Shadow Borne by Angie West Read Free Book Online Page A

the lace mesh top and cargo pants. I knew
the exact moment he spotted the knife strapped to my right thigh.
His eyes became orbs and flashed back to my face.
    That's right, I thought harshly, things have
changed since you've been here last. I continued to defiantly stare
him down and he didn't voice any of the questions that I knew he
was dying to fire at me. Apparently, he was willing enough to humor
me, for the time being at least.
    "Okay." After a moment, he nodded. "Okay
then. I've missed you." he added quietly.
    "Let's walk down the yard a bit." I exhaled
and wrapped my arms around my waist, shivering a little even though
the night air wasn't particularly cold.
    Mike frowned "We're safer here, Aries."
    I glanced over my shoulder at him, surprised
by his reluctance to move from the porch, until I remembered Mike
had a tendency to live on the wrong side of paranoia. I didn't
laugh at him or point out that if anything dangerous lurked about,
the porch, especially lit up as it was, provided a dubious shelter
at best. All I said was, "This porch is shining like high noon and
it's beginning to give me a headache."
    "Yes, it is rather bright, isn't it?" Mike
looked thoroughly impressed. "I wonder what wattage these bulbs
are?"
    "Look," I heaved a sigh, "If you want to
talk then follow me out into the front yard. If not, then tell
Claire I'll see her in the morning."
    One muffled curse and a few stomps later,
Mike was striding down the porch steps and into the relative
semi-darkness of the yard.
    I walked clear to the edge of the driveway
before stopping and turning around to face him. He came to rest a
few feet away and glanced nervously at the tree line beside us.
    "I don't think this is a good idea."
    "Relax, it's fine. There are over a hundred
men in the bunkhouses behind the main house and almost three
hundred more clustered in and near the safe houses in the woods
surrounding the property. There's no safer place to be right now
and besides, our fences are still holding strong. Nothing's getting
in here. Not tonight, anyway." I purposely neglected to remind him
that crime of the everyday two-legged average citizen variety was
still alive and well.
    Really, petty crime around here wasn't all
that common and residents committing violent crime on one another
was downright rare, even if overall crime had increased
proportionally with the recent population swell. Still, we were
safe enough, I reasoned, so there was no good reason to make Mike
any more edgy than he already was.
    He was mute for so long I'd begun to think
he'd given up on his plan to talk to me. But then he ran his
fingers through his hair and the words "My God, Aries, what
happened?" burst forth like a dam breaking.
    I wasn't sure if he meant Terlain or me so I
decided to assume he'd been referring to my homeland. It was the
easier question to answer and that was sure as hell saying
something. "This place looks a little different than you remember,
huh?" I shook my head and toed the ground with the tip of my boot
before looking at him again.
    "A little?" He gave a short, harsh bark of
laughter. "For a minute there, I thought we'd landed in the wrong
alternate universe." he muttered.
    "Are there more?"
    "God, I hope not."
    "Well." I shrugged. "Anyway, this place is
pretty torn up." I sighed. "It's been a long year."
    "When did all this happen?" Mike asked,
gesturing with one hand to the forest and, more specifically, to
what lay beyond.
    "Not long after you and Claire and Ashley
left Terlain. Kahn found a way to breach the protective barriers of
the fences. At least, we think Kahn is responsible; so far no one
has been able to figure out exactly how he managed it. But who else
would have, and could have, done such a thing?"
    "I don't know. I can't think of anyone right
offhand." Mike frowned.
    "Neither can I. Although, I've got to admit
that if our people have a more formidable enemy than Kahn, at this
point I'm not certain I even want to know. But back to