Eternity by Laury Falter Read Free Book Online Page B

their table were doing it today.
    Eran and I made our way through the lunch line where we bought ham sandwiches, chips, and sodas before making our way to a table across the lunch room. Because of the rain, it hadn’t been possible for me to bring my preferred sandwich, a muffaletta which I bought at the same deli every day, so we had to settle for stale bread, processed meat slices, and near-plastic cheese.
    “So you like your classes?” I asked weaving my way around a chair left in the middle of the aisle. Eran smoothly moved it out of the way for me.
    “I do,” he said, diligently keeping himself aware of all the potential threats he saw, which went virtually unnoticed by me. “The teachers are capable. The lessons are somewhat limited but for that I blame myself. I think that I’m aware of so much more than what they plan to cover that I’m slightly disappointed.” It was admirable that he didn’t fault the teachers for being unable to keep up with him. With centuries of knowledge, he would be a tough student to please.
    “Yes,” I replied, lowering my voice. “It would be hard to cover five hundred years in a single semester.”
    He glanced back to address my teasing with a suppressed grin. “And you?”
    “I think I’d like them more if I could keep my mind on them,” I admitted.
    “Maybe we can work on that…” he suggested. The fact he used the word ‘we’ told me that he’d understood I was passing my time thinking about him.
    “I’m not sure that is possible but I’m open to ideas.” I drew in a breath to laugh when my nerves flared and my voice released a moan instead.
    Without delay, Eran turned to me, aware of what had just happened. He waited for me to single out whomever it was causing the reaction.
    I was already scanning the room when the cafeteria door opened and a boy and girl, each with bright blonde hair, entered. I noticed they had the same facial features with distinctly Swedish traits as they stopped just inside the door. Their eyes crossed the room slowly until they landed on Eran and me.
    The irritation at the back of my neck spiked suddenly and I heard the silverware rattle on my tray as a result.
    As arch enemies, we stared across the cafeteria, daring the other to make a motion. If something did happen, if someone were to take an offensive stance, I was certain that chaos would ensue and cause injury, not only as a result of the raging battle but from the stampede that would follow as students tried to escape the cafeteria. There was no telling how many people would be hurt.
    “Who are they?” I asked Eran, keeping my voice low, which also helped prevent it from quivering.
    “The Kohler twins. Haven’t seen them since Germany.”
    My immediate thought was that if these Fallen Ones hadn’t shown themselves in the last few hundred years and they’d suddenly walked through the door in to our lives now…Marco had been telling the truth. More Fallen Ones were arriving. If that part of his message were true, it also meant that someone was preparing for a battle against us, one that he’d forewarned was said to be vast.
    I knew Eran was thinking the same thing. His expression was still glowering though, I noticed.
    Very briefly, my nerves spiked and I knew the Kohler twins were projecting hatred our way. I dug my fingers further into my tray, trying to keep my soda from tipping. It seemed to help a little.
    Concentrate, I thought. Concentrate on something else. My mind became erratic then and I noticed nearly everything in my close surroundings at once but locked on nothing in particular. I saw the half-eaten apple on the tray three tables over was browning already, that one of the girls to my right had dipped her sleeve in spilt chocolate milk, and that the vent across the cafeteria had just turned on and spewed a puff of dust into the room.
    “Magdalene,” Eran said, anxiously. “Magdalene?”
    That seemed to break through to me and I refocused on him. “Let’s