Nomad by Matthew Mather Read Free Book Online Page A

“The videos of you on YouTube, the famous American girl, BASE jumping, sky diving and rock climbing, the…” His voice faltered.
    “What, the cripple?” Jess finished the sentence for him. Her cheeks flushed, and she struggled to keep her temper from flaring. He was being nice. He didn’t mean anything.
    “Sorry, I don’t know—”
    “It’s okay. Disabled, that would be the right word. But I’m not a cripple. I don’t need any special treatment.”
    Shaking his head, Giovanni agreed, “No, you are no cripple. I was so surprised when I saw you here. You are magnificent, beautiful.” He winced. “Sorry, my English is a little rusty, perhaps not the right words?”
    Jess laughed, her flash of temper burning into one of embarrassment. “No, those are nice words.”
    Giovanni’s smile returned. “I was wondering if you might do me a favor.”
    Squinting into the sun, Jess took a long look at him. “What did you have in mind?”
    “If you might give my little Hector a rock climbing lesson, perhaps?”
    She looked down the rock face. “What, now?”
    Giovanni looked down. “Yes. I have all the equipment. We could set a top rope, no?”
    She looked down at the rock face. “Sure, we could do that. One thing though.”
    The Baron looked at her. “Anything.”
    “If we’re going to be friends, call me Jess, okay?”
     

     
    Giovanni stored his climbing equipment just inside the doorway of a tunnel carved into the side of the rock face, on the twenty-foot-wide ledge of grass below the cable car station. While he went to fetch Hector and Nico, Jess set up two ropes from a metal gantry sticking out from the top of the cliff face, and having enough cord, she also rigged a rope swing from the cable car platform to let someone drop from there to the grassy ledge thirty feet below.
    She’d just finished when Giovanni returned with Nico and Hector. Only five years old, Hector scampered around the low rocks like a monkey, smiling a big grin at Jess as he jumped around. He was fearless, and earned large return grins from Jess.
    She attached the two topes to Giovanni and Hector in their climbing harnesses. Jess and Nico strapped into harnesses and attached themselves to the other ends of the ropes, taking up the slack as Hector and Giovanni climbed, with Jess calling out suggestions and encouragement.
    “So what brought you to Ruspoli Castle?” Nico asked Jess. With Giovanni and Hector twenty feet overhead, Jess and Nico stood shoulder to shoulder, carefully taking in the excess rope as the two ascended.
    Jess glanced at Nico, then returned to watching Hector, taking up the slack with the braking mechanism attached to her. “Funny story. My mom got a Facebook message from a long-lost relative a few weeks ago, said he still lived here and wanted to meet us.”
    Nico jammed his brake into place and looked at Jess. “What? Who? Did you meet him?”
    “No, not yet.” Jess frowned at Nico. What had gotten him so excited? “He hasn't responded since we've arrived. Why?”
    Nico stared at Jess for a long second, then looked up at Giovanni and released the brake. “Just curious. So your family is from here?”
    “My mom’s side, but from years ago. We didn’t think anyone from our family still lived here. So we came to investigate.”
    “You came all the way from America just for that?” Nico nodded. “Family must be very important to you.”
    Jess let her head sag to one side. “Well, it wasn’t just for that.” She pulled in two more feet of rope into the brake as Hector climbed. “And I don’t know anything about the old family. My mom says her dad refused to talk about it.”
    “You know nothing?” Nico turned to look at Jess.
    “Nothing at all.” Jess wagged her head, shrugging. “And you, do you have family here?”
    Nico’s jaw muscles rippled, but he smiled. “No, I have no family.”
    “You’re from Naples, though. Isn’t that what you said earlier?”
    “That’s right.”
    “And