Pahnyakin Rising by Elisha Forrester Read Free Book Online Page A

soft white light on the roads that she found it unnecessary to use the square LED headlight affixed at the center of her handlebars.  Her eyes darted from side to side every few feet and she noted something odd:  for three blocks, she saw no Unies.  Dogs barked in back yards as the girl pedaled her bicycle down the center of the black two-lane street.  The neighborhood appeared untouched by the Pahnyakins and she thought, for the first time since the species moved into the area, that the neighborhood was like she remembered from childhood.  She liked it that way, but she could not calm the uneasiness she felt at the lack of presence from the aliens.
    Two yellow lights were on at her high school but there were no cars parked in the vacant lot.  Across the street on her right, a television was left on at the cable provider’s office.  She never did understand that.  It wasn’t as if pedestrians ever stopped outside the glass front building to watch the around-the-clock news station.  She passed the hologram on the corner of Shelby Drive and Upper 11 th Street.  The figure of Mayor Bago holding a sign that simply read, ‘Reelect Bago’ smiled and crackled as brown-winged moths hovered and fluttered wildly in front of the bulbs that projected the transparent image. Dresden always thought holograms were creepy. 
    She was unsure of the time as she reached a white-painted billboard with the words, ‘Goodbye from Easton, Indiana’ written in large red letters, but she knew she was only two miles from the Wotomack Bridge.  The teenager pedaled in darkness with wind blowing her hair behind her numb ears until she reached a crumpled blue beer can on the side of the cracked pavement.  She squeezed her hand brakes lightly and squinted to make sure she was seeing what she thought she was.  Dresden climbed off her bike and laid it in the dewy overgrown ditch on the left side of the road.  She was more focused on the repetitive lavender flashing light half a mile up the road.  It was all she could see as the moon hid behind slow-moving dark clouds.
    In the dark of night, the girl walked through the ditch and prayed she was unseen by the Pahnyakins ahead.  She still could not make out that the beings were on the bridge, but what else could the flashing be? 
    The arches of her feet stretched and hurt with every heavy and rushed step she took.  She could tell she was nearing the transmitter.  A sweet scent filled the air and she recognized it as the honeysuckle cluster to the left of the bushes.  As she neared the transmitter, she could see the outlines of six Pahnyakin beings surrounding a Gaia.  It was unlike anything she had ever witnessed.  The purple visitor’s flashing slowed to a dim glow and the Pahnyakins’ chatters and clicks grew in volume and speed.  The clicks reminded Dresden of a stick clattering against the spoke of a bicycle tire.  She hid near the transmitter and pushed the weeds to the right with the side of her palm for a better view of the bridge.
    Like air released from the squeezed lip of a balloon, a squeaking screech rang through the air.  Even from a distance, the noise hurt Dresden’s eardrums.  She quickly drew her palms over her single-pierced ears.  The teenager carefully observed the Pahnyakins surrounding the Gaia as they hurriedly moved away from the leader.  Something wasn’t right and the senior girl knew she should leave as quickly as possible, but something inside of her wanted to move closer . 
    The glow from the Gaia grew brighter as Dresden cautiously crawled through the tall grass on her hands and knees.  Her thin leggings were soaked within thirty seconds of moving nearer to the bridge.  Her fingers sank into the cold and muddied ground.  Something slithered over her right fingertips and she gasped in fear.  Realizing her error, she whipped her eyes forward to see four Unies and two Imperators eyeing the land in her direction.  She held her breath as she