The Two Worlds by Alisha Howard Read Free Book Online

Turgor, Giza
Graveyard
    Details: Use beginner
Awakener skills to Awaken new Death Walker.
     
    “ I’m sorry,” Rena said,
slowly, looking up at me with wide eyes, “but did the word graveyard just enter the page?” I nodded mutely. “Do you
know anything about Giza?” I shook my head, and she took a deep
breath. “Giza Graveyard is located on the small tip of Giza, across
Yuron Lake. Giza is the city of Death Walkers, even though there
really isn’t a rule for them to live there. And handful of them
live here, in Tormey and Brozek. Anyway, the Graveyard is the
resting place of soon-to-be Death Walkers. It’s our first
assignment to Awaken a dead person!”
    I gulped.
    “ Well,” came a voice from
behind me, “sucks to be you.”
    Rena and I turned at the same time to
face the girl with cornrows whose name turned out to be Erika
Williams. “For a moment, I was starting to be worried.”
    “ What are you talking
about?,” sneered Rena.
    “ You know what I’m talking
about, poriedeo, ” Erika hissed, her back straight. “We’ve
all heard about Nia and Kathleena McLaughlin. I was starting to
wonder if I’d have competition.”
    “ What have you heard about
me?” I asked. I hadn’t done anything of significance since I’d
arrived here.
    “ You mean you don’t know?”
Erika asked, slightly surprised. “Well, this is interesting. Maybe
you should ask your sister. She does a wonderful job reminding us
all how wonderful your family is. But I’m here now. And as an
Awakener, I’m going to blow you out of the water.”
    My hands began to clench, and I took a
step forward when Rowena’s voice came from behind me.
    “ Everything okay, girls?”
she asked, the peppiness in her voice gone.
    “ Fine, Rowena.” Erika smiled
and bounced off to join her two friends, Connie Spears and
Jai’breon Wells. Connie was an extremely pale girl with long red
hair and dark green eyes, while Jai’breon had caramel colored skin
and light brown eyes that matched her skin perfectly and had an
eerie effect. I thought she looked ridiculous. Erika was the
darkest of the three, with short, curly hair that was pulled into a
ponytail. I sighed and looked away. Rowena had wandered over to
another group. Rena sighed.
    “ What’s a poridieo ?”
I asked her quietly. “Why’d she call you that?”
    “ Because I am one,” she
said, looking down. “My dad’s dead, and my mom was thrown in
Caldbeck when I was four. Poridieo is a west Turgorian slur
for traitor.”
    “ I thought you said your mom
is an Undine.”
    “ She was, but when she was
thrown in prison, she was stripped of her title. Got caught in the
middle of the war, and there was enough KaKonian political sway to
land her there.” Rena continued to look down, and I sat back for a
moment, realizing that she had lied to me earlier.
    “ I’m really sorry,” I
offered.
    Rena shook her head. “Don’t worry about
it. I’m tough. I’ve been on my own for twelve years.”
    “ So where do you
live?”
    “ With different families. It
depends on where the orphanage sends me. They’re too full to keep
me there. I stayed with the Spelling family last night, the one
that lives next to you. Then I received a message from Paul telling
me to go with you to the meeting today.”
    We sat quietly for a moment, listening
to the others talk excitedly about their new assignments. It seemed
like we were the only ones that had received one we weren’t so
crazy about. I glanced over at Erika, who smirked at me and turned
back to laugh with Connie and Jai’breon.
    Yolonda cleared her throat, and I
jumped. I had forgotten that she was still there. An idea hit
me.
    “ Hey, why don’t you stay
with me?”
    Rena stared at me for a moment and then
shook her head. “I couldn’t do that!”
    “ Why not?”
    “ Because,” she said, biting
her bottom lip, “that would be...like...intruding or
something.”
    “ Whatever,” I said, rolling
my eyes. “You would not be like an