Obsidian Eyes Read Online Free PDF Page B

and imagine sun-warmed heather in the Scottish Highlands.
    “That’s a very rude question to ask a guild person, some would answer with a blade between your ribs.”
    He gave a sigh and blew his fringe to one side as piercing grey pinned her in place. “I need to know if someone at school is in danger. Please, give me that much.”
    If she held the assignment Jared grasped at, answering would violate guild code and result in her own death. Marshall picked all summer with quiet questions. It became a game between them. He knew she was guild and she knew that he knew, but neither of them mentioned it directly. Jared had yet to learn his master’s finesse.
    “Why should I trust you with such information?”
    “Because I beat you this morning and let you go. You owe me one.”
    The smile returned to his face and set her heart racing as she remembered his tight hold, his arms wrapped around her. He’s not bad with a blade either.
    “I’m no threat to anyone here, unless I’m threatened first.” She raised the spectre of the confrontation in the corridor.
    He reached out a hand and grazed his fingers over her palm. “Thank you.”
    She closed her eyes at the contact, a spider web of electricity brushed up her arm. Don’t do this , her brain warned but her body didn’t want to listen, drinking in the touch like the parched desert welcomes the rain.
    Opening her eyes, a flash of light caught her attention. Something small whizzed from under one row of books and disappeared under another.
    “I saw it,” she cried, breaking contact with Jared. Kneeling, she tried to peer into the darkness, the creature hiding under the back row with the wall behind it and nowhere further for it to run. Two red dots blinked at her, then vanished. She heard a high-pitched cough and a tiny cog rolled out across the floor. Her gaze tracked the miniature part until it disappeared under another stack. “What is it?”
    “Weasel,” Zeb answered, drawn by her cry.
    “It’s a weasel?” Allie kept her gaze on the dark space under the row of books.
    “No. I call it Weasel. The closest approximation would be feline, with a bit of reptile.”
    “I’ll never understand you science types.” Allie peered under the stack. “Come on Weasel,” she whispered. “Out you come. No one is going to hurt you.”
    A high-pitched growl sounded, followed by a scratch as though it were testing the stone wall as a possible escape route. Something only a living, intelligent creature would do. Allie glanced up at Zeb.
    “Is it self-aware?”
    His mouth opened and closed, making him resemble a goldfish finding itself outside the comfort of a water-filled bowl.
    “That would be illegal,” Jared answered. “Only military and government-approved projects are allowed to create sentient devices.”
    Allie arched an eyebrow. “Uh-huh.” Suspicion clawed at the back of her brain, scenting a possible reason for her father’s insistence she attend St Matthews.
    “Come on little one, I’ll protect you.” She directed her comment to the hiding creature while questions swirled in her head. A skitter sounded and then a gleaming brass nose poked under the stacks, followed by a triangular silver head. Red eyes turned to Allie, the head moving from side to side as it appeared to scan her, the ears rotating a full one hundred and eighty degrees.
    Allie kept still, letting the mechanical creature reach a conclusion about whether she represented a threat.
    “Hypothetically, supposing it were sentient, how aware is it?” she asked Zeb in a quiet tone.
    “Far more than it should be,” he answered with a puzzled tone. “I deactivate Weasel but it keeps reactivating itself and escaping. Somehow.”
    “Maybe it doesn’t enjoy life in your satchel and prefers to roam free.”
    The body emerged. In size and shape it resembled a small but skeletal kitten made of burnished steel, with brass cogs acting as hip joints. The stout legs terminated in clawed feet that looked