Project Aquarius (The Sensitives Series Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

its follicle, exhilarated Cyril. His eyes scanned his reflection for more offending body hairs. Everything had to be perfect.
         Cyril so desperately wanted the Master’s approval. He had been waiting for this moment since the millennium. And so he would continue to wait, for the signal, for a few more painful minutes in a glass office at the edge of the world.
        While he waited, Cyril bit at his nails and drew blood— the taste reminding him of his mother. How she’d lean into the doorway of the kitchen, dirty apron clinging to her haggard form; unclear whether the crooked doorframe was holding her drunk ass up or it was the other way around. Then she’d chastise him about damaging his cuticles as she pulled drag after drag off of her cigarette.
        Certain forms of self-destruction had been acceptable in Cyril’s family. But nail biting was not. It was part of his weak constitution, from being the youngest, his mother had always said. Her womb and her patience were all used up by the time he had come into the world.
         Cyril had never managed to explain to his mother that the nail biting protected him from far greater forms of self-destruction–– that his thoughts were to be feared, not his insecure habits. That he bit his nails to keep his hands busy, to prevent them from wringing her neck, choking the life out of her, so that she couldn’t judge him anymore…
        He took a deep breath–– in through the nose, out through the mouth. His thoughts were trying to betray him again. He chewed more deeply into his nail bed as he waited for a sign from his boss.
        The Master was bent over a laptop, typing a flurry of keystrokes, not looking in Cyril’s direction. He typed like a ballet dancer moved. The Master was a man with a purpose, precision, and grace.
    Cyril spat a chunk of chewed cuticle on the carpet. He looked at his damaged finger with a strange relief— the gaping hole so appropriately highlighting his struggle between damage and perfection.
    Fleetingly, the Master looked up from his screen. Cyril’s heart twirled in anticipation, but the Master grabbed a stack of nearby papers and went back to his furious typing.
    Panic crept in to Cyril’s chest. He felt completely invisible. Sometimes Cyril didn’t even feel real… His heart raced and his mind reeled. The waiting was killing him. He took two more deep breaths and reassured himself that all reports from the field were positive. The Master’s army was poised to carry out the plan. Soon Cyril would get the recognition he deserved. They all would. And no one would realize what had happened until far after the fact.
    Zero Hour was going to be even more crippling than anticipated. Cyril had added a little special flair on top of the Master’s orders to ensure it. He had finally put his genius to good use. The fact that he was about to outsmart everyone in the world deeply satisfied him in a way he had never felt before. It was a feeling better than making money on a bet, or hunting the most elusive game. It was better than sex.
    Cyril exhaled and checked the glowing screen of his tablet. Dozens of blinking red dots indicated that Believers all over the country were ready to synchronize the attack. Militaristic precision would ensure that everything would go according to plan. The world needed this delete button.
    As though on cue, the Master finally poked his head out the glass door. “Everyone in position?” he asked.
    “Yes, sir. All stations reporting,” Cyril said with pride.
    The Master waved him inside the transparent command center. “We’ve been waiting a long time for this.”
    “Yes, we have,” Cyril agreed as he stepped over the threshold into the immaculate office.
    The sweet perfume of power filled his nostrils. He had waited 15 years for this glory. And he had waited his whole life for the moment when superior intelligence would rise.
    “Together we’re unstoppable,” the Master said, as he