Harsh Lessons by L. J. Kendall Read Free Book Online Page A

people.  At least, not good people.
    She sighed, putting the memories of the Institute behind her as she cracked open her door.  B ut the moment she stepped from her room, an arrow with a red question-mark appeared beneath a dark tree in the night-time forest scene on the wall opposite her door.  She sighed.  Yeah, things here work at a whole ’nother level.
    'I don't want any stupid help!' she told the stupid arrow.
    It hung there; paled to pink; then started flashing.
    'No!  I don't want directions.'
    The pink shape brightened to a golden glow, then morphed into a picture of Sleena, the pixie gladiator in Sub-world, and she smiled.
    But when Sleena's sword, Dragon Fang, twisted into a question mark, Leeth flushed.  How did they know I liked Sleena?  When I was a child , she amended.
    'No directions!  Go away!'
    With a sad expression that made her feel guilty, the false Sleena faded out.  It left just the moonlit woodland scene illuminating the corridor, and Leeth feeling somehow mean.  She wished she could go up , aboveground.  O ut into a real forest.  To run, dodging and weaving through real trees, under real moonlight.
    Clenching her fists, she stalked off in the direction of the Rec room.  Which wasn't too hard to find; from memory, and from the smell of chlorine seeping from the large indoor pool in the room next to it.
    The Rec room seemed strangely empty and lonely.  She wandered by the large “ billiards” table with its green felt inlay.  Trailing her fingertips over the smoothly-polished wood grain, her gaze skipped from the couch, to the kitchen and its specialized appliances, to the wall of physical books and the weird wooden “games” below them.   She'd been hoping someone else would be awake to talk to, she realized.
    She set the wall to transparent, and stood looking at the pool, glowing dark and mysterious and beautiful with just the underwater lights.  She sighed, feeling tired, all at once .  Something to eat, then a swim before bedtime.   Moving to the food dispenser, a section of pre-packaged “snacks” caught her eye.
    Black Magic Bars.
    She felt her eyes widen, and she looked around, biting her fingers .  Surely they wouldn't really be magic?   You couldn't put magic into food.  Could you?  And why would they put black magic into food?  That'd be stupid and dangerous.
    Unless it was some kind of test?
    She pressed the code for the bar, and watched it drop down into the slot below.  Hesitating, she reached in cautiously, and plucked it out.  Then sniffed the shiny black and gold package, with its picture of a dark molten liquid pouring itself into a gleaming row of almost-black buttons.
    Peeling it open, an unfamiliar aroma wafted out.
    She picked free one heavy lozenge, alert for magic; for any tingle of unease; any kind of invisible attack… but nothing happened.  It just smelled… real good.
    Making her decision, she bit into it, the dark substance crunching satisfyingly between her teeth and melting onto her tongue-
    Oh.
    Ohhh!
    Her eyes closed as she ravaged it; plunging through the powerful bitter-sweet taste, churning it to paste while her tongue dived and swam through paradise, her hand clenched tightly on the packet.
    As she hunted down the last smears and licked her lips, her eyes re-opened, and she stared at the packet in shock.
    That was a- mazing !
    I t tasted like… magic.  S o good!  But it's black magic.  She had to stop .  It's probably a trap! She put the bar down, and backed away; watching the packet, alert ; knowing there were two more equally-delicious pieces inside.  And more in the machine…
    How could anything taste that good?  She'd never tasted anything like that before, not in her whole life!
    She listened, wondering if it would call to her, try to tempt her, like She had.  But seconds passed; a minute… and nothing changed.  Except her mouth watered.  Turning away abruptly, she stripped off her clothes and pushed through the