Astral Tide (The Otherborn Series) by Anna Silver Read Free Book Online Page B

morning.
    “Kim, it’s decided. Get over it. We’re going to cut across the back side of the Ag District and avoid as much of the main roads as possible, okay? The Tycoon convoy came through here looking for us. Clark said so. We can’t risk the exposure, no matter how much time it saves.”
    “Suit yourself,” Kim said with a shrug.
    “I always do,” London jibed, pulling her hair over one shoulder. Her normally frantic curls had relaxed, despite the humidity, into a sheet of rolling waves. She liked it, but she couldn’t help remembering something similar happening to Si’dah in the Astral last night. Was it possible for her appearance to change here, to blend, like it did there? For now, she was shaking it off as a fluke. Between the slavery issue and Zen’s secrets, she couldn’t handle one more worry.
    * * *
    THE SOUND WAS unlike any she’d heard coming from the truck before, except when they’d gone dry in the Houselands outside of Capital City. Kind of a pathetic gurgle that accompanied the slowing speedometer. London pumped the gas pedal, pushing as hard as she could, but the engine didn’t respond with its signature high whine. Despite her efforts, the truck rolled to a complete standstill and its motor went silent. She turned the key and removed it after shifting into
P.
    “What’s going on?” Zen asked, stretching. He’d fallen asleep next to her while they ambled through the back roads of the Ag District, moving steadily as they cut through the quilted acres of fields and crops.
    “I don’t know,” London said, opening her door. “When’s the last time we put water in it?”
    Zen shrugged. “Can’t say. Before the Bayou camps. I’ll grab a water tank from the back.”
    Kim and Tora were snuggled up together on a nest of old blankets among the scraps and remaining boxes of rations. London didn’t want to wake them—they looked so nauseatingly cute together. She decided to let Zen help her out.
    She waited, tapping her foot, for Zen to meet her around the side by the little metal door. Her eyes shifted restlessly from one row of towering stalks to the other. A slight breeze stirred the long, blade-shaped leaves. She recognized the corn because the Twisted Oaks camp had a small field of it that they grew from year to year. The one benefit of their damaged planet and unseasonable warmth was that it extended the growing season. The Ag District was never without a crop to cultivate or harvest.
    “Hey,” Zen said, surprising her and making her jump.
    London placed a hand on her chest where her heart was turning over like a newly tilled field. “God, Zen. You scared me.”
    His smile only made her heart flop more. “We have a problem.”
    London hitched at her belt loops. She hadn’t eaten since that morning and her pants were sliding loosely down her hips. “What kind of problem?”
    Zen held up one of the plastic six gallon carboys they’d kept filled with water for fuel. It was bone dry.
    “Shit.” London tugged at her lip.
    “You can say that again,” Zen said with a frown.
    “Shit.”
    Zen raised an eyebrow and grinned at her.
    “You sure that’s the last one? None of the others have water either?”
    “Nope. I checked. We left in such a hurry. Normally I check stuff like that, but I was so distracted…” He didn’t finish because they both knew the answer. Seeing Avery had thrown such a kink in everyone’s chain they’d all forgotten to check their fuel supplies.
    London flapped her hands and started pacing. What were they going to do? It was dusk and they were stranded in the middle of an Ag District road. She couldn’t have been more grateful that they didn’t listen to Kim and follow the main roads. The only thing working in their favor was the lonely crops to either side.
    Zen came up and put a hand on each of her shoulders. “Calm down. I’m going to get Kim up and we’ll push this truck off into one of these fields until it can’t be seen. You and Tora can