Wasteland (Wasteland - Trilogy) by Susan Kim, Laurence Klavan Read Free Book Online Page B

bothered teaching me, it was the least I could do.”
    Sarah ran her hand over a row of bindings and this time, no guard rushed forward to push her out of the way. She marveled at the titles and names she remembered, books she had salvaged from vacant homes and looted stores many years ago and later used to teach Levi how to read: John Grisham, The Joy of Cooking , American and European Furniture: 1830–1914 , A Cavalcade of Jokes , Stephen King, Richard Scarry. The Bible. The Brothers Grimm.
    Levi had been a difficult student, moody and hotheaded. Yet he was diligent and had a hunger to learn. Within a year, his abilities had equaled and then surpassed hers. Sarah hoped that since they were both twelve, their relationship might shift into something deeper. But then Levi ended the lessons. Not long afterward, he broke his way into the Source and disappeared from the streets of Prin.
    Sarah had always wondered where the books had gone. And now, she blushed as it occurred to her why he had held on to them all these years.
    “Sarah,” Levi said.
    She turned to him, her heart pounding. He was holding out a book to her. She took it, uncomprehending.
    “This was one I found especially interesting,” he said. “But you only gave me the first volume. Do you have the other?”
    Puzzled, Sarah turned the book over in her hands. She couldn’t recall ever seeing it before. It was an academic volume, dense and impenetrable. She flipped through it, but had never heard of any of the words: “Topography.” “Aquifers.” “Spring flow measurements.” “Hydrosphere.”
    “I might,” she said, handing it back. Frankly, it wasn’t the kind of book she liked or understood, but she had several such volumes she rarely glanced at. “It could be in my house. I’m not positive what books are there.”
    Levi nodded, refusing to take it. “Why don’t you hold on to it?” he said. “Because I’d really appreciate it if you could find me the second volume.” Before Sarah could respond, he added, “We’ll talk again when you do. And by then, I just might have some more weapons in.”
    Sarah understood. If she could find what he needed, this meeting wouldn’t be their last. And as she was thinking this, he was seizing her by the waist and pulling her close. He kissed her, lingeringly.
    “Let’s keep this our secret,” he murmured. “All of it. All right?”
    Sarah couldn’t speak for a second. “Yes,” she said.
    Her voice almost sounded normal, even though her face was burning. She couldn’t hide the smile that covered her face.
    Moments later, Sarah was outside, walking, if unsteadily, away from the Source. The white of her robes seemed to give off an unearthly glow in the bright glare of spotlights that sliced across the darkened parking lot.
    From a tiny window hidden high up in the Source, Levi watched as the girl was swallowed by the surrounding darkness. As before, his expression was unreadable. He thought about the past and, for a moment, almost felt sorry for Sarah.
    Then he shrugged it off. She was like everyone else in this world: just a means to an end.
    Levi returned to his office. There he examined the handmade maps of Prin he had drawn, the laborious approximations of its physical layout that were tacked up on his walls. They had taken him more than five years of careful study and reflected the locations of not only each of the forty-seven Excavations to date but every Gleaning, as well. Still, they had not brought him closer to what he was seeking. Frustrated, he was tempted to tear them all down.
    Levi had come to Prin, drawn by a rumor of its hidden clean waters. He met Sarah, who taught him how to read. Most books he found worthless; yet one convinced him that the notion of an underground network of springs was true. All he needed was a little more time to locate it, but time was running out.
    Unlike everyone else, he always knew the supplies in the Source were limited. In the last few months, they had