King of Swords (The Starfolk) Read Online Free PDF

that’s proof of anything.”
    He smiled to show her that he didn’t take offense. “I have more.”
    “I want to hear more, but my reaction so far is that a seven-year-old might have dreamt the memory in afterwards. If thegang
didn’t
let him play on their raft, he could have invented the story of the magical warning. A psychologist might suspect that he felt guilty because the others drowned and he didn’t. But keep going.”
    “The next two are even weaker,” he said, although he didn’t believe that his younger self had invented the first warning. “There were a couple of times after that when I felt the bracelet sort of tingle, which made me turn around and walk another way. Once I found out later that there was a pedophile molesting boys in the area that the bracelet had steered me away from. Doesn’t prove a thing, I know.
    “The fourth case is a lot less fuzzy. About a month ago I was cutting through East Hastings in Vancouver, which is about as rough a locale as anywhere in Canada, and the bracelet began to tingle. I started to turn around, and… This is hard to explain. The turn became a pivot, if you know what I mean. I just spun around on the ball of my foot and threw a punch. I never knew I had it in me—I swear it lifted the guy right off his feet, and he must have outweighed me by ten kilos. There was no warning shout, the sun wasn’t casting any shadows, and there were no store windows to show me his reflection. It was a completely inexplicable thing for me to do.”
    “He had a gun, I hope? He wasn’t trying to hand you a copy of the
Watchtower
?”
    “A piece of lead pipe. A
nasty
looking thing, about this long, and he had it raised to bash my head in.”
    “Any witnesses?”
    “Yes, but I didn’t stick around to take names.” He hesitated, but then said it. “And if you want to know more, I hit him full on the mouth. I know that’s the stupidest place to hit anyone.”
    She nodded. “A good way to get a fistful of broken teeth.”
    Rigel held out his hand for her to see. “There were teeth and blood splattered all over the sidewalk, but I didn’t have a mark on me, not even a bruise.”
    “And last night, when the bear tried to make you its dinner?”
    “I didn’t feel a thing. The bracelet didn’t quiver at all. Nothing. But when Bruin pulled me down, I had this weird sensation of stabbing it. I had no knife, but your gun sure didn’t make that hole over its heart.”
    She nodded. “OK. Add it all together and it does make sense. I can’t explain you, and I can’t explain your bracelet. Micah’s team keeps up with all the latest in weapons technology, and I’m damned sure that anything that high-tech is at least twenty years away… on this planet.”

    Two sixteen-ounce steaks, six eggs over easy, two hash browns, four hotcakes with maple syrup, a ham and cheese sandwich, three helpings of pie and ice cream, and about a liter of orange juice later, he said, “No thanks,” when the waitress brought back the menu yet again.
    Mira held out five fifty-dollar bills and told him to keep the change.
    He managed to refuse. It wasn’t easy.
    “You can pay me back later.”
    “Not unless you give me your permanent address.” And her real name. He knew she’d refuse.
    Her smile told him that she knew exactly what he was thinking. “Let’s do it this way, then. Honor system. You have no boots, sonny. You need this money now. Don’t pay it back, pay it forward: when you don’t need it anymore, pass it along to someone who does.”
    To his shame, he thanked her and stuffed the bills in his pocket.

Chapter 5
    B y the time they reached Nanaimo’s urban sprawl, rain was pelting down.
    Rigel said, “Noah’s Flood, the remake.”
    “With an all-new cast.”
    “We have lots of time for the ferry. There’s a Walmart on Aulds Road,” he suggested hopefully. “I need new jeans and boots. And sunglasses.”
    “Won’t be much of a run on those today. Does the light bother