Sophia Jackson
Stories
11
Chapters
5,834
Words
1.6 M
Comments
0
Reading
5 d, 14 h
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160 ****** “Are you sure—?” “Stu-art’h,” said Alden, sprinkling a condiment that looked like ashes onto a paper-thin rectangle of raw meatpetal, “if you ask me one more time if I’m sure about ‘weaving a friendship’ with you, I’ll be insulted. I promise I understood the warning and the question.” Stuart clamped his mouth shut and watched Alden fold the alien vegetable slice over the ash the same way He’d been relieved when Stuart left the cottage to fetch the meal. The…-
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159 ****** “How long will you stay?” Stuart asked. The Artonan boy was at his desk, eyes focused on something Alden couldn’t see. And Alden, thoughts racing toward the goal of getting away from what had been shaping up to be an emotional pit of an evening, was trying to compose a text message to Esh-erdi to let the knight know where he was going and that he hadn’t been kidnapped from the cube. “Shouldn’t “I have two and a half days left of my weekend,” said Stuart. Right now, that…
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****** 157B ****** The personal advisement meeting was on the first floor in a cozy spot that looked nothing like the cramped teacher’s office or bland conference room Alden had expected. A rectangular wooden table with just four chairs sat in front of a wall with an unlit gas fireplace. On the opposite wall, a gallery of matching wooden frames held pictures of famous alumni. There was a coffee maker with a bowl full of pods beside it in one corner. It would have been a comfortable place for a…
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158 ****** “Alden. Hey, Alden. It’s over.” At the sound of his name coming from Winston Heelfeather’s mouth, he looked up to realize that Instructors Klein and Marion were finished speaking to the class. Earlier, Alden had pulled out his tablet in case there was any need for note taking, and it lay untouched on the desk in front of him. His thoughts had been on another planet ever since Evul-art’h had ended the call. “So,” Winston said, “what do you think of my offer?” At the start…
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157A ****** ****** Alden completely forgot he was flying. The nonagon stopped in midair while he increased the opacity on his interface to make the three Velra faces that were juxtaposed in his vision clearer. On the left was Aulia, severe and firm with just a hint of sadness at the corners of her eyes. And Orpheus, frightened and sloppy with tears. In the right video window, Lute’s expression had frozen. He’d gone so still that if Alden hadn’t been using the System for this call he’d have…
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156 ****** “Do you think it’s all right to step on it?” Alden asked, looking down through Esh-erdi’s nonagon to see the top of the Forthright building. Thanks to speed, spell, or contraption, someone had managed to cover almost the entire surface of the roof in a boldly colored chalk mural. Scenes of Avowed engaged in inspiring acts of courage surrounded the words: We ARE Anesidora. “It’s amazing.” Haoyu was leaning so far over the edge that Alden started lowering them just in case he fell…
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155 ****** Alden bowed his head and stared down at his knuckles while the school observed a moment of silence for the dead. Principal Saleh’s speech had started off with the expected sort of thing. Thanks for everyone who’d shown up in person and through interfaces. Eloquent sympathies for students who’d lost places or people they loved. And now this. The posture, the uniform, the sounds of a large group of humans breathing and quietly shifting in their seats—it called up a sliver of memory.…
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154 ****** Becoming a part of Apex’s sky traffic was every bit as entertaining as Alden had imagined it would be. The Mother-forsaken Cookie was soaring along at what he felt was the perfect altitude for a classy magical vehicle—above most of the spell-users and the Shapers riding around on recliners with homemade seatbelts installed, but below the super fast or noisy stuff. And it looked cool. He was currently trying to convince himself that the nonagon’s coolness was the attraction whenever he…
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153 ****** “It will fade now,” Esh-erdi said simply, withdrawing his authority. The matter had been dealt with in seconds. Esh-erdi had confirmed that Alden wanted the whole tattoo gone except for the concentric triangles that represented the still-active pact for secrecy. Then, the knight’s power had touched him. Profoundly strong. It wasn’t a large, comprehensible strength, like Lute’s, but a power so much Every time he’d been in the presence of a mighty Gorgon had given him that…
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152 ****** “That’s funny!” said Kabir, his knives still chopping squash in time to the music. “It almost looked like The Bald General ran away from you!” Alden’s astonishment was so complete that he stood there with a mind gone blank, gaping at the spot Joe had vacated. One of the mounds of sandwiches in the fridge, unbalanced by the wizard’s rummaging, slowly collapsed sideways onto the bare section of shelf where the trifle had been stored. It had been more of a jog than a full run. But…
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