Light Speed by Arkadie, L. (accelerated reader books .TXT) 📕

you need Ad’ru’s bond to get into Tetra,we can find him because I can smell him.” Chex wrinkles his nose asif the scent of Exgesis is foul. “But you might want to ask Ad’ruif this is what she wants to do before you go leading her to someplace where dead vampire souls go to rot.”

“Not rot— to wait,” she corrects him. Nowshe’s frowning. “And her name is Adore,” Na’ta barks, correctinghim. “Don’t speak Enuian of you’re not Enuian, Selell.”

Chex lifts his top lip to show teeth butthis time a guttural growl roars in his throat. “If Ad’ruhas a problem with me calling her Ad’ru, then she’ll tell me, notyou.”

“I don’t have an issue with him calling meby my real name,” I quickly chime in.

“I do,” Na’ta hisses. She looks just assinister as Chex.

Like Chex, Na’ta has a sea of blood on herhands. She’s not like me, or Cl’auta or Falu, but she is more likeTapeetha. They both lust for the fight. However, unlike Tapeetha,Na’ta spends her days seeking out battles. Once she walked rightinto a coven of hostile Selell’s with Telman. Naturally a fightoccurred. She was sliced across the face and then pierced throughthe heart with a poisonous blade. Sometimes I think none of usother than Na’ta could survive the wounds that befall her. Fatherhealed her face then. However, she does have a long scar across hercheek which she received at the claw of a sea creature.

“Na’ta,” I reprimand her while taking her bythe shoulders to force the light into her.

She rolls her angry eyes away from Chex andwidens them at me. “I’m sorry, Adore. If you like him that much,then so be it,” she relents. “So you say you can smell him?” sheasks Chex, this time controlling her anger.

It’s safe to take my hands from her becausethe light has effectively subdued the part of her that issingle-minded.

“Ha!” Chex snickers after witnessing how thepower of light controls her. “I think I’m starting to believe inGod,” he mumbles out of one side of his mouth. Although I realizehe’s being sarcastic. “So what now?”

“We find Adore’s true bond,” Na’tasays to upset him. The light couldn’t stop her from taking that jabat him.

If Chex is bothered by what she said, hedoesn’t show it. Instead he nods at me for my consent and onceagain the way he’s looking at me takes my words away. I can onlysmile at him.

He takes one deep and long sniff, closes hiseyes, and carefully releases the tepid air. He smiles at me, justlike I’m still smiling at him.

“Got him,” he says.

“I guess you have to lead the way,” Na’tasays and she doesn’t sound happy.

“Just remember your place is behind me,” hejokes with her.

She snarls and rolls her eyes at him.

He leaps off down a path and we follow.

Chapter7

Back to Life

We exit the forest, leaving the muddydaylight behind us. The change in environment is abrupt as we walkthe wind in a night sky with billions of sparkling whitekets, or stars, clustered across it. The same tall and sharpblades of grass that grow in the Mashlands coat the landscapebeneath our feet and a significant number of spiraling cropformations are strewn throughout. However, unlike the Mashlands,it’s peaceful here. We’re even being carried by a trail of cool,whispery breezes.

Chex storms ahead, leading us to LarioExgesis. The tail of the black coat he’s wearing flows behind himlike a second layer of skin. I notice how comfortable it is for himto keep one hand hidden inside of it. That’s because he hidesweapons in the inseam. I wonder if touching the instruments bringshim solace.

There are no words spoken between us at themoment. Na’ta is using all of her concentration in an effort toconnect with Telman. She hasn’t stopped trying since we startedover these strange lands.

My mind is drawing from lessons I havelearned over time about the power of the i’lek’u. I recall mystudies of the lar’im the soul of a creature. Within itexists a light that is the size of a speck of sand. It’s called thea’hanterel and it’s made of delicate tissue. Only I, Ad’ru,with the power of light can access it. However, I have beenentrusted to use the lar’im sparingly. It is the power to know moreabout the being than it could even know about itself.

I have tried to connect to the energy thatbonds me to Lario Exgesis but he is quite learned in our ways. Hehas invoked a defense that can even withstand me. However, I ammore knowledgeable than he can ever know.

As we travel over a sea of sameness, hecontinues to saturate my thoughts. If Exgesis can keep me fromconnecting to him, then why isn’t he able to obstruct Chex? Heknows we are together. Even from his watery prison he saw the Mtknvhand Chex to me as a companion. Yes, now is the time to enter thea’hanterel of Lario Exgesis, and so this is what I do.

The i’lek’u knows who I seek and once itlatches on to him, my body comes to an abrupt stop. Even though myeyes are wide open, all I can see is stark white light. I hear Chexand Na’ta asking if I am okay, but it sounds like they are faraway.

At this very moment I am also contained inLario Exgesis’ lar’im. He’s on muddy earth surrounded by huts ofyellow straw and pink, fleshy, humanoid creatures with tiny blackspikes growing out of their scalps. What peculiar beings they are,just as jarring as the Mtknv, the Mash, and the Guards of Siffeo. Iinstantly notice that it’s natural for these creatures to holdtheir mouths with the top lip curled over their blackened anddecayed teeth. Their eyes are fully black but there’s a yellow dotin the center of them; even as they stand still and breathe, theysound like a wild pack of snorting Earth animals called wild boars.Lario knows them as the Treesh, and although he’s repulsed by theiranatomy, he takes care not to show it.

“Where’s light and speed?” One of the Treeshcreatures roars thunderously.

“Close,” Lario Exgesis claims. He stands andsounds sure of