Freedom, Humanity, and Other Delusions (Death's Handmaiden Book 3) by Niall Teasdale (best summer reads txt) 📕

of you who don’t plan to go on to purely academic studies are likely to hate me by the end.’

There was a rumble of laughter from around the room. Nava could imagine Rochester sitting up straighter; that was one student who would not be hating the teacher when this was over, unless there was not enough detail.

‘We do have someone in this class with more knowledge than most regarding the nature of the quintessential universe,’ Miles went on. ‘Rochester Hunt, I have read the paper you co-authored with Hoshi Horne. Fascinating. I’m currently working to meld some of the information from that into these lectures. Frankly, I would love to interview the unnamed person who went across into the Q-field.’ The teacher’s gaze shifted, moving over Nava; he knew who he was talking about, but it seemed he was not going to say anything unless Nava came forward. ‘However, since that person was not named, we can assume that their privacy is a matter of concern. I won’t press.’

‘Thank you, Mister Miles Paris,’ Rochester said. ‘The, um, subject of the experiment would prefer that their name remained concealed. If they chose to contact you, that would be another matter, but I cannot reveal who it was.’

Miles nodded, a smile on his lips. ‘I admire your loyalty. Now, let’s go over what we already know of Q-field theory and see where we can expand your knowledge.’

236/2/11.

‘She’s pretty good,’ Melissa commented. Taryn was threading herself through one of the obstacle courses at Flight Club; Nava and Melissa were watching her aerobatics.

‘She’s faster than you by a narrow margin,’ Nava replied. ‘She does have you on manoeuvrability, but it’s due to her sorcery talent rather than skill.’ There was a slight shrug. ‘She may be a little more nimble than you too.’

Melissa giggled. ‘So, she’s just as trained as me, but she’s superior in every other way. If you’re trying to console me, you’re failing badly.’

‘I possibly could have done better. Do you really need consoling?’

‘Not really. There are plenty of people in the club who are better than me. One more doesn’t really matter. I mostly fly for the pleasure of flying anyway.’

‘Hm, yes. Which makes it all the more important that you learn Gather Quintessence.’

Melissa grimaced. ‘I almost have it. Maybe next Sunday I won’t need to wait so long between flights.’

‘That would be good. For now, however, I’m going to leave you for a while.’ Nava lifted into the air, coming to a hover just above three metres. ‘I’ll be somewhere up there.’

‘I know. I’ll come up and get you when I can.’

Nava gave a nod, looked upward, and accelerated into the sky. She had no fixed rule about how high she would go and no means of measuring her height most days; she simply accelerated upward for a few seconds, decelerated for a similar time, and fell into a hover at whatever altitude she had reached. She figured she was a little under two kilometres up most Sundays. The campus stretched out below her and she settled in to contemplate the view.

‘Nice view.’ It was not Melissa’s voice. Melissa was probably still on the ground, regaining her energy. This was someone else.

Nava shifted her position in the air so that she could see Taryn hovering behind her. Taryn did not seem to be looking down. ‘I enjoy the view from up here, yes,’ Nava said.

‘Huh. You’re quite something, Nava Greyling. I saw some of your runs down there. You’re good. Really good. Your friend’s not bad, but you’re something else. I heard you refused to take part in the games last summer.’

‘You heard right. I’m not interested in that kind of competition.’

‘And you wouldn’t be in the MagiTag tournament, even though you helped train the ones who went.’

‘I’m not really interested in competition in general.’

‘Then why play MagiTag?’

Nava regarded the other girl for a second or two before answering. Was Taryn competitive about everything? Even being competitive? ‘It allows me to engage in combat exercises without killing anyone. I don’t play when I’m in a MagiTag session.’

‘And you’ve only been in one duel since you started here,’ Taryn said. Her tone suggested this was something she could not understand at all.

‘I’m really not into games, Taryn Borchardt. Duelling is a game I have no interest in.’

‘You can just call me Taryn, you know. You fascinate me, Nava Greyling. You really fascinate me. I want to get to know you better. Like, a lot better. We could–’

‘One of the main reasons I come up here on days like this is that I enjoy my solitude.’ Nava was watching the shifts in posture Taryn was making. There were also the micro-expressions evident on her face. Mixed signals. Mixed, but the overt aspects suggested flirtation. Taryn was coming on to Nava, but probably not with pure motives. Also, Taryn was about as subtle as a battle tank. ‘I realise you’re just trying to be friendly, but I’d really prefer a little time to myself.’

Taryn drifted closer. ‘I promise I’m worth your time.’ Sighing, Nava shifted her posture and began to accelerate in the general direction of north. Taryn grinned and followed. ‘If it’s a race you want…’ Taryn called out.

Nava looked back. She was already pulling ahead. Two metres, then four. ‘No,’ she called back. ‘I’m not interested in racing you.’ Six metres. Eight.

The grin vanished from Taryn’s face as she capped out her own speed and watched as Nava, still accelerating, ploughed on to the north, quickly vanishing into the distance. ‘Damn,’ Taryn said as she turned back and down. ‘Bitch is fast.’

~~~

‘Where’d you go?’ Melissa asked as Nava came in to land beside her near one of the aerobatics courses.

‘I needed to put some distance between me and Taryn Borchardt,’ Nava replied.

‘Oh. Is that why she’s been looking like she wants to beat everyone here since she came back down?’

‘Possibly, but I think she’s just that competitive.’ Nava paused, considering. ‘I did leave her in the dust, figuratively, when she