Read Online Astral Tide (The Otherborn Series) by Anna Silver - Free Book Online

cows! You know you ain’t supposed to be playing out here after dark. Not with the men around. They’ve got things to do and you’ll get in their way. Come on!” the twins’ mother called out.
    London shot Tora a worried look and the Seer reflected it. That must be whose feet they could hear moving through the darkness.
    Crow pocketed his gifts and turned to give them a quick nod before he started back toward the house where his mother was waiting. Kayla pushed one of the barn doors just enough for them to slip inside with their containers of water. She led them behind a wall of baled hay. “Stay here,” she whispered and darted back out to join her brother.
    London waited a few minutes before she said to Tora, “There’s no way in hell I’m staying here. We need to go.”
    “London,” Tora said, “we don’t know what’s out there. Just wait a minute. That woman was talking about some men hanging around like it wasn’t a normal thing.”
    “I know,” London agreed. “All the more reason to get going.”
    “Be patient,” Tora urged her. “Give it a few more minutes.”
    London sighed. “Okay. I’m going to scout around for anything we can use in here.”
    “I’m coming with you,” Tora said. “I don’t want to sit back here in the dark alone.”
    “Fine. But be quiet. I don’t want whoever’s still out there to know we’re hiding in the barn.”
    Together they crawled out from behind the wall of hay and followed the perimeter of the barn, past stalls both empty and occupied, peering in the dim light for anything that might be of use. Since burying her scrapped knife in Clark’s neck, London had no weapons on her. She didn’t want to go out into the dark unarmed where strange men could be lurking.
    They reached the front of the barn with no luck. Two large doors like the ones they’d come in at the opposite end were drawn together but they sagged on their tracks and left a small crack where the night air poured through. Mosquitos buzzed about and London scratched absently at her neck where she could feel the lumps already forming.
    A deep voice outside caught her attention. She gestured to Tora to stay silent and move closer.
    “Those kids creep me out.”
    “The twins?” asked another voice, also deep and masculine.
    “Yeah. You think they have a license for both of them?”
    “Don’t know, don’t care,” said the other voice. “Those aren’t the kids we’re here for.”
    Tora scooted right up behind London as they listened. Her breath made warm targets on the side of London’s face. London peered through the crack with one eye. She could just make out the profiles of two black-suited men, large guns hanging over their shoulders. Tycoon regiments.
    “Yeah, but I thought twins were extinct,” said the first one again. “Or illegal or something.”
    “Mack, get over it already. This isn’t the city. It’s Ag. All kinds of weird crap goes down in Ag. Too much fresh air.” The second guy was busy fidgeting with something small and shiny in one hand.
    “You get a signal yet?” Mack asked his partner.
    “No. It’s bound to come through any minute.”
    “Still don’t get why we’re out here. I thought they took a bunch in outside Bayou City?”
    Tora stiffened at this and tugged on London’s sleeve, but London ignored her. They were talking about Eric and the other dreamers.
    “I already explained this,” the second one said, sounding frustrated. “The girl says they weren’t among them. She thinks they’re heading back this way.”
    The girl
? That could only be one person in London’s mind: Avery. But how could she know they were crossing back west through the Ag District?
    Mack sighed. “I know, I know—the
girl
. I’m so sick of her. What makes her so sure we’ll catch them? How does she know they’re even out there? For all we know, she could be making all this up.”
    The second guy laughed. “There’s at least two of us at nearly every house in this