Rivers of Fire (Atherton, Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

quiet force. "Trying to talk to her won't help us find the water. It will only get us caught. Better to wait."
    Samuel was confused. This was a lot more adventure than he'd bargained for.
    "Everyone please just calm down!" Joseph had abandoned his soft voice from the tower and resorted to hollering. Just when Horace was drawing in a giant breath in order to roar even louder than before, Joseph finally put an end to all the shouting. "Lord Phineus isn't here," he announced.
    Tyler slapped Joseph's shoulder and glared at him as if he'd said something he really shouldn't have, but Joseph kept on. "We don't know where he is. And Sir Emerik is gone as well. We can't find either one of them."
    Samuel now realized their best chance to enter the main chamber really had come. Still, he couldn't bring himself to leave his mother before knowing she was all right.
    "Where do you suppose they've gone?" asked Horace, beginning to take command of the situation in the absence of power within the walls. "Could it be that they've left you and have plans of their own?"
    "They're here somewhere," said Tyler, but he was lying.
    "Are you sure of that?" asked Joseph. "You told me only an hour ago that they wouldn't return until morning."
    Everyone heard -- all the people who had gathered on the other side of the wall, and Horace, too--and control swiftly shifted entirely in Horace's favor.
    "Open the door," said Horace. "I have something to show you."
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    "We're not opening this door!" shouted Tyler. "Come back in the morning and we'll discuss it. Until then, you can scream all you want. This door stays shut!"
    "What do you want to show us?" asked Joseph, who was a more curious sort than Tyler.
    "Come down here and I'll show you."
    "Back away from the door," Joseph ordered. When he appeared to be pleased with Horace's location he climbed down the narrow stone steps.
    "This is a terrible idea," Tyler said to no one in particular.
    Joseph and another young guard from the House of Power removed the vast wooden beam that lay across the swinging wooden doors. Everyone backed away as one of the two heavy doors was pulled open just far enough for Joseph to slip out. At that moment Adele bolted from the crowd and into the opening, sliding outside as she shrieked at Horace, "Where's my boy? Where's Samuel?"
    Horace had found her boy once before and she hoped he would know of his whereabouts again.
    Samuel very nearly opened his mouth and yelled out, "I'm here, I'm here!" But Isabel immediately gave him a very stern look, telling him she might punch him if he made so much as a peep. And so he said nothing as he craned his neck to listen more carefully.
    "Take this horse. I brought it for you," said Horace to Joseph. "Ride it to the edge--where the edge used to be -- and you will see. I'll be here when you return, and then we'll have something to talk about."
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    Isabel heard the sound of hooves as Joseph galloped for the border of the Highlands. And then she heard Horace's voice again, louder than it needed to be, as if he knew that Samuel was hiding nearby and needed to hear him.
    "You and your son will cross paths again," he said. "Though I believe you must leave the Highlands if you are to find him. We must all leave the Highlands."
    "But she's the cook!" cried Tyler from his perch on the wall, his voice cracking. I've already lost a guard, he thought heavily. Now Sir Emerik is going to kill me for letting the cook escape.
    Samuel had seen his mother escape the House of Power, and she was with someone he trusted. Now he held on tight to the words Horace had said. You will cross paths again. He turned to Isabel with a new resolve in his voice that surprised her.
    "Follow me," he said as he began moving cautiously toward the main chamber. "It's time we made our way to the source of water."
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    *** CHAPTER 6 INTO THE HOLLOW
    As Samuel and Isabel approached the stairs leading up to the main chamber they could see that the way was lit, though unguarded.