The Shifter by Janice Hardy Read Free Book Online

pain to sell, lots of it. If they sensed what I was, I could run. I was getting good at it.
    And if they told the League?
    Then I’d run faster. Or let them catch me and force them to tell me why they were following—
    Hands shot out and dragged me into the darkness between the buildings. One hand clamped over my mouth while an arm wrapped around my chest and pinned my arms at my sides.
    “Don’t scream.”
    I couldn’t think of doing anything else.

FOUR
    “D on’t hurt me,” a low voice said matter-of-factly, as if he knew me and what I could do to him. He sounded familiar, but I couldn’t quite match a face to the voice. Then hesitantly he added, “And I’m not going to hurt you, I promise.”
    My fingers couldn’t reach his arm, but they tingled, ready to push every hurt into him the moment I could get my hands on his skin. Yet his fear seemed real, and no one had ever been afraid of me before.
    “I just want to talk.” He took his hand off my mouth but kept the other arm tight around me.
    I was too angry now to scream, but indignant I could manage. “What do you want?”
    “I need your help. If I let you go, promise not to run? Or hurt me?” His tone sounded desperate.
    “Yes.”
    He dropped me like a live snake. I spun around, fingers splayed as if I could flash the pain out like an enchanted pynvium weapon. A handsome boy stared at me nervously, even sheepishly, and in the moonlight he almost looked like…
    “You’re that night guard!”
    He nodded and smiled. A real smile this time, and I didn’t see a rapier anywhere. “I’m Danello. I’m really sorry—”
    “Why did you grab me like that?”
    “I was afraid you’d run, thinking maybe I’d want to arrest you again.”
    I folded my arms across my chest. “What do you want?”
    “I need you to heal my da.”
    Every inch of my sore body flared protest. I couldn’t hold any more pain, not even a blister. “I can’t.”
    “Yes, you can. You healed me , twice.”
    No, just once. The other was a shift I never should have done. Mama’s terrified face flashed across my mind. Don’t ever put pain into someone again, Nya. It’s bad, very bad. Promise me you won’t do it. I’d tried so hard to keep that promise.
    “Go to the League. They probably have every Healer on duty tonight.”
    “We can’t afford the League.”
    “Then go to the pain merchants.” If his da’s injuries were obvious, they’d probably be okay. Hard to pretend to heal a broken leg. Trouble came when they only half healed it. One of the fruit vendors couldn’t walk again after he went to a merchant and they healed him wrong.
    “I did—they turned us away. They’re turning everyone away.”
    That left me mute. The ferry accident should have been harvest day for them. No one would argue over the pittance they’d offer with family members bleeding and broken. People might even be willing to pay them , and they’d make money off the healing and selling the pain-filled trinkets later. With so many refugees around, pynvium security rods were in higher demand than usual. You thought twice about climbing through a window if the sill might flash pain at you.
    “They can’t all be turning folks away,” I said. “Did you try the ones by the docks?”
    “I tried all five in town. Three were even charging, not paying, but by the time I got there, they said no more heals.”
    Not good at all. If they were turning everyone away, they’d also turn me away, and this time I had plenty of pain to sell.
    Danello took a hesitant step closer. “Please—my da was on the ferry. He’s seriously hurt, a broken arm and leg, maybe a rib or two. He can’t work and he’ll lose his job.”
    I couldn’t do it. I already carried too much pain, and who knew when Tali would be able to take it from me. “What about you? Can’t you pay your rent if he can’t work?”
    “Heclar let me go.” He didn’t say it was my fault, but I heard it anyway.
    I glanced away. “Well, you can