Parabolis Read Online Free PDF Page A

from a drainpipe.”
    Darius cocked his head to the side, his brows colliding in bewilderment. “Why was he drinking water from a drainpipe?”
    “Because some kids couldn’t afford food so they filled their stomachs with water while the other kids were eating.”
    Cora Tess put a hand to her mouth and looked out the window at the Azuric boy. “Oh, the poor thing,” she lamented.
    “When Dale saw him, he gave him half his potato,” Dale’s father continued. “They’ve been friends ever since. I remember when he told me that story, I kept thinking how proud his mother would’ve been.”
    “Aye, she would’ve been,” said Uncle Turkish.
    “Imagine, having nothing to eat in this day and age. It just breaks my heart, it does.”
    “Where are his parents?”
    “From what I understand, his mother’s a prostitute in Azuretown. He has no father.”
    “Oh dear.”
    “What’s a pasta toot?” asked Mosaic.
    “Never mind, young lady. Go bring him some of this cake. Go on now.”
    Just outside, Dale greeted his friend.
    “Hey.”
    “Hey.”
    “What’re you doing here?”
    “We finished most of the swords,” Sparrow replied. “We still have to polish them but—hey, is that Darius?”
    “Yeah.”
    Sparrow waved, and everyone within waved back.
    “He’s big. How long has he been gone?”
    “Three years. We’re eating cake. Wanna join us?”
    “That’s okay,” he replied. “I just came by to tell you that we’re almost done with the swords.”
    Mosaic struggled the door open with a slice of cake in her hand and held it up. “Here. Mama told me to bring it out to you. She made it.”
    Sparrow hesitated.
    “Go on,” said Dale. “She makes the best fig cakes ever.”
    Sparrow cautiously took the cake and true to Azuric form, he looked in at Cora Tess through the window and bowed his head in gratitude, then again before Mosaic. Mosaic bashfully twirled her skirt back and forth and watched as he bit into it.
    “
Ith good
.”
    Mosaic giggled.
    “Okay Mo, go back inside,” said Dale.
    “Why?”
    “Because I need to talk to Sparrow for a minute.”
    “About what?”
    “Grown up stuff.”
    “You’re not a grown up.”
    “Am too. Now go on before I make you.”
    She waited until Dale reached for her and then rushed in with a squeal.
    Sparrow finished the cake in four bites.
    “Want more?”
    Barely able to close his mouth, he shook his head and wiped his hands on his pants.
    “So guess what?”
    “What?”
    “I got expelled.”
    “Really?”
    “Marcus was taken to the hospital so his dad told the school. I’m lucky I’m not going to a detention center.”
    “Gosh. Sorry to hear that.”
    “It’s not your fault. I mean if it weren’t for you,
I
probably would’ve been the one in the hospital.”
    “How upset was your dad?”
    “Pretty upset.”
    “Did he beat you?”
    “No. But he’s sending me to the Academy.”
    “Really?”
    “Yeah. I’m leaving with Darius in a few days.”
    “For how long?”
    “I don’t know. Until I graduate?”
    “So you’re going to be a soldier?”
    “I guess,” Dale replied with a tinge of pride. “It beats being in school, right?”
    Sparrow shrugged.
    “Trust me, it does,” Dale added. “Although, I bet you would’ve done well if you stayed in school.”
    “You think?”
    “Better than me. Here.” Dale handed him his book. “I never read it but it’s a classic. It’s about a Mystic king during the crusades or something. Anyway, I thought you might like it.”
    Sparrow hesitated. He was not accustomed to receiving gifts. Growing up, his mother had instilled in him an aversion to receiving anything.
Never allow yourself to be indebted to another
, his mother had said.
    “Take it,” Dale insisted. “You can read it when you get a break or something.”
    Sparrow took the book with a kind of reverence that made Dale chuckle.
    “
Rohar
, thank you,” he said.
    “You’re my friend,” Dale replied. “You don’t have to thank