Next of Kin by Dan Wells Read Free Book Online
Authors: Dan Wells
Rosie.
“Outside,” said the boy, and after a moment’s hesitation Rosie stepped around me and took the woman’s hand, moving toward the hall but then stopping in the doorway. The woman tugged on her arm, but Rosie paused to look at me one final time. She opened her mouth to speak, but then turned and left without a word. Another connection severed, another loved one gone forever.
The last little piece of my heart broke, and I looked back at the boy with the dead eyes.
“How did you know about us?” I asked.
“We have what you might call an informant.”
“Another Withered?”
“Friend of a friend.”
I nodded, watching the pieces slowly fit together, but there was still so much I didn’t understand. “Who are you?”
“My name’s John Cleaver,” said the boy, and his dead eyes lit up with the hollow outlines of a smile. “Professional psychopath.”
“Why didn’t you kill me?”
“The war I assume Gidri warned you about is real,” said John. He gestured at the carnage in the room. “I take it you didn’t like his offer, so I’d like you to hear mine.”
I remembered a starless night on an ancient mountain, and another offer that had doomed us all. Ten thousand years of loss and pain.
But I remembered Rosie, too. Our first kiss. A hundred thousand loves from a hundred thousand lives. I could hide, or I could give those lives meaning.
I closed my eyes, and dreamed of death.
About the Author
When Dan was five years old, he got autographs from both Darth Vader and Mr. Rogers. He owns more than 300 board games. He has visited fifteen different countries and lived in three. He was diagnosed with hypochondria as a child, but it’s mostly gone now. He memorizes poetry for fun. He will eat pretty much anything at least once. He collects ugly ties. He is terrified of needles, mediocrity, and senile dementia. When he dies, his wife has specific instructions to play Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough” at his funeral.
Visit Dan on the web at www.thedanwells.com .
“Outside,” said the boy, and after a moment’s hesitation Rosie stepped around me and took the woman’s hand, moving toward the hall but then stopping in the doorway. The woman tugged on her arm, but Rosie paused to look at me one final time. She opened her mouth to speak, but then turned and left without a word. Another connection severed, another loved one gone forever.
The last little piece of my heart broke, and I looked back at the boy with the dead eyes.
“How did you know about us?” I asked.
“We have what you might call an informant.”
“Another Withered?”
“Friend of a friend.”
I nodded, watching the pieces slowly fit together, but there was still so much I didn’t understand. “Who are you?”
“My name’s John Cleaver,” said the boy, and his dead eyes lit up with the hollow outlines of a smile. “Professional psychopath.”
“Why didn’t you kill me?”
“The war I assume Gidri warned you about is real,” said John. He gestured at the carnage in the room. “I take it you didn’t like his offer, so I’d like you to hear mine.”
I remembered a starless night on an ancient mountain, and another offer that had doomed us all. Ten thousand years of loss and pain.
But I remembered Rosie, too. Our first kiss. A hundred thousand loves from a hundred thousand lives. I could hide, or I could give those lives meaning.
I closed my eyes, and dreamed of death.
About the Author
When Dan was five years old, he got autographs from both Darth Vader and Mr. Rogers. He owns more than 300 board games. He has visited fifteen different countries and lived in three. He was diagnosed with hypochondria as a child, but it’s mostly gone now. He memorizes poetry for fun. He will eat pretty much anything at least once. He collects ugly ties. He is terrified of needles, mediocrity, and senile dementia. When he dies, his wife has specific instructions to play Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough” at his funeral.
Visit Dan on the web at www.thedanwells.com .
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