Hexad: The Ward by Al K. Line Read Free Book Online Page A

slumped into one of the new garden chairs they'd picked up for a steal at a store that was closing down. She watched as the blue tits and the sparrows fought for supremacy, the sparrows coming out victorious — they always seemed to appear together, easily crowding out the blue tits that usually came in ones or twos.
    The day was still warm and it couldn't be later than early afternoon, maybe she should use her watch again? She'd taken it off at the beginning of the summer as she always did so she didn't get a strap line from her sunbathing, but maybe she should start wearing it if they were going to be time traveling all over the place.
    She caught herself and shook her head at the madness. What was she thinking? Who said anything about any more jumps? They'd done what was asked of them, hadn't they? Why did she take it for granted that they'd be doing it again?
    Of course, because they still had jumps left on the Hexad. How many? Amanda added up the jumps. They'd done three so had three left. What could they do? Where could they go? Should they do something to help people? Jump and stop wars? Could she see her parents again?
    Now she was upset. It was silly, to think about them in that way. They were gone; her present life was all down to them — they'd left enough money to help her and Dale buy their first home, no mortgage. It was a great home, a great life. A large wraparound garden on three sides, working from home, getting up when they wanted. Just them, together. But could she? Could she jump back and keep her parents alive? What kind of repercussions would it have?
    "Hey, you okay, Amanda?" asked Dale, looking worried as he put the coffee mugs down on the already damaged wooden table. Amanda had caught him using it to rest a piece of wood he was sawing, and boy was he in trouble when she told him off then realized that he'd cut through the plank and the table too. Muppet!
    "I'm okay, thanks for the coffee. Just thinking about Mum and Dad is all, because of the Hexad."
    "Oh, I'm sorry, honey, I know you miss them. I've been thinking about it too. We have three jumps, shouldn't we do something or do you think it will be a big no-no? Maybe we'd affect the future if we jump into the past and go see people, or try to kill the inventor of the gun?"
    "Where'd that come from?"
    "What?"
    "The inventor of the gun? I'd never thought of that. Who did invent it?" That was a good idea, wasn't it? Although I've never even hit anyone, let alone killed someone.
    Dale shrugged. "I have no idea." He slurped his coffee and scowled at the apple tree as tiny fruits fell onto the lawn, disturbed by the squirrel as it crept along the branches as if it thought they couldn't see him.
    Thud.
    Dale and Amanda jumped up and stared at each other, not knowing what to expect but knowing it would be something awful, something to do with Hexads. Maybe someone was after them? Tellan said there were a lot of people from various universes after them, but weren't they supposed to be gone or closed off or something? Who knew? By rights, surely the futures they had just visited shouldn't exist, otherwise... Don't think about it.
    Amanda looked around. Dale was already staring at what had caused the noise as it hit the ground.
    "It's a pigeon," said Dale, looking around cautiously then stepping closer.
    "Careful!" warned Amanda.
    "Of what, time traveling pigeons? Haha."
    "Dale, be careful."
    Dale walked up to the bird, then squatted to inspect it. "It's got no head, and all its insides are gone. Weird."
    Amanda moved beside him. She gripped his shoulder, getting a handful of his curly, dark hair as well. She peered at the bird. It really was a headless pigeon. Amanda took a step back and peered up at the roof of the bungalow — there was no sign it had been up there, but then what would a headless pigeon be doing on the roof?
    "Let's just go inside, I've had enough surprises for one day," said Dale, pushing the bird away from the kitchen door.
    "I'll get