Lunatic by Ted Dekker Read Free Book Online Page B

sneered. "Either the capture of his albino brother is making him unfit to lead an army, Captain, or your claims are but ill-founded woman's speak. Now, which is it?"
    Cassak's expression changed with the epiphany that his concern would undermine his general. He growled and stalked out.
    Sucrow turned back to his work. Such idiots.
    EVEN AS JOHNIS PARTED MOSS AND VINES AND CROUCHED next to the hidden pool, the strange woman's haunting plea stayed with him. He hadn't heard her voice again, but the impulse to run into the desert increased.
    "Still seeing invisible women?" Silvie asked. By now the moon was overhead and the stars were out, and he couldn't see her very well.

    "No. Not in two hours, since last time."
    "But. . ."
    "But I still think we need to go into the desert." He splashed water on his face, expecting it to sting a little.
    "It doesn't sting." Johnis stared. As he stared, an image shimmered along the surface of the water. A woman's pale face and shimmering, white-blonde hair. One eye blue, one purple. Both with red slivers.
    Her mouth moved. Aid me, Chosen One. . . "
    "Johnis." Silvie touched his back.
    The image faded.
    Silvie stared down at him as if he'd grown a thousand limbs, like the grove of spider trees they hid in.
    His gaze drifted to the grove. Spider trees were enormous bushes that grew to about ten feet. Runners spreading up to fifteen feet.
    Beneath this tentlike canopy was the hidden pool.
    Johnis looked back at the dark surface of the water, just to be sure.
    Nothing.
    "Silvie, something isn't ..."
    She sank down next to him and cupped the liquid with her hand. "It's ..."
    "I saw something. In the water."

    "Your imaginary friend?"
    "Well ... Yes. I saw her reflection in the water. Something's wrong. It should burn like mad, and I swear I saw something."
    Silvie scoffed. "There's nothing in it."
    "I want a better look."
    Johnis wiped the dirt off his palms until they were clean and scooped with both hands. Again, no stinging sensation. No healing power.
    "This isn't ... Why doesn't it work?"
    "Maybe we have to give it more time."
    "No. No, they've defiled it." Johnis raked long fingers through wet, muddy hair. Dirt flaked out. "But I thought they didn't know about this one."
    "It's been five years here. Maybe ... maybe they found it."
    johnisss . . .
    Johnis stared at the pool, merely a dark, glassy spot here in the shadows. The woman's image surfaced, willowy across the rippling water. Her transparent skin seemed to glow.
    The desert.
    Her image receded.
    Johnis sucked a breath. "I don't think they found it ..."
    He had to know.
    He scooped a double handful and walked out into the sand and the moonlight. The light glinted at an angle.
    A reddish tint colored the dark liquid.
    He dropped the water.

    "Johnis?" Silvie's footsteps fell toward him.
    The water was red. Bloodred.
    He shook his hands.
    The desert. Something in the desert.
    Silvie caught him by the tunic and tugged. Johnis tried to breathe. But she wouldn't believe him, so there was no point.
    "Darsal, Johnis." Silvie pulled him back into the grove. "Darsal, water, Thomas. No shenanigans, no lunatic ideas."
    He nodded. Forced his legs to move. "We'll have to wait for morning. We need to rest anyway. Although I don't know if Darsal will know to look for us here."
    "She said she'd find us, remember? And you left her a sign." She grinned. "Though she might kill you for carving a Book of History."
    Johnis half-smiled. The desert still plagued him.
    The woman's song soothed his soul. She wanted him to come. Needed him to come.
    "Johnis."
    He shook himself back to reality.
    "She'll know it was us ..." Johnis rubbed his ear. "We didn't really count on being chased out. She wasn't at the lake ..."
    "We didn't exactly have time to wait for her. She's buried herself somewhere; we'll find her in the morning."
    "She's good at hiding." His mind slipped back into the past.
    Then grew cloudy, eclipsed by those strange eyes.
    Aid me, Chosen One. I await