Weight of the Heart (Bruna Husky Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

swallowed, dumbfounded: Gabi was sitting on the ground, begging. The monster was begging! She planted herself in front of the girl.
    “A curse on all species! What the heck are you doing?” Bruna roared.
    Gabi looked at her with disdain. In front of her was a gold-filigreed glass—one of Yiannis’s ancient glasses—and in the bottom two or three gaias and a few cents.
    “Isn’t it obvious? I’m begging for money, and I’m not doing too badly.”
    “You’re not allowed to beg! You can’t! They’ll arrest you!”
    “How come? The city is full of beggars. There’s one right there. He’s shown me how to do it.”
    Bruna looked where the girl was pointing. Near Gabi someone had left a plastic box containing some loose change and an old kid’s cell phone, one of those mobiles they had in day-care centers for first-time users, pink with little purple flowers. The scratched screen had a message in luminous words: “Back shortly.”
    “I think he’s gone to the toilet. The guy’s legal,” said Gabi.
    A wave of indignation rose up through Bruna, and she felt like slapping Gabi. “You can’t beg, dammit! You’re a minor! Children can’t beg! You’re going to get me into real trouble!”
    She grabbed the monster by the arm and pulled her up from the ground. The girl shrieked. In that instant Bruna became conscious of where she was: they were surrounded by a dozen humans, all looking at her accusingly. A combat rep dragging a shouting child, disrupting the fabulous silence in the fabulous park belonging to the fabulous Texaco-Repsol, all so pure and peaceful. She let go of Gabi’s arm.
    “We’re going home right now,” Bruna whispered.
    The girl grudgingly picked up the glass, tipped the coins into her hand, and, grabbing the old backpack she’d retrieved from the rep the very first day and from which she was never separated, very carefully zipped open one section. With excessive secrecy she pulled the top part of a change purse through the tiny opening. Her caution suggested that the money-storing operation was going to be interminable, and Bruna was already exasperated, so she grabbed the backpack and took it from the girl.
    “Let’s get this over with,” she growled as she removed the entire change purse and dropped the gaias inside it.
    Then she noticed that the purse was attached to a piece of string. It was a high-quality piece of cord, natural, not synthetic—a very old cord. She must have stolen it from Yiannis, too.
    “What’s this then?”
    The string was tied to the clasp of the change purse with a small, perfect, very tight knot and then disappeared inside the backpack. The rep pulled on the twine, and a piece of candy emerged, also knotted, and then hanging from the same piece of string, a comb, and then . . .
    Bruna couldn’t go on extracting the string, because Gabi snatched the backpack from her and started to run. Bruna ran after her and, even though the girl was very fast for her size, caught up with her in three strides.
    “Where do you think you’re going?” asked the rep as she encircled Gabi’s body with both arms from behind.
    Bruna tightened her grip because she expected the little Russian to struggle. But no sooner had she caught her than the little creature seemed to turn to stone. Rigid and still, inhumanly still. Gabi moved only her head; she bent her neck and, placing her mouth on Bruna’s forearm, bit viciously. The techno felt the girl’s teeth sink into her flesh. The well-rehearsed self-control of a combat rep prevented Bruna from jerking back, which would no doubt have torn open the wound considerably more.
    That’s how the two of them remained—immobile and silent, united in an apparent embrace, with Bruna grasping the girl’s back and leaning over her as if she were protecting her from some danger, and Gabi’s curly, dirty hair tickling the techno’s cheek. The little Russian was clenching her jaw; the flesh was hurting. A drop of blood rolled down