Sacrifices by Mercedes Lackey, Rosemary Edghill Read Free Book Online

rude to the Oakhurst kids, but Teddy was pretending not to notice and everyone else was following his lead.) Erika Bass was the kind of pale sandy blonde who looked as if her eyebrows and eyelashes were invisible. She had a high nervous giggle—and she giggled constantly .
    “Well, my dad—the Sheriff—says a one-industry town can have problems,” Brenda Copeland said, and Spirit realized that she was continuing a conversation that the Radial kids must have been having when Teddy’s driver went and got them. She was wearing a heavy shearling coat instead of a parka. “He says we should take a wait and see attitude.” It was difficult to tell whether she was pretty or not, because she wore glasses with lenses so thick they could probably start fires. They made her brown eyes huge—and not in a good way.
    “Well, I’m going to apply there just as soon as school’s out,” Bella said. “I’m class valedictorian, you know,” she added, for the Oakhurst students’ benefit. “I’m studying programming, too.” She had frizzy brown hair, pale eyes, and braces—the full-on “Alien” kind, with the retaining wire and the neck brace. “I’ve always gotten straight As—I guess I could get a college scholarship if I wanted one, you know?”
    “Oh yeah. Like an A + in Home Ec is going to impress Breakthrough,” Kylee said cuttingly.
    “Well, I think having Breakthrough here is a wonderful thing—for us and for Breakthrough,” Veronica said, her voice high and nervous. “Everyone knows they’ll bring jobs into the county, right?”
    “‘They’ is sitting right in front of you,” Dylan said with a sneer, waving toward Teddy.
    “Well, it’s still true, right?” Veronica said plaintively.
    “Whatever you say, Couch. You better hope they hire you—maybe they could pay enough to afford even your grocery bills,” Kennedy said.
    Spirit watched Juliette’s mouth settle into a thin angry line as the others did their best to impress Teddy. She wasn’t sure whether she was more embarrassed by the Radial teens, or for them. At least everyone stopped sniping at each other to stare out the windows when they arrived at their destination—the Breakthrough construction site.
    “Oh awright !” Dylan cried, bouncing up and down on the seat. He’d said the complex covered fifty acres. Looking at it now, Spirit thought it might even be larger. There was a gravel road leading up to the building in the distance, and as the limo drove along it, she could see foundations being laid for a wall that would probably extend around the entire park. Despite the weather, construction was going full speed ahead. Trailers were clustered like a besieging army at the foot of The Fortress’s walls, and the roar of heavy machinery filled the air.
    “This is only the tip of the iceberg,” Teddy said, waving. “Once The Fortress is finished, we’re going to start work on the apartment complex—I think Mark wants to put that right in town, if he can get zoning approval. Have to have places for everyone to live, right? We’re relocating everyone who wants to come, of course, but we’ve really been romancing our key R&D staff. And Mark has plans for expansion, too. Come spring, we’ll be able to start the landscaping, too. It’ll look less like a big empty field then.”
    “Oh, you’re so smart!” Veronica said.
    Erika giggled.
    “Mark knows all about the dangers of a one-industry town,” Teddy said, smiling at Brenda charmingly. “Look at what happened when IBM crashed. He has plans to invest in the county’s infrastructure in a big way. That way, even if Breakthrough goes bankrupt”—he laughed deprecatingly—“which isn’t likely as long as people want to play electronic games of any kind—we’ll be leaving behind us something of value.”
    Spirit glanced around at the limo’s other passengers. She had the odd feeling Teddy was lying (but why would he bother with a big elaborate lie to a bunch of kids?) but