Ruin: The Waking Read Online Free PDF Page A

didn’t take your ability to read. You have no memory of what happened to you?”
    He thought a moment. “I remember opening my eyes? In water. That’s all. Then I found you. And watched you.”
    Fe ar struck her. “Watched me? For how long?”
    He shook his head. “Two… times.”
    “Two days?”
    “I think, yes.” He went back to the book and she watched him read.
    “Are you understanding it?”
    “Yes.” He read for several seconds then looked up at her. “Can I have this?”
    She smiled. “You can borrow it? That means you use it then give it back when you ’re done.”
    He nodded. “Can I sleep here?”
    Her stomach jolted in fear and excitement. To have such a specimen so close was like bringing home her flunk-a-monkey science project. Only, her science projects never…looked like that. She thought of the Cajun culture oh so famous for their hospitality and nodded. “Sure, why not? It’s customary to ask your company to sleep.” Dear God that was taking it too far. She hoped he didn’t learn real soon what a crock of shit that was.
    He went back to reading and when he turned the page faster than he should have, she gasped and he looked at her. “What?”
    “Nothing. Just… go on. Are you hungry?”
    “I think I am,” he said, not pausing. “Always.”
    She nodded and got up. “I’ll cook for you then.” After getting leftovers out, she regarded him, hunched over the book in the small chair. “Why don’t you go where you’re comfortable?”
    “Comfortable?”
    She got up and indicated he follow her. She led him upstairs and pointed to the bed. “Lay there.”
    He did, his movements oddly graceful, like at one time he’d been a pro at…something that required intense dexterity. Something physical. Maybe he was a dancer and had an accident. That was possible. And highly unlikely. “I like this.” He moved around a little, experimenting.
    She smiled and grinned. “Good. Stay there and read.”
    “Read, yes.” He put his nose back in the book.
    “I’ll get supper on and bring up your coffee in a minute.” She hurried down when he didn’t answer, amazement flooding her. Wow. Was he a genius? The idea that she might actually have a friend smarter than her made her grin. Just knowing somebody that smart was… just wow. Rare. Even if he was suffering from frequent minor seizures. Aside from that, it didn’t slip her mind that he was deadly gorgeous and in her bed. And a man, technically.
    Coffee done, she wondered how he might take it. Going with a tiny bit of cream and sugar, she brought it up to him and found him staring out the window. “Bringing your coffee. This might help you stay awake while you read, it can get boring. Especially reading a dictionary,” she laughed.
    He turned and stared at her until she felt the urge to look away. Why did he have to stare so hard? “Here you go,” she handed him the cup. “How far did you get?”
    He took the cup. “I’m done with it.”
    “You’re done,” she mumbled sipping. “You’ll need to read a lot more than just a few pages to learn. If you want to learn fast, I mean.”
    “No,” he said, “I read all of the pages. Each one.”
    The impossibility wiped the smile from her face. “The…”
    “Yes, the entire book. And as I read it, I became faster at it. And I understood it as you can see, I’m speaking, using words. Contractions even.”

Chapter Four
     
    Isadore gasped and shook her head, feeling like a fucking idiot. “You’re shitting me.” She turned and set her coffee on her dresser and faced him, hands on hips. “There is no possible way you read that entire book,” she pointed at the bed, “and understood that entire book and are now speaking like a bloody genius, and I’m insulted that you would even think that you could try to even tell me something so utterly ridiculous!”
    His brows crimped. “Fucking?” He retrieved the book from the bed. “I don’t remember that word.”
    She gasped a