Krymzyn (The Journals of Krymzyn Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

woman before running to the east. Even with the weight of the body over her shoulder, the girl races ahead of the Traveler as they cross the first meadow. After brief streams of light over rolling crimson hills, the two arrive at the eastern wall of the Delta and slow to a walk.
    A Watcher, strands of bright green against his black hair, descends a steel ladder attached to an enormous black marble wall. When he reaches the ground, the man nods to the girl and the Traveler. He walks to the arched metallic doors in the wall, releases large, steel bolts that secure them, and swings one door open. The sound of raging water bursts through the gate.
    The Traveler steps to a rack of soft black boots beside the wall. He slips one pair onto his bare feet before handing another pair to the girl. She gently lays the body of her Mentor on the ground while the Watcher bows his head to the corpse. After sliding the boots on her feet and tightly tying the straps around her ankles, she lifts the dead body onto her shoulder again.
    The Traveler and the girl pass through the gate, stepping onto a steel bridge that spans the immense river. The colorless Barrens stretch out in front of them on the far side. Leading to the Mount of Krymzyn in the distance, a narrow road weaves through the wasteland.
    The girl looks over her shoulder at the top of the wall where a female Watcher stands with her Apprentice. The Apprentice glares at the girl with anger in his eyes, just as he did during her Ritual of Purpose long ago.
    He must be wondering why she would transport the body of her Mentor to the Mount instead of a Traveler, the girl concludes. She ignores his stare by turning away and walking across the bridge, but she senses the intensity of his eyes stinging her back.
    As the girl climbs the arc in the center of the bridge, the sound of churning rapids below, she looks down the violent river. Soaring silvery blue waves rise high in the air and crash down on the turbulent flow. She stops walking, her attention captured by a hulking slab of black rock in the middle of the river—the one she recognizes from her Vision of the Future.
    When I spoke to him on the Empty Hill long ago, he was much younger than in my Vision of the Future, but there’s no doubt it’s the same face. When we talked, his blue eyes were brave even though he was in a world he didn’t know. His eyes filled with wonder at all around him, were intelligent and kind. It was odd that he arrived on the Empty Hill just as I passed by, not the Telling Hill as he should have.
    The last time I slept, I saw him in my dream. He looked the same age as I am now, but not yet as mature as he was in my Vision of the Future. In my dream, he again stood on the Empty Hill, but Darkness surrounded him. Tellers are never here during Darkness, yet Darkness fell the first time he was here, as well as in my dream.
    That dream must have been a warning. Now that I’m no longer an Apprentice, I’ll always hunt near the Empty Hill. He won’t know how to protect himself when he arrives during Darkness.

Chapter 5
    To get a used car for Christmas my junior year of high school, I had to make a deal with my parents. I agreed to help drive my little sister to and from school, which I didn’t mind. My Christmas present to them was the family portrait I’d secretly been painting for many months. A tranquil sunset behind rolling aqua waves was the background. In the foreground, Mom and Dad stood on the beach with Ally and me crouching on the sand at their sides.
    Blowing in the ocean breeze, my mom’s sandy brown hair was streaked with summer blond in the painting. Her round face with big, chocolate brown eyes and smiling cheeks expressed the serenity we always felt on family days at the beach. My dad, tall and lean, with wavy dark brown hair, sparkling blue eyes, and a long, straight nose on his slender face, stood with one arm around my mom’s waist.
    Studying the finished oil on canvas, I debated about a