Dark Company Read Online Free PDF

remember the idea of the burr that created the hooks in the first place. The ice-chip eyes never left her, though, nor did the boy’s face, much to her relief. His image rose and fell in her mind’s eye, an anchorless ship, its appearance inspiring longing, but with nothing to tie it to.
    After a vast empty span, a new being arrived—a silver being. This one seemed to have a set form, though it fluctuated as well, as if its body continually experienced a kind of mild tremor. Itseyes were the colour of burnished steel and slanted upward. It had high cheekbones and a pointed chin, giving it the sylvan quality of a woodland faerie.
    The being stared at her. Meg stared back at him—if it even was a “him.” It was hard to tell. There was an androgynous aspect about it. It didn’t seem to be wearing any clothes, either, just a gossamer fabric with a life of its own, a flowing extension of its form. Meg turned away. She felt funny looking at the being, like it could see right through her.
    “Rise,” it ordered.
    It didn’t move its mouth when it talked, but she could understand it perfectly, as if it was somehow speaking inside her head. Meg sat up and hung her legs over the side of the cottony bed. To her amazement she was able to stand.
    The being looked at her with visible concern. “There’s something wrong,” it immediately deduced. With a swift motion of its hand it produced a full-length mirror so she could see her reflection.
    Meg was shocked by her image. Although she couldn’t remember how she’d once looked, she knew that it was nothing like the way she appeared now. Her skin and hair were so white they were nearly blue, and her eyes were a fantastic shade of violet. There was a soft magenta glow around her—not nearly as brilliant as the being’s silver halo yet a glow nonetheless. Her features were slanted upward and as smooth as the silver being’s. But she had somehow retained characteristics from her former life. Her nose and chin were rounder. And she had a distinct shape. She was decidedly female. This made her smile. It was a small victory but it meant so much to her. The transformation hadn’t erased her entirely.
    The being pursed its lips. “It shouldn’t have any colour at all,” it said to the ether. “Recruits are white until their Frequency is determined. And look at its form—and its appendages … It’s so … stunty. It should have grown much more during the transformation.”
    Meg lifted her floppy arm. It dangled uselessly from her elbow. It had a deep, jagged scar that ran like a lightning bolt from her shoulder to the tip of her index finger. She could have done without that. But it was a small price to pay to retain elements of her human life, so she was willing to put up with it.
    The silver being studied her as though evaluating a toxic dump site. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
    “What’s my name?” Meg asked.
    The silver being looked at her as though her head had just dropped off. “Why does it move its mouth?”
    “I don’t know,” Meg said.
    “What a mess,” the being groaned. “The Council will not be happy about this. In my entire existence I have never seen anything like it. It’s an absolute aberration.”
    The heat rose in Meg’s cheeks. She didn’t want to stand there being insulted by this being. “Please stop calling me ‘it,’ ” she blurted out. “I’m not a thing. And how do you tell us apart if we’re all supposed to look the same?”
    The being gaped, incredulous. This made her more upset.
    “If I’m so awful, why don’t you transform me back and go work with someone else? I never wanted any of this in the first place.”
    The being sighed with exasperation and righted itself. “I have no choice, unfortunately. And to answer your question, we have no trouble telling recruits apart. Each being has its own energetic print—like a thumbprint. We don’t need distinguishing features to set us apart from one another. And