Traitor's Son: The Raven Duet Book #2 by Hilari Bell Read Free Book Online Page B

healing it up to the border. She passed that bag, and Atahalne’s quest, on to you! There’s no time to find anyone else. You have to try.”
    “No, I don’t. Particularly if it entails dying and getting arrested. Let her come back, and I’ll give her the dirt and she can finish whatever-it-is herself. If you need to get her out of jail,” he added, “my dad can refer you to a really good lawyer.”
    Raven sighed. “I wish she could finish. She was a magnificent healer. She opened four nexuses, far more powerfully than I thought any human could. That she chose you is an honor, Jason Mintok.”
    The way she said “human,” as if she wasn’t one, made goose flesh rise on his arms.
    “Great,” said Jase. “An honor. Well, I decline. If she’s so special, let her do it.”
    “I can’t,” said Raven. “It’s not because she was arrested; they’ve already let her go. But my enemies are too aware of her. They can track her, and stop her easily now. It was always a race, and they moved too quickly. They’re still moving, but they don’t know about you yet. If we move fast enough, you might be able to heal the rest of it before they can stop you. But we need to get started. Immediately!”
    “Enemies? Never mind. I don’t even want to know. Let me go.” It was an order, not a plea.
    “If I let you go, will you listen? Please?”
    “I’m not listening now,” Jase told her. “Because I’m not going to do it. Whatever it is. Get the key and open the cuff.”
    To his astonishment, she went to the rock where the bird had placed the key and picked it up. No difficulty finding it, Jase noted. Almost as if she really had put it there herself—which was flat-out impossible, no matter what he thought he’d seen!
    She stepped forward and inserted the electronic key into the slot in the middle of the wide plastic band.
    “I suppose instant cooperation was too much to hope for.” She turned the key and the magnetic clamps popped open. “But at least promise that you won’t destroy the dust in that bag. Or give it to my enemies. To anyone but me. It holds human magic, created for this purpose alone. I don’t think any human now alive knows enough about this ley to re-create it. So it can’t be replaced.”
    “Sure.” Jase rubbed his wrist gingerly. The bruises were already darkening. “You can have your damn pouch back, anytime. Just keep out of my way.”
    He stalked back toward the trail. He could feel her eyes on him, but she didn’t follow. Maybe she planned to pick up a ride at the trailhead parking lot. Maybe she could com someone to come and get her. Maybe she planned to fly!
    The thing that worried Jase most, as he reached the trail and hurried down the mountain, was that he half believed that last answer was the real one.
    ***
    Hallucination.
It had to be.
    Jase drove home and hit the button that raised the garage door. Both his mother’s and his father’s cars were gone, but he waited in his car for five full minutes. If his . . . problem was caused by fumes the stuff emitted, he wanted to give the air in the garage plenty of time to clear. He was fairly certain it was safe, but he still held his breath when he went into the garage and dragged out the recycling bin. Jase picked through it till he found a plastic tub with a lid that seemed to be airtight. Then he went into the kitchen and armed himself with a plastic bag and a pair of salad tongs. Thanking God his mother wasn’t home, he took a deep breath and entered the garage. His lungs were straining by the time he’d maneuvered the pouch into the plastic bag, and he had to run outside to breathe before he returned to press the seal closed, dump the whole thing into the plastic tub, and snap the lid down.
    Then Jase went out to breathe again, and let the air clear a little more before he parked the Tesla inside. With the pouch isolated he felt fairly safe . . . assuming this wasn’t one of those drugs that stayed in your system and