Start by Odette C. Bell Read Free Book Online

did
all the real work, and soon enough the apartment was
sparkling.
    “Okay,
fantastic,” Alicia clapped her hands together. “Everything is ready
for tomorrow.”
    Nida
walked towards her bedroom door, but paused before she opened it.
She turned around to consider her flat mate. “Why exactly do you
care so much? You go out on dates all the time. Why are these guys
any different?”
    Alicia's eyes sparkled with a particularly frightening
fervour. She took on such a strong and powerful and triumphant
stance that it looked as if she were about to preside over the
conquering of the galaxy. “They are graduates. Full lieutenants, in
fact,” she said, that smile of hers reminding Nida of a rabid
dog.
    Rolling her eyes, Nida now understood.
    “Oh,
whatever,” Alicia snapped. “Now go and have your shower. And if you
can make yourself scarce tomorrow night, it would be greatly
appreciated.”
    Nida
shook her head. “I promise you, I have no intention of coming out
of my room tomorrow to interrupt your double date with Bridget and
a pair of lieutenants,” she noted sharply as she walked through her
door and it closed behind her.
    Reaching her bed, she gave her pillow a firm, almost petulant
punch. Then she hugged it in both arms, squished her face into it,
and groaned. Loudly.
    She
was lucky that these rooms were relatively soundproof, otherwise
Alicia would be pounding on the door and screaming at her to shut
up.
    After
several minutes of punching her pillow and groaning into it, Nida
finally grew a backbone, sat up, and told herself it was time to
get over it.
    Yes,
she was unlucky, yes, she'd gotten in trouble today for sleeping
in, but what help would moping about it do?
    The
answer was it wouldn't help at all.
    Forcing herself at least to try to do a few of her outstanding
assignments, it wasn't long until Nida finally went to
bed.
    She
slept like a log, as always. But every now and then throughout the
night she would wake, her eyes forcing themselves open as if the
lids had been dragged apart by speeding cruisers. And though she
could not tell it, little flashes of blue light erupted deep within
the pupils with the brilliance of supernovas in a starless
sky.
     

Chapter
4
    Carson
Blake
    He was
bored. Completely and utterly bored. He couldn't think of anything
worse than preparing for a lecture.
    He had
never once considered a career as an academic, yet for some damn
reason, they continually invited him back to give talks to the
undergrads.
    As he
paced in front of the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows in his
apartment, he tried not to look at his reflection.
    Because he looked like an idiot.
    “Okay,
class,” he began in his fake teacher-like tone, “the correct use of
your telekinetic implant takes time. But with the following
exercises, and a lot of diligent practice, you will soon find
yourself getting better,” he gave a fake smile, then made the
mistake of glancing at his reflection and realising just how dumb
he looked.
    Swearing, he took a step back, flopped a hand at the window,
and walked over to the couch. With a groan, he let his knees
buckle, and he fell with a soft thump onto it. Reaching for one of
the cushions, he banged his head against it.
    “I
shouldn't be here,” he whispered aloud, his voice croaky and
smothered by the soft fabric around his mouth.
    Though
he understood the importance of teaching the new wave of cadets
coming through the Galactic Coalition Academy, surely his skills
could be better utilised elsewhere?
    Like
back on that damn planet, Remus 12.
    When
the United Galactic Coalition Council had put together the mission,
they’d called it a simple exploratory operation. But that was
clearly crap, because you didn't send the Force along to something
as wimpy as an exploratory operation.
    Not
unless you expected trouble.
    . . . .
    So why
exactly had the United Galactic Coalition Council sent the Force to
that remote, desolate, wasteland of a planet then?
    It had
been a waste of