The Last Fairy Tale Read Online Free PDF Page A

including you. Dr. Canterbry spent nearly her entire life trying to bring a little peace back to this cursed world. And in her final moments you treat her like she is the scum beneath your feet.” Her voice broke, and tears ran down her reddened cheeks. “I will clean this up. Alone if I must. But you will come nowhere near  her. You can just crawl back into your little hole, your little safehouse, and protect your precious vaccines—the ones you’ve been keeping from us!” She stopped, still glaring at Mr. Gloome, her breathing heavy and labored.
    “Get...out,” Mr. Gloome said, trying his best to maintain eye contact and not look down at the floor.   “Leave...my orphanage... now !”
     Ms. Cooper began to laugh, despite her tears. Her face was sopping wet, and her nose had started to run, but she didn’t seem to care. She laughed harder and harder, almost maniacally, until after a few moments, she stopped.
     “With pleasure, you fool,” she said darkly. She walked down the hallway to the entrance and deactivated the lock system to open the doors. Everyone watched in disbelief. Mr. Gloome’s mouth hung open. The doors hissed as they slid open, and a small crack appeared between them, just big enough for Ms. Cooper to slip through. She turned back toward Mr. Gloome, curtsied, and stepped out of the orphanage.
     After the doors had shut tight once again, Mr. Gloome managed to pull his gaze from the entrance and stared at the floor, stunned.
     “Mr. Gloome,”  Ms. Kobayashi said, trembling, “the Hackers…She will die out th–”
     “That is not my problem,” Mr. Gloome replied, pointing a finger at Ms. Kobayashi as he slowly looked up at her.
     “But–” Ms. Kobayashi protested in shock.
     “Shut up!” Mr. Gloome shouted. “Children. Rooms. Now.”
     Ms. Kobayashi took one last look at the orphanage’s entrance as if hoping to see Ms. Cooper slip back through the doors. A long moment passed and the orphanage was silent. No one knew quite how he or she should react to what had taken place that morning. Ms. Kobayashi turned to Ms. Canterbry’s broken body lying in a puddle of blood. She then looked up at the children and motioned for them to go to their rooms before bending down to start cleaning the mess.
     The children slowly moved toward their rooms in a stupor. Olivia walked Nachton, who was now so weak that he could barely stand on his own, to his door. After she helped him inside, she went to her own room and collapsed onto her bed, sobbing.

Chapter Three

     
    A Curious Creature
     
     Olivia was standing in a forest. The ground beneath her was green and covered with beautiful flowers and tall grass. Ivy climbed the enormous, ancient trees that surrounded her. She tried to peer further into the distance, but couldn’t make out anything. Everything was dark.
    As she gazed around, more of the forest came into view, but she could only focus on that which she was looking directly at; everything else was blurry. Am I dreaming ? she thought to herself. She picked a direction and started walking, but she couldn’t lift her leg. She felt her muscles working as though she was walking, but her legs remained motionless.
     Suddenly a deep, hoarse voice startled her from behind.  “Hello, little human.”
     Olivia spun around to see what appeared to be a man’s face smiling at her and hanging upside down from a tree. She gasped and tried to take a step back, but her legs wouldn’t budge. It took her a moment to understand what it was that had just spoken to her. The face was that of a man, but the creature wasn’t human; it appeared to be a goat. Where its eyes should have been were black sockets. Olivia opened her mouth to scream; she strained and felt the sound form in her throat, but it wouldn’t leave her mouth.
     “Calm down,” the creature said calmly in the same raspy voice. It sounded as if it was speaking through ancient and dusty pipes rather than vocal cords. “Is my