Grounding Gracus (First Wave Book 6) Read Online Free PDF Page B

swaying with his body awkwardly.
    The little bear padded slowly towards Gracus until it was cuddled into his lap, burrowing his head into the amazed Valendran’s thigh. Gracus was stunned for a moment and just sat there, until finally he placed his hands on the soft fur of the little creature and he breathed out a sigh of contentment.
    “This world is truly magical,” Gracus said as he and the bear cuddled happily together.
    That made him realize that he needed another candy. Pulling out the now empty stick, he moved his hand away from the bear and into his pocket to grab another one when the bear moved and snuffled his nose at the pocket.
    Gracus giggled at the little bears antics as he pulled out another piece of candy. The rest didn’t have sticks and he looked at the blurry wrapper to see what they were. Unable to read the fuzzy letters, he recognized the same “Mike’s Mountain Magic” symbol that was on the wrappers of the stick candy and figuring they had to be just as good he popped one into his mouth.
    His eyes opened wide at the burst of flavor as he pressed the chewy material between his teeth. Oh these were even better than the stick candy , he thought with a grin as the little bear continued to nuzzle at the pocket containing the other candy pieces.
    Gracus giggled at the little bear and petted its soft fur as he tried to nudge the animal away from the pocket holding the candy.
    Then a thought struck him and he dramatically slapped a hand to his forehead and giggled before picking the bear up, hugging it closely.
    “Are you hungry little one?” Gracus asked as he put the bear down in front of him and reached in his pocket, for a piece of ‘Mike’s Mountain Magic’. Truly magical candy for such a magical place, he thought as he unwrapped it for his new friend with a giggle.

Chapter Three
    Rebecca set out the next morning a little earlier than planned, too excited to wait any longer to leave. She’d watched dawn break as she rode the current down the river and breathed in the early morning air.
    Hours later she was soaking up the midmorning sun and drifting past her normal stopping point when she saw something on the ground, farther up, on the opposite bank of the river.
    Rebecca leaned over the edge of her raft and tried to see what it was. Still too far away, she grabbed her oars and guided the raft expertly towards the bank of the river. She ran the current until she was closer, before she banked the raft and secured it to a tree.
    She stood for a moment, listening for any sounds that would tell her if something was wrong, but all she heard was a slight rumbling sound.
    Rebecca moved forward cautiously until she came upon what she had seen. She reached down to pick it up and saw that it was a lightweight black jacket. Her first thought was to inspect it for tears or signs that its owner may be in distress, but she found nothing. It was like someone had taken it off and just dropped it on the ground, uncaring of the impact it would have on her pristine forest.
    She scanned the area, looking for the inconsiderate owner and noticed the wrappers littering the ground. She picked one up and shook her head in anger. Fucking great , she thought. Some idiot decided to get stoned on marijuana candy and come out into the forest. Brilliant.
    Rebecca sighed and checked her radio to make sure she was still close enough to get a signal and was thankful that she was. She knew she was going to have to make a call about a dead tourist, which was if she could even find the body. Between the cold at night and the animals, she was confident that there was little hope of finding the fool alive.
    She hadn’t gone far when she found another piece of clothing among at least a half dozen wrappers of Mike’s pot candy. Rebecca checked the pants for tears and only found a pocketful of lollipop sticks, more Mike’s wrappers and a few uneaten pieces of Mike’s marijuana taffy.
    Damn , she thought, this idiot wasn’t going