The Paladin Prophecy Read Online Free PDF Page A

In-N-Out cup he’d stashed there two days earlier.
    “Well, I just don’t know what to say, Will,” she said, hands fluttering on the steering wheel. “I mean, if this isn’t the most amazing thing ever.”
    Looked like her and sounded like her … but that wasn’t the right thing for her to say . She should be worried about how this test result came about. Asking him why he’d gone against their instructions and drawn attention to himself this way. That would have been the first thing she said.
    Will kept his eyes forward, afraid she’d see the creeping terror on his face if he looked directly at her.

#14: ASK ALL QUESTIONS IN THE ORDER OF THEIR IMPORTANCE.
    “Are you all right?” he asked.
    “Yes, I’m fine. I’m just so excited,” she said, jangling the bracelets on her wrist. “The principal called when I got to work, and put Dr. Robbins on the line. I called Dad as soon as we hung up. He’s ditching the rest of the conference and coming home tonight. He sounded pretty jazzed.”
    Dad would have a lot of reactions to this, but “jazzed” wouldn’t be one of them , Will thought.
    Will worked to keep his breathing under control, the way his dad had taught him. It got harder to stay calm when they passed a black sedan parked on a side street a block from their house. It looked like the same car from this morning.
    “I guess we have a whole lot to talk about,” he said, trying to sound calm.
    “Indeed. But I have to say, Will-bear, you don’t sound all that excited.”
    “I want to look over what’s in here,” said Will, gripping Robbins’s packet in his hands. “One step at a time.”

#20: THERE MUST ALWAYS BE A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EVIDENCE AND CONCLUSION.
    “You know, you’re absolutely right,” she said as she pulled into their driveway. “We shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves. One step at a time.”
    She parked and gathered her things. Will hurried in ahead of her. He ran upstairs, threw on some sweats, grabbed his MacBook, and brought it down to the kitchen. Fighting to stay calm, he clung to what he knew he had to do: Open his senses, clear his mind, notice every detail.

#9: WATCH, LOOK, AND LISTEN, OR YOU WON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE MISSING.
    “You get started, then,” said Belinda, grabbing a Diet Coke from the fridge. “I’ve got to head back to work. We’ll go over everything later with Dad.”
    She hugged him from behind as he sat at the table. Her touch felt tense, fraught with twisted anxiety, wrong . Her dark glasses slipped down, and for the first time Will saw her eyes: they were Belinda’s, but chillingly glassy and vacant.
    “We are both so proud of you,” she said, and then she was gone.
    He heard the front door close, then hurried to the living room and watched her drive off. The Green Machine slowed as she turned the corner where he’d seen the black sedan. Her window slid down as she edged out of sight. Will ran to the next window, where he could see both cars. Stopped beside each other, driver to driver.
    She’s talking to them .
    Will locked the doors. He tried his dad’s cell —please, Dad, please answer —but got voice mail. Will hung up, then tapped a text: NEED TO TALK. CALL ME.
    Caps. SHOUTING. Anything to grab Dad’s attention. Will set his phone beside his laptop and picked up Dr. Robbins’s packet. His hands were shaking. It took every ounce of self-control to keep his terror from breaking loose.…
    His phone marimbaed. Will jumped out of his skin and picked up before the second ring: Dad calling .
    “Dad?…  Dad? ” Will heard a hollow metallic whistling, like water echoing through a storm drain. “Dad, are you there?”
    There was a burst of static, then silence. Will hit CALL BACK and heard the same swampy interference. Dad must be out of range or driving through a dead zone. Will killed the call and set the phone down where he could see it. He needed to stay focused, ground himself in facts. Analyze, manage, arrange: The Importance