Fervor Read Online Free PDF

your finding, he and I talked a little as well,” she confessed. “ He wouldn’t answer a lot of my questions. He said that we had to wait for the Gathering, that there were a lot of things that he couldn’t tell me. I could hear whispers of some of the things he was trying to hide. Someone won’t let him say everything he wants to say. He’s not bad, Sam. He’s nice. He doesn’t like the things he has to do. It makes him very sad sometimes. It makes me want to help fix him. I can sense that it hurts him, and it feels wrong. The minders were involved with all this, and the other people we never knew, the ones that left before the times that you and I remember. I think Francis was almost as afraid as we are now when it happened the first time.”
    Comparing notes, when there was no one else around to eavesdrop, was proving to be useful in Sam’s opinion. Francis would likely look upon this conversation with disapproval and order them to stop. Sam did not like being left in the dark. Someone had chosen to mess with who they were, their way of life, and the way that they experienced their world. No one had given them any warning or bothered to ask their permission to do the things that they had done. On the other hand, someone had clearly gone to great trouble to prepare the Tellers, to brief them, to give them some idea of what to expect. It was not fair, especially considering the amount of power that the Tellers had over the other children who had been left behind on Fervor.
    “ There were a few other things that I picked up on while we were talking – things that still don’t make sense,” Sarah revealed, her sadness dissipating a little in response to the distraction that talking to Sam offered. “He thought something about ‘stasis’ and he wondered how long it would take before we would be ready for ‘the Coming.’ I don’t know which is worse, Sam – the not knowing, for us, or the knowing too much and not being able to share, for Francis.”
    “ Well I know I don’t like feeling dumb, like we should have some idea of what’s happening to us, but we don’t. I hate needing Francis so much.” The smaller boy did resent the older one for that element of dependency. He suspected that Sarah might feel that way even more, considering how bad off she would be without their help. It was at that moment that Francis started to stir.
    “ He’s starting to wake up , ” Sarah observed softly.
    “ Can you make me a promise, Sarah?” Sam asked, trying to keep his thoughts quiet, so as not to awaken Francis more quickly. “ Whenever either of us wakes up like this, in the middle of the night, when almost everyone else is sleeping, we’ll swear to wake up the other person so we can talk, just you and me, with no one else listening in. Are you willing to do this?”
    “ Like we’re special friends , ” she whispered, her thoughts starting to fade.
    “ Exactly. I think we can trust each other. I’ve never felt like you were trying to hide anything. That, and everyone else in the house will be Bigs. Us Littles will need to stick together. Don’t you think?” he offered.
    The dark-haired, dark-eyed girl extended her hand towards him, since she had a general idea where he was, and he took it as an unspoken acknowledgement of their agreement. As they both lay down to go back to sleep again, the feeling that Francis was rousing intensifying, Sam gave her hand a squeeze and closed his eyes.
     
    * - * - *
     
    It was two more days of exhausting travel before Sam was finally able to stop tracking the Hub through his link in the connection to Bryan, and instead, focus his finding efforts directly on the massive building itself. It was a huge relief for the small boy to no longer have to disrupt the cantankerous youth by repeatedly making contact after any interruptions en route.
    When they finally could make out the giant domed roof of the structure that they were looking for, a thrill ran through Sam, one