Lightning by Bonnie S. Calhoun Read Free Book Online

of love? You’re too young.”
    â€œI know how I feel when I’m with him. I know how my insides get all jumbled up and that I feel flushed.” Selah cringed at opening up that way to her father, but she had to make him understand.
    â€œAnd how do you know that wasn’t just the changes of turning novarium coming over you? The reorganization of nerve fibers and biometric connections?”
    Selah opened her mouth to speak and then closed it. How ironic that she was being asked not to trust her feelings for a man she’d known only three months . . . by another man she’d known only three months. Then again, Glade was the only other person who could help her with the cryptic file code Jaenen had given her.
    And how did she know the difference between love and turning novarium? She was willing to take the chance on it really being love, but she wasn’t willing to gamble that the file detailing the condition affecting Bodhi would still beavailable if she asked Glade to help her get it. She decided to stay silent.
    Glade averted his eyes again and ran his hand across his chin. He mumbled something she couldn’t hear.
    â€œWhat did you say?” Selah continued to absorb details from the map.
    â€œI said Bodhi is useless to you now. You need someone who still has their abilities to help protect you. There’s a long journey ahead to the West, and there are going to be many trying to stop you from reaching the Third Protocol.” Glade’s voice came out agitated and abrupt. “I’m your father and I will guide your path on this.”
    Selah’s head snapped up. She shook with anger. “You forfeited the right to guide my path the day you walked away.”
    Glade went back to his work. “Bodhi didn’t come here with the mandate I’ve been given. His job is done. My remaining purpose is to get you on the other side of the mountains to the Third Protocol. That has to succeed above all else. Lives—a thousand years of lives—depend upon my completion of this task. I’ve been thwarted for the last eighteen years. Time is running out, and I make no apologies.”
    â€œSo no one or nothing is more important than your plans.” She glanced at him one more time. His eyes suddenly appeared tired, and he looked like he was aging before her eyes.
    Selah stormed up the stairs and pushed her way through the heavy door. She wanted to slam it so the sound would echo, so it would make her feel better, but with the restrictors that closed it slowly, all she could manage was a soft thud. Not at all satisfying.
    Just as she reached the outside, her ComLink sounded. She punched the key, missed it the first time, and dug her fingernail into her arm.
    She winced and tried again. Treva’s face popped onto the screen, large and close. “Listen,” she said in almost a whisper. “I couldn’t talk freely before. Don’t go near MedTec, and meet me at the transport. I have to tell you what I just found out.”

4

    B odhi watched Selah leave. The look of anger on her face was unmistakable. He crossed the hall to the teaching theater and pulled open the door, aware of his diminishing strength. A week ago he’d have barely noticed the weight of the thick wooden door.
    Glade was still sitting down at the front, bent over a slew of old maps. Bodhi rushed down the stairs and over to the table attached to Glade’s desk.
    â€œI don’t know what you said to your daughter, but you have to stop treating her like that.”
    Seemingly unfazed by Bodhi’s outburst, Glade peered over the magnifying lenses, then back down at his work.
    â€œSelah looked like she was angry and ready to cry when she left here.”
    â€œAnd what business is that of yours? Need I remind you that I’ve ordered you away from my daughter?”
    Bodhi leaned forward and rested his palms on the tabletop.“I made a bad deal, and I’m going