which seemed a little strong given the clear skies.
    Mara looked up and gasped.
    Hovering about one hundred feet above was a large ball built of interlocking vertical hoops and bound by horizontal wires. They formed a spherical lattice around two large spinning propellers suspended inside the top half of the ball above what looked like two passenger seats in the bottom half. The vehicle descended and alighted next to the railroad tracks about fifty feet away.
    It sputtered, its engine winding down, and the ball frame sagged a little as the propellers stopped spinning. It was now pumpkin-shaped, more of a flat oval than a ball. Inside, a man unfastened his seat belt and stood up. He reached for the side of the ball and, with a metallic clatter, like the gate of a chain-link fence, opened a small door and stepped out.
    From this distance and angle, Mara couldn’t make out his features because he wore a hat—a bowler—that matched his black dress pants, plus a white shirt and shiny black vest. He headed for Mara—up the rise to the tracks—with a spring in his step that conveyed enthusiasm more than urgency. While he scampered toward her, she glanced over at the crowd of spiders. Another of them skittered her way. She assumed it would puff at her like the previous two had, but she kept a kick ready just in case.
    The man made it up the slope to the tracks several feet away, putting the spiders between him and Mara. As he approached, he took off his hat and smiled.
    “Ping!” Mara said. “Boy, am I glad to see you!”
    “And I you,” Ping said. He walked by the spiders without giving them any notice. “Things were a little rough while you were gone, but it seems they have stabilized now that you have returned. Thank goodness!” He gave her a quick hug and added, “Are you okay? I worried when I didn’t hear from you.”
    “It hasn’t been that long since we spoke,” Mara said. “But I suppose time might move differently in this realm.” She pointed to the round cage and asked, “What is that thing you arrived in? And what are these things?” She waved at the spiders. “I thought they were alive at first, but they seem to be mechanical, like tiny arachnid robots.”
    Ping frowned at her. “You mean the copter”—he nodded to the vehicle and then eyed the spiders—“and the miders?”
    “ Miders ?”
    “Are you all right? Did you bump your head after you crossed back over? You seem confused,” he said. “Also you’re dressed strangely.”
    “Of course I’m confused. You just flew out of the sky in a caged helicopter, and I’m being chased down a railroad track by brass spiders.”
    “Miders. Message