Magisterium by Jeff Hirsch Read Free Book Online

yowled and shot out of her arms.
    The air was full of popping sounds, like a string of firecrackers.
    Hands grasped her shoulders, but she wrenched away from them, mesmerized by the tiny impact craters that were opening up the ground all around her, kicking up a haze of snow and dirt.
    “Get up, Glenn! They’re shooting at us!”
    Kevin yanked Glenn to her feet and pulled her backward. As she staggered away, she was shocked to see the orange flashes coming from the drones. Not stingers, but bullets. Real bullets.
    Reality came crashing down and Glenn turned and fled into the woods with Kevin staying just ahead of her. They both ran flat out. At some point Glenn was aware of passing the border’s warning lights but she just kept on going, lurching over obstacles in their path until her lungs ached and a vicious cramp put a stitch in her side. Finally exhausted, the two of them dropped down behind a thick screen of trees, panting.
    Glenn dared to raise her head to look back the way they had come. Nothing but trees. The firing had stopped.
    “We must have run a mile or more,” Kevin said, shivering as he looked around. “We crossed the border.”
    The warning lights were only a faint glow behind them. Ahead was dense forest stretching as far as she could see. Even with a nearly full moon, the space between the trees was a deep black.
    “Why aren’t they chasing us?” Glenn said.
    “Why were they shooting at us in the first place?”
    The red jewel at the center of the bracelet glowed like a cat’s eye.
    Was it possible? Had he really discovered something? Something Authority was willing to kill for? Glenn felt sick as she saw him on his knees in the snow, looking up at her before he collapsed.
    “We have to talk to your father,” she said.
    “What? He’s the one who got us into this in the first place!”
    “It’s a misunderstanding. If we explain it to him rationally maybe he can get my dad freed.”
    “And how are we going to do that when thirty Authority drones want us dead?”
    “They stopped chasing us,” Glenn said.
    “But —”
    “What choice do we have? Unless you picked up some camping
    skills while I wasn’t looking we’re going to have to go back at some point. And your father is government , Kevin. There’s no way Authority is going to shoot us on his doorstep. Your house is probably the safest place we could be.”
    Before Kevin could say anything else Glenn looked up and
    sighted Polaris.
    “That way’s north,” she said. “Come on.”
    Kevin started to protest but Glenn was on the move and he had no choice but to follow. As they made their way through the darkness, Glenn looked for some sign of Hopkins. Her heart ached at the thought of him putting himself between her and the drones, only to be lost in the cold without her to protect him. No , she told herself, he’s smart.
    He’ll slip past the drones and get back inside the house. He’ll be there waiting for me when all of this is over.
    The land sloped upward, a slippery mess of old snow and fallen tree limbs. Glenn was more used to asphalt and concrete but she carefully picked out a narrow path and eased her way up. She felt every rock and branch through the soles of her thin slippers. Beside her, Kevin had his arms wrapped around his chest and was shaking as they walked.
    “Seriously, Kevin. There’s nothing to be afraid of. They’re just woods. No werepeople.”
    “I’m not afraid,” he said, his voice wavering. “I’m cold.”
    “So dial up the thermals in your clothes.”
    “Not working,” he said. “Must have busted something when your dad’s workshop went up and I came to get you.”
    Kevin pulled his thin jacket tight over his chest. Other than that, he was wearing a T-shirt and a pair of jeans. The temperature had to be below zero, easy. If his thermals weren’t working, he must have been freezing.
    “You didn’t have to do it,” Glenn said. “You could have just gone home.”
    “Gee, Morgan,” he