Water is Thicker than Blood Read Online Free PDF

building and staring up in
amazement at the giant glass ball that was glowing with light. Then
all of the windows of the building lit up with light. Rue likened
it to a Christmas tree, even though she had ever only seen old and
dirty pictures of them.
    “ I think that is called a spot light,” said someone in the
crowd. “They got some of those at the Engineering
commission.”
    “ But ain’t no power in Bywater yet,” said someone
else.
    “ They got something in there,” said another.
    They heard the hum of motors as someone inside the building
must have been plugging in other items.
    “ What they doing in there?” asked someone with both
suspicion and fear.
    “ The Lord’s work,” said Rue as she started to
cry.
    Archmage Hex came out the front door looking
uncharacteristically disheveled, as if he had just been woken up
without warning just like the rest of Bywater. He took a deep breath as he
surveyed the gathering masses and looked over his shoulder at the
lighted building. He did a poor job of hiding his
annoyance.
    “ Neighbors, I apologize for this sudden demonstration. I had
hoped that when we got it working it would be under
more...controlled circumstances,” he said as he looked up at the
spotlight.
    “ What you do in there, wizard?” asked someone in the
crowd.
    “ The Circle of Magi has been working on a self-contained
electrical generator.”
    “ Baron said it would be years before we got power,” said
someone else in the crowd.
    “ This was an independent project from the Engineering
Commission. We have been working on this for the self-sufficiency
of Bywater.”
    There was a muffled sound like an explosion inside the
building. The crowd jumped back. Archmage Hex rubbed his temples
and shook his head.
    “ What was that?” screamed someone.
    “ It’s fine,” he said. Rue thought she heard him mutter “If
it wasn’t the building would be gone.” But she figured she might
have heard wrong. “They are just testing the power output and
stability of the unit. Again, I am sorry. I had hoped that once
they got it working they would schedule a better time for testing.
But they seem to have gotten excited with their breakthrough and
against better judgement are testing it now.”
    People started throwing out questions.
    “ You’re their boss. Tell them quit it. People trying to
sleep.”
    “ Wait, you gonna share that power?”
    “ How we get some?”
    “ What you need all that light for, anyway?”
    Archmage Hex held his hands up in front of him. “Please!
I...fine...I..we had hoped to make an official announcement once we
were sure of the generator’s stability. But you deserve answers
now, considering the circumstances. The purpose of the generator is
to power a water purification system for Bywater. But the power
output needs to be stable first before we can connect it to the
system. And then once we are sure that the output can support the
needs of the purification system, we can consider additional ways
to utilize any excess output.”
    “ So this is for a big water purifier? Damn mages can’t do
nothing simple, can you?” said someone. The crowd
chuckled.
    “ Mr. Thompson, it is Thompson, yes? Sir, you misunderstand.
This system isn’t designed to purify water put into it. It’s
designed to purify water ground and surface water.”
    The crowd grew quiet as the implication of his statement
took root.
    “ You mean like in the old days? Dig a well and have your own
water?” asked someone.
    “ Just be able to drink water out the ground? Is that
possible?”
    “ Maybe even go swimming and not get sick?”
    “ Yes,” said Archmage Hex. “Yes.”
    “ Praise be to the Lord!” shouted someone.
    “ Amen!”
    “ God bless you!”
    Archmage Hex smiled. Rue thought he looked sad. Or maybe he
was just tired. “It will be a while still before we can safely
start up the purifier,” he said. “But until then, I’ll make sure
future testing is done at a more...reasonable hour