Grady's Awakening Read Online Free PDF Page A

joking. He was a soldier who enjoyed learning new methods. If there were truly Zxerah left in the universe, he would be a fool not to seek them out for training.
    Sinclair Prime looked at him consideringly. “Perhaps.”
     
     

Chapter Two
    Deep inside a mountain in what had once been called Colorado, sweat dripped down a man’s face as he spun into a high roundhouse kick. His opponent ducked, blocking the main force of the blow as he delivered a counterstrike. They’d been sparring for hours, but neither one would call a halt. Too many people depended on them and the other members of their elite group. Too many needed them to be in top form at all times—ready for anything.
    “She’s coming!”
    The scream was repeated down the cavernous hall outside the training area, echoing off cemented rock walls.
    By silent agreement, both men stopped, ending their sparring session. One of their people needed them.
    A moment later, a ragged woman ran into view. Her hair flew wildly around her ravaged face, her eyes wide with fear and not quite sane.
    The leader reached out to her, folding the trembling woman in his arms as he’d done many times before, offering comfort.
    “It’s okay, Tory. Everything will be all right.”
    He soothed her as his lieutenant watched in sympathy. A flick of his head toward the hall sent Pierre after some of the others who would help settle Tory after the storm had passed. Sometimes it must really suck to be a seer, he thought. Tory suffered from the gift, and at times it drove her back into the madness from which she was only just beginning to emerge.
    He murmured nonsense to her, hoping to ease her quaking shudders, but she remained agitated. She kept repeating that someone was coming. At times, he’d learned it was best to help her work through a vision rather than try to stop it. Perhaps this was one of those times.
    “Who’s coming, Tory? A friend?”
    Her wild gaze turned to him, and he had to stifle the urge to sigh. Tory had made good progress in the past year, but she still hovered on the edge of madness too much of the time.
    “A friend?” She paused, seeming to think it over. “She could be, to us. She will also be friend to the angels. She will bring the angels to us.”
    “Angels?” He didn’t like the sound of that. “Like the angel of death? Will she bring death to us, Tory?”
    “Perhaps.” Tory’s eyes began to dim just slightly, giving him hope this episode was near an end. “The angels aren’t good or bad. They just are. They kill. They also protect. They’ll protect us, if we let them, and she’ll bring them. She’ll bring them. She’ll bring them.” Those three words kept repeating as she quieted, her words fading to a whisper as he tucked her close, stroking her back, offering the comfort of his touch—of his protection.
    Poor, fractured Tory was under his protection, as were many other souls in this complex. He wouldn’t let anyone or anything hurt them. Angels, devils, Alvians or otherwise. He would defend his people to his last breath.
    Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that. Not yet at least.
     
    Their destination was beyond anything Grady Prime had dreamed. Towering red trees made the people and buildings below look like miniatures. Sinclair Prime wove through the massive trunks of the behemoths with a skill and ease that Grady Prime respected and even envied.
    “Are these trees real?” he asked in a hushed tone as he looked at one of the most glorious sites he’d ever beheld.
    “Magnificent, aren’t they? The humans call them giant sequoia or redwoods. Some of them are thousands of years old. This area was hard hit by the tsunamis and was unstable for a long time, which is why the Council let us settle here. The trees are massive enough to hide our base and provide cover for our flight—though flying under the canopy is quite an obstacle course. Good for training too.”
    Even as they made final approach to a very small landing area, Grady saw