Spirit Ascendancy by E. E. Holmes Read Free Book Online

go out later and buy some grass-fed tofu burgers or something!”
    I sat down beside Finn, who had not so much as looked at me since I’d entered the kitchen. He was bent so low over one of his shabby black notebooks that his hair was trailing along the page. He was scribbling with impressive speed, with what looked like a bacon sandwich clamped between his teeth.
    “Did you get down that whole conversation, or would you like me to repeat any of it?” I asked him.
    Finn looked up, scowling, and pulled the roll from his mouth to say, “I’m not writing down your—”
    “I know that! My god, have you never even been introduced to the concept of a joke?”
    He frowned at me for another moment, and then shoved the rest of the sandwich in his mouth and bent again to write. “No.”
    “How sad for you,” I said. I glanced at the cabinet again. “Wow, that is seriously impressive junk food, though. The only other person I’ve ever met who ate that much garbage was Karen, and at least she had the excuse that she was working all the time. Her fridge was… hey, wait a minute!” My change in tone made everyone stare. “Karen! Someone needs to get in touch with Karen to warn her about—”
    “We’ve already done it,” Finn said, talking over me.
    “You… really?”
    “Yes. It was right after you fell asleep, the first day we got here. Hannah called her using one of the disposable cell phones and warned her about what’s happened.”
    “Did she freak out?” I asked. I envisioned Karen, glued to the phone with one hand and booking an international flight on her laptop with the other. “You know she’ll be out here in a heartbeat if she knows how much trouble we’re really in.”
    “Actually, I think I managed to convince her that we’ll be in more trouble if she comes,” Hannah said. “She knows how the Durupinen work; they aren’t above using her as bait, if necessary, to lure us back to Fairhaven, and of course the Necromancers will be looking for every connection we left behind in an effort to find us. She’s not safe anymore.”
    “So what’s she doing?”
    “Going into hiding as soon as possible. She also said it would be a good idea for your friend Tia to do the same, so she’s going to arrange it.”
    “This is awful. This is just a nightmare. It’s ruining everyone’s lives! What about Karen’s job? And what will Tia have to do, drop out of St. Matt’s? Leave the country? And it’s all my fault,” I cried, dropping my head into my hands.
    “It will be okay, Jess,” Hannah said, laying a soothing hand on my arm. “The most important thing is for them to be safe. This will all blow over soon. Karen is a brilliant lawyer, she’ll have no trouble finding another great job, and St. Matt’s will still be there when it’s safe for Tia to go back to classes. It’s just temporary, and we’ll all feel better knowing that they’re out of harm’s way, won’t we?”
    “I know, I know, but… it just sucks,” I said.
    “Yeah, it does,” she said.
    Despite everything that had happened between us, I felt a sudden upsurge of affection for Karen, for not only thinking of Tia, but offering to help her. I picked my head up. “Does Karen think she can pull it off? What does she know about putting people into hiding?”
    Hannah shrugged. “I don’t know but she sounded pretty confident. She said she had contacts she could use from working federal cases. I told her to call Lucida, but she didn’t want to do that. She didn’t want to use anyone connected to the Durupinen, just in case.”
    I snorted. “Yeah, and she also hates Lucida. I’m sure she’d want to avoid using her help, regardless.”
    I looked around the table and registered for the first time that Lucida was missing. “So where’s she slunk off to, anyway?” I asked the room at large, but it was again Hannah who answered.
    “She had to go back to Fairhaven.”
    “So you’re telling me that there actually is a