Fear's Touch: A Darkworld Novella (The Darkworld Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

taking her eyes off Scary Guy.
    “God, no,” said Howard, encouragingly. “He just won’t leave me alone.”
    “Look,” said Cyrus, in a low voice. “I just don’t want any of us to get into trouble with the
venators.
”
    Berenice flinched at the word. “You know.”
    “Of course,” said Howard. He was frowning at her. “You are a magic-user, aren’t you?”
    “Yes,” she said, and I heard a tremor in her voice. “Unfortunately.”
    “Yeah, tough shit,” said Howard. “Well, looks like your shitty little note actually worked,” he added, to Cyrus.
    “Hey, I told you it was worth a try,” said Cyrus. “Anyway. I didn’t get your names?”
    “Claudia,” I said.
    A pause. “Berenice.”
    “Cool. Are you both Freshers? I assumed you were, since I’ve never seen you before. Howard is, too.”
    “So, how do you two know each other?” Berenice asked, giving Howard a suspicious look.
    “This moron decided to start a fire on the first night of Freshers’ Week,” said Cyrus. “And by fire, I mean
set himself on fire.
He’s worse than my brother.”
    “Wait, what?” My brain scrambled to catch up. “Set himself on fire—like, with magic? In public?”
    “Yeah. Luckily, everyone else was too pissed to remember it afterward, and there weren’t any
venators
snooping around. But it was a close call.”
    “So, I got a lecture from this prick,” muttered Howard.
    “He’s a delightful person,” Cyrus added. “So friendly and approachable. Anyway, I’m sure you nice people haven’t done anything like that, have you?”
    “Um, apart from when a shadow-beast came after us the other day, no,” I said. “But the two
venators
sent it packing, and no one ended up getting arrested.”
    “Good to know,” said Cyrus. “I wouldn’t worry about it—they won’t arrest anyone without good reason. Well, most of them won’t. Uh, I don’t want to interfere,” he added to Berenice, “but I saw you talking to Jude the other day. That guy’s one of the bad ones.”
    “It’s none of your business who I talk to!” Berenice said.
    “Whoa,” said Cyrus. “Just saying. I mean, he’s only been working there a year, and he’s already got, like, ten arrest warrants sent out. He’s not someone you want to mess with.”
    “As I said,” Berenice muttered, “it’s
none of your business.”
    “Right,” I said, in an attempt to defuse the situation before it blew sky-high. “Do neither of you work for the
venators?
”
    “My guardian does,” said Cyrus. “But it’s not for me. I just wanted to help out. I’ve been here a year, and I’ve lived near them all my life, I know what it’s like to be under pressure from them. But you don’t have to join. Just toe the line—relatively speaking—and they’ll leave you alone.”
    “Boring,” Howard muttered.
    “What, you just called us here to give us a lecture?” said Berenice.
    “Jesus, the two of you should get together,” said Cyrus, shaking his head.
    “
What?”
said Howard, looking incredulously at Berenice, who looked equally stunned. “Me with
her?”
    “Oh, that’s lovely,” snarled Berenice, standing up. “What a fucking waste of time. Cheers.”
    And before anyone could say another word, she stormed off.
    “That,” said Cyrus, “is why I suck at diplomacy. Please excuse me while I drink myself into a stupor.”
    “It’s not your fault they’re so prickly,” I said. “Don’t ask me what Berenice’s problem is, I’ve lived with her a week and don’t have a clue.”
    “Well, at least it’s not just me,” said Cyrus. “Say, you seem like a nice, reasonable human being.”
    “That’s the weirdest compliment anyone’s ever given me,” I said.
    “Are we done with the introductions? Because I have other things I could be doing right now,” Howard said.
    “Yeah, okay, okay,” said Cyrus. “I was thinking we could set up some kind of meeting. Like, a student society.”
    Howard snorted. “Yeah. There’s