Tegan's Power (The Ultimate Power Series #4) Read Online Free PDF Page B

against the counter. I haven’t slept properly
in about a week and exhaustion is beginning to catch up on me.
    “Are you okay?” Allora
asks shyly and I open my eyes, suddenly realising I had closed them for a
moment. “You seem tense.”
    I tilt my head
questioningly. “What makes you say that?”
    “Your breathing is
all…harsh,” she answers.
    With her lack of sight,
I wonder what other things she notices about people.
    “It’s been a rough
week.”
    She turns her head away
and crosses her arms over her chest. “I can understand that.”
    “Are you cold?” I ask
her, eyeing her thin flimsy dress.
    “A little,” she replies.
“I’ll be okay.”
    I slip out of my
leather jacket and pull off the work shirt I’m wearing over my long-sleeved
T-shirt. Handing it to her, I say, “Put this on.”
    She takes the shirt
wordlessly and slides her arms into it just as Purple Rinse returns with the
flip flops. I pay her and help Allora put them on. She gives me a small
grateful smile and I shove the key cards for our rooms into my pocket before
guiding her over to the diner.
    When we get there we
join the others at a large table and I order myself a steak while Allora asks
for a glass of water.
    She’s sitting beside me
and I lean into her. “Aren’t you hungry?”
    “I don’t have any
money,” she replies, her voice tight as though trying to keep tears at bay.
    “I’m paying. Order
whatever you want.”
    “I don’t want to be a
bother.”
    “You’re not. I won’t let
you go hungry, Goldy,” I say. “Now, what tickles your fancy?”
    She gives me a small
smile and says she wouldn’t mind a tuna melt and I call the waitress back to
put in her order. The others eat and chat over us, speculating over how
Theodore managed to construct a barrier around the city.
    “It’s been a really
long time since I’ve eaten in a place like this,” says Allora looking about
with her poorly seeing eyes. “It feels strange.”
    I raise my eyebrows
angrily. “Ridley fed you, didn’t he?”
    “Oh, yes. He kept me very
well fed. In the beginning I refused to eat, but eventually I saw that wasn’t
going to get me anywhere. I knew I needed to keep up my strength if I was ever
going to escape.”
    “Did he mistreat you?”
I question her further.
    She shakes her head.
“Aside from inadvertently blinding me when his spell went wrong, no. He treated
me like I was precious. It was creepy. But then whenever he tried to cast more
spells to take my powers it would hurt.”
    Frowning at her answer,
I turn back in my seat as the waitress returns with our drinks and I take a
long swig out of my coke. “So, he kept you locked away and you predicted things
for him. How does it work? Can you see what you choose to see, or does it just
come to you?”
    Allora stiffens. “I
can’t choose. The visions come to me when they need to.”
    “I’m don’t mean to
pry,” I say, deciding that her sudden change of posture is down to suspicion
that I want to use her just like Ridley did, and I don’t.
    “It’s okay. I just
don’t really like to talk about it. Seeing the future isn’t a cool trick like
most people think. The visions are painful. Think of it as akin to having an
epileptic fit.”
    “Shit, that doesn’t
sound so great,” I suck air in through my teeth.
    “It really isn’t,” she
sighs with dejection.
    I want to ask her more
questions but I keep schtum, knowing it’s a touchy subject. When the waitress
delivers our food, I dig in ravenously. Allora seems to eat eagerly, too. It
must be a while since her last meal. When we’re done I pass out the room keys,
delegating one room for Delilah and Allora, one for Gabriel and Alvie, and one
for me and Ira.
    I notice he’s changed
back into human form and has salvaged some clothes from the back of the minivan
– clothes that are way too small for a man his size. It’s a good thing though,
because I don’t think Purple Rinse would be too happy about me trying