Sophia Jackson
Stories
11
Chapters
5,834
Words
1.6 M
Comments
0
Reading
5 d, 14 h
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151 ****** “Look at that guy!” Alden’s exclamation was directed at Tiny Snake. Once again, they were alone in the hospital room together. Esh-erdi had been gone for over an hour, and Porti-loth had just left. Alden’s arms, legs, torso, and face were now coated in his healing birthdirt mask. He was supposed to leave the stuff on until it stopped feeling warm, and since being slathered in muddy potion didn’t allow for much activity, he sat perched on the edge of his chair while he watched…-
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150 ****** “Connie seemed to be in a strange mood,” said Alden. He was lying on his side on top of the covers of his hospital bed so that whenever he wasn’t focused on the person he was calling, he could see the news stations he’d pulled up on the wall. “I don’t know what it was. She didn’t exactly sound unhappy. But she said we should talk about something, and then she changed her mind. Do you think the Artonans freaked her out when they collected her?” “Alden, from my perspective,…
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149 **** Esh-erdi’s hand rested on Alden’s shoulder for a few seconds more before falling away. While the knight took his seat again, angling it for a better view of the window, Alden tried to pull his thoughts back together. “I’m—” On second thought, apologizing again when the man had said there was no need for the first one probably wasn’t the best idea. Alden had Alden was just embarrassed to have blurted out a bunch of morbid questions that showed he wasn’t as cool as he wanted to…
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148 ****** “I don’t have time for your personality right now, Elias,” Archibald Carisson’s voice snapped from the watch around the Informant’s wrist. “Your little fiefdom is too close to Sānjiǎo Beach. LEAVE.” “It’s a neighborhood full of interesting people.” Elias, wearing the same galoshes and accompanied by the same umbrella drone that had guarded him from the rain during his walk earlier that night, was helping an ancient-looking man down the front steps of a townhouse. “Not…
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******* 147 ******* “Now this is what we’re talking about. This is what we mean when we say Avowed are “I think “You’re right, Polly. You’re right. But for anyone tuning in for the first time, this situation we’re hearing about is a sign of things to come if we slack off on monitoring the Avowed. If we let people who are “It’s really not,” Polly agreed. “People have said it.” “And even if they hadn’t said it, you only have to look at her. You can tell through these…
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146 ****** “You seem to be devoted to your task.” Alden’s stylus paused against the surface of the tablet, right in the middle of of writing the phrase “ewtwee acquisitive customs.” He’d been uninterrupted for hours. When he looked up, he saw a man in a familiar uniform standing just a meter away, regarding him with a tilted head. “Hn’tyon Esh-erdi.” Alden spoke a little blankly. He hadn’t been expecting anyone to find him here except for the healer, and he’d pictured the…
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145 ****** Alden lay in a bed so perfectly molded to his body that moving seemed like it would be ungrateful. The healer had told him to pick any room he wanted in the hospital, and the one he’d chosen for himself was completely quiet and very dark except for a nightlight with a friendly pinkish-orange glow. This was the second time he’d woken. The first had been when the small oval drone assigned to him had started gently chirping to let him know it was time for him to take some potions. Even…
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144 ****** It was so bright. The first breath was lightning in Alden’s chest, and his eyes were blinded by a burning white star the size of a house that hung in the air far above him. Before the second breath, before he even knew the nature of his salvation, there was something crucial. That gravity. “Zeridee,” he said. His rescuer dropped him onto his back on top of a hard surface, and instantly, Alden tried to reach for her, to protect her. He rolled, arms stretched out, striving— A hand…
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143 ****** Alden’s own labored breathing was loud in his ears, and the sound of splashing echoed around him as he tried to fight his way out from under the thing that both pinned him and protected him from the other flotsam in the room. Judging by the feel of it, it was some kind of chair. There was definitely a cushioned seat shape. But it weighed too much and felt far too large to be a normal recliner. The back of it was made of a smooth, hard material, and it extended farther behind the chair than…
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142 ****** “Sorry,” Alden said quietly, his fingers lifting the sodden sleeve of the dead woman’s sweater from her wrist and then dropping it the moment he determined she wasn’t wearing a smartwatch. He’d already checked her pockets. This was the woman he’d tried to get help from earlier. The motorcycle rider. He only knew who she was because he recognized the clothes and the hair. Her face had been crushed. When Alden had first approached, he’d turned off the flashlight so that he…
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