Read Online Book One of the Travelers by D.J. MacHale - Free Book Online

stretch. How could she answer? They would never understand that she couldn’t bring herself to harm the gars. They would think she was crazy. As crazy as she feared her ownfather might be.
    â€œI knew we would have a better chance if we stayed unpredictable,” she finally said.
    â€œYour hunch paid off,” Jorsa said. “See you at the victory feast!” Jorsa left Kasha and Boon and went to congratulate the other players.
    Victory feast . Kasha stood back up. “I—I think I’m going to skip the feast.”
    Boon stared at her. “But the feast is the best part of winning!”
    â€œI’m too tired, and I think I may have pulled a muscle,” Kasha said.
    â€œOh! Do you want me to—”
    Kasha cut him off. “No! You should go! You’ve worked hard for this. You have waited three seasons for this honor.”
    â€œIf you’re really sure…,” Boon said.
    Kasha smiled. “I’m going to go to my father’s. He and I have some things to talk about.”
    She watched as Boon walked his zenzen to the corral and then joined the other celebrating players.
    What is wrong with me ? she wondered as she brought her zenzen to the corral. She strode out of the arena and headed toward the monorail. She noticed several gars being led by some klees, and as they walked by, she studied them. Here, out of the arena, she felt nothing for the inferior creatures. She felt no need to protect them, saw them simply as they were—animals that served many purposes in the klee community.
    You took an absurd risk , she admonished herself. Your misguided concern for the gars nearly cost thechampionship . It must have been all that talk of her father’s. It had sent her down the wrong path.
    She abruptly turned around. She wouldn’t have dinner with Seegen tonight. And, she promised herself, she would not be compromised by misplaced compassion for the gars again.
    Not now. Not ever.
    And yet…
    She strode past the arena and stopped. She stared up at the high walls.
    Wippen mattered a lot to Boon. She wouldn’t want to take that away from him.
    But that didn’t mean she had to keep playing.
    The next season is a long way away , she told herself. Plenty of time to decide.
    To decide many things.

G UNNY

P ROLOGUE
    J effrey Wright paced in a tight pattern, jingling the spare change in his pocket. The room was dark. Marvin Halliday’s jazz club, the Blue Moon, was still being built, and the light fixtures weren’t installed yet. The late afternoon sun cast dark shadows around the two men.
    â€œWe’ve got to do something,” Jeffrey told Marvin. “I can’t take the pressure anymore. And if you won’t help me, then I’ll do it myself.”
    â€œYeah?” a voice snarled behind Jeffrey. “You and what army?”
    Jeffrey froze. He knew that voice. For a moment Marvin and Jeffrey locked eyes, sharing the same terrified look. Slowly—so that the goon behind him would know that he wasn’t about to try anything—Jeffrey turned.
    There were three of them. All big. All smiling. Without a word, one guy took a sledgehammer and smashed a deep hole into the nearby painted pillar. Another knocked over a table, taking several chairs down with it.
    Then there was the third guy, grinning.
    Why is he just standing there? Jeffrey wondered. For one second Jeffrey didn’t understand what the sudden, searing pain in his arm was. Somehow he felt the bullet tearing into his flesh before he heard the gun go off.
    From far away—so far away—Jeffrey heard Marvin shouting, and some crashing, and pop! pop! pop!
    Jeffrey flung himself to the floor behind the toppled table. A volley of bullets ripped through it, splintered wood and paint chips raining down on him.
    Someone’s got to hear this , he thought. Someone’s got to come in and stop it! He crawled toward the bar, desperate for cover.
    There was a crash