Solstice by Jane Redd Read Free Book Online Page A

reached under it.
    Nothing.
    I lifted the mattress and scanned the empty space. “No,” I whispered, as I searched under the bed, in the dresser drawers, in the latrine. “No no no.” The book was completely and absolutely missing.
    Standing in the middle of my dorm room, I was torn between the need to get back to class and an urgency to find the book. Finally, feeling like I was in a dream, I walked back to class. The door had shut, but the longer I waited, the more I’d have to explain. Lifting my palm, I scanned the door open.
    Chalice and the other students looked up as I slipped into my seat. I avoided their collective gaze and stared at my console, trying to concentrate. Where had the book gone? How long until someone came for me?
    But no one came for me, and somehow I managed to keep my turmoil hidden.
    As Chalice and I walked back to our dorm after classes, she was painfully quiet, and I wondered again about the red marks on her arms. Whatever was happening to Sol right now, the worst part was that it had been in vain. When Chalice fell asleep for the night, I’d do another search, but I knew I’d already looked every place. The book was gone.
    I followed Chalice inside, wondering if I’d be able to hold back tears until night fell. As soon as the door slid shut, Chalice turned to me and put a finger to her lips. Then she motioned for me to sit on her bed as I watched her pull the wardrobe silently a foot forward. On the wall behind, Chalice removed a square section of thick plaster by running her fingernails along a cut-out line.
    I stared in amazement as she reached into the cavity of the wall and pulled out a small box. I rose from the bed and knelt beside her, my pulse throbbing furiously as Chalice opened the box to reveal the book inside.
    I let out my breath, not realizing I’d even been holding it, my thoughts crashing around me. The book hadn’t been discovered after all. And Chalice had hidden it for me. I looked over at her, trying to read her expression. She had to be different from the others—she had to care about me.
    “Read it,” Chalice whispered, looking around as if someone could see or hear us. “Hurry, then we have to destroy it.”
    But I was already shaking my head, and my pulse drummed with cold fear. “No,” I whispered back. “We should destroy it now—it’s already caused enough trouble.” I couldn’t shake the terror that had possessed me while I sat helpless in the classroom after Sol left. And I couldn’t let Chalice get involved, too.
    Before I could back away, Chalice pressed the book in my hands. “That’s why you need to read it.”
    I pushed the book toward her. “There’s nothing good in that book. I don’t want to read about the rules some woman broke and how she failed society.” I couldn’t tell Chalice that I was desperate to read the book. But I was afraid too—to learn about Rose’s falling in love. My breathing shortened. It was too much. Too hard. If I didn’t read Rose’s story, I could forget about how I was in the same danger.
    “Jez.” Chalice stood and held the book out to me. “If you don’t read it, I will.” She looked me straight in the eyes. She had a haunted look in hers. “Do you want me to get into trouble like Sol? Real trouble?”
    “No,” I whispered. Chalice had been through enough, and it stunned me to think of what Sol had done for me. What I wanted to know was why. Would I have done the same thing for him? Not if it gave away my state of immunity to the Harmony implant. Maybe this was a clue that Sol was more like me. Maybe he was immune, too?
    Or maybe not. Maybe I couldn’t see past my own heart.
    “It’s your inheritance,” Chalice said. “And it’s your caretaker’s last wish.”
    “That doesn’t mean it’s right to read it,” I blurted out. But even as I said it, I wanted to take the book from her. It was like I couldn’t turn away. Naomi knew me more than anyone and somehow, David had saved this