The Change (Unbounded) by Teyla Branton Read Free Book Online Page A

possibilities in all areas of education.”
    My disgust became embarrassment at my ignorance. I needed to remember to keep my mouth shut around these people.
    “Unfortunately, Halden is all too mortal.” Cort gave me a wistful smile. He’d taken his feet from the desk and scooted his chair closer to Stella’s monitor. “Like Archimedes, Gutenberg, Franklin, Jenner, Tesla, Edison, and all the rest we’ve worked with over the years. That means we have to protect him from the Emporium.”
    They’d worked with Thomas Edison? If that was true, it would certainly explain why he’d taken out so many patents. “Why don’t you start a company of your own?”
    Ritter’s eyes narrowed. “Too many want us dead. We have other enemies besides the Emporium.”
    “Ritter’s right,” Stella said. “We’d be too exposed. It’d take all our resources and personnel. This works for now.”
    “Until Halden’s dead.” Ritter’s voice held no emotion, but I received an impression of inner fury that frightened me with its bleakness.
    “Then go save him, by all means.” I waved my arm at the door. “Don’t let me keep you.”
    “Halden will be all right,” Stella said. “Our people were there in time and he’ll be extra careful now for the next little while. He has bodyguards.”
    Ritter snorted. “No match for Emporium Unbounded.”
    “I don’t know,” Stella said lightly. “He’s got access to really good body armor. New design. And our guys are in the wings. Besides, you know as well as I do that we’re grooming someone to run his company when he does die.”
    “If the replacement can be trusted, you mean.” Ritter’s tone implied that such a thing was doubtful.
    Stella folded her arms. “I think he can be.”
    “Regardless, he’s not ready to run the company yet.” Ritter backed away from the computer, his eyes falling on me. “I’ll be outside in case you decide to run away again.”
    “Wait a minute,” I said.
    He lifted one brow, impatience in the taut lines of his impressive body.
    “How old are you?”
    “Does it matter?”
    Why did the man have to be so difficult? “Humor me.”
    “Two hundred and seventy-three.”
    So, several decades younger than Ava, but older than Stella by nearly fifty years. When I didn’t say anything further, he turned and stalked away.
    “What’s his problem?” I asked the others.
    Cort laughed. “The better question is what isn’t Ritter’s problem?”
    Stella wasn’t amused. “He has a past. Many Unbounded do.”
    “What happened to him?” I was more interested than I wanted to be.
    “It’s his story to share,” Stella said. “Or not.”
    Cort cleared his throat. “Maybe it’s better if she knows the risks.”
    “It’s his story,” Stella repeated.
    “Just tell me already.” I didn’t bother to hide my annoyance at this exchange. How could I learn about the Unbounded if they didn’t give me enough background?
    “Ritter was a kind of policeman, I guess you’d call it.” Cort didn’t look at Stella as he spoke, but I knew he couldn’t miss the way she sat up stiffly in her chair. “One day when he was working, he was stabbed numerous times, which killed him, or so they thought. When his family started laying him out at their home before the burial, his mother discovered he wasn’t really dead but only badly injured and healing quickly.” He glanced at Stella, who relaxed, and I knew there was more, a lot more, but they weren’t going to tell it to me. Even so the story made my irritation at the man subside a notch. Almost dying like that had to affect a person. I knew.
    “Do all Unbounded have such a horrible beginning?” Ava had said something to the contrary, but so far I wasn’t encouraged.
    Stella shook her head. “I was born here in America, the descendant of an Italian Unbounded grandfather and Japanese mortal. As a child, I lost movement in my arm falling from a horse, and when I was suddenly healed as an adult, I thanked