Neverwylde (The Rim of the World Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page A

below? Will you take us to find shelter?”
                The creature thought about it for a minute. “Yes. Take shelter.”
                “Good! When?” Cooter asked.
                Hoov focused on the security officer. “Eat. Go.”
                Fullgrath let out bark of laughter. “Might as well get comfortable, folks. Apparently we’re not budging until Hoov finishes its meal.”

Chapter 5
    Danger
     
     
                “Kelen.”
                She turned to look over her shoulder up at him. Although Kyber spoke to her, his eyes were locked on Hoov. The creature may appear to be calmly eating and somewhat non-dangerous, but it was still an alien. An intelligent alien. How intelligent was yet to be seen. But because it was intelligent, that made it a thousand times more dangerous in her opinion. There was no way they could anticipate Hoov’s next move. It could be as simple as standing up, or it could be an all-out frontal assault launched from its sitting position.
                She waited. He finally glanced down at her as he squeezed her shoulder. “You need to go back to the tunnel to wait.”
                “I’m staying here with you.”
                He pressed his lips together as he thought of what to say to her that would convince her to do as he bid, but she beat him to it.
                “You’re on the verge of dropping from exhaustion. I’ll go back if you go with me.” She noted the others. “They can keep Hoov under surveillance. And they’re better armed.”
                “She’s got a point, Kyber,” Jules told him. “After I get a few more pictures, I’ll come with you.”
                “Yeah, Kyber. You two go. We got this,” Cooter reassured him.
                Gaveer held out a hand to her. She accepted it and let the Seneecian lift her to her feet. Giving Hoov a final glance, she took Kyber’s arm and they returned to the hidden tunnel where someone had built a small fire.
                Sandow jumped to his feet and rushed over to them when they stepped through the holographic door. “What happened? Is everyone okay?” He scanned her and Kyber for signs of further injury, but she waved him away.
                “We’re fine.”
                “Then tell us what happened out there. We were beginning to worry.”
                Kyber helped her to sit before taking his place beside her. Mellori handed them each a water bag. Kelen noticed they were running low, but the cold liquid felt good on her throat. Handing it back to him, she inched closer to the fire and tried to get warm.
                “We’ve been in touch with another species,” she informed them. “It calls itself Hoov, but there’s more. A hell of a lot more. This Hoov creature is native to this world. Hoov calls it Ganj.” She stared at Dox, who listened with rapt attention. “Not Neverwylde, as you claimed it is.”
                The young man nodded but didn’t reply. She couldn’t tell if he accepted the fact that he had been wrong, or if he was even capable of accepting it. As long as she’d known the strange little isotope man, she’d never known him to be incorrect about anything he’d claimed. In fact, isotopes were hailed for both their honesty and purity of thought and commitment. Maybe this planet had thrown him into a tailspin, which accounted for him misreading the glyphs. And if that was the case, what else had he told them that was incorrect?
                “Was Hoov the creature who followed us?” Sandow inquired.
                “No,” Kyber spoke. “Hoov followed the creature who was stalking us and killed it.”
                “It protected us?”
                “No. It killed it for food. We have been watching it eat.”