Read Online Crusade Across Worlds by C.G. Coppola - Free Book Online Page B

register the name.
When I do, I flinch and glance at Tucker. “Zeed as in ‘the Zeed who
you beat the shit out of’?”
    “Hey—that was during the trials,” the Rogue
Leader reminds me. “It doesn’t count.”
    “So what do they mean?” I motion at the ink.
“The designs?”
    “From here to here,” Tucker points from his
elbow to his wrist, “is basically the story of how and when we
arrived. But from here to here,” he indicates the elbow to the
shoulder, “are traits about ourselves. Age, character, that sort of
thing.”
    “Cool.”
    “We weren’t allowed to get them,” Pratt
huffs.
    “Technically,” Mae clears her throat, her
words tender as always, “we could have, but the boys didn’t
think—they thought that maybe Pratt should wait until she was a
little older to decide.”
    “Totally unfair!” she throws her arms up and
jumps on the bed.
    “I told her we could wait a year or two and
I’d get one with her.”
    “You did?” Able asks.
    “Yeah,” Mae nods, a slight frown forming
along with an embarrassed blush. “Why?”
    He shrugs. “Didn’t think you were into that
sort of thing.”
    “If and when you guys go, I’ll get one too.
Until then, we’ll all be uncool together.” I focus on Pratt.
“Okay?”
    She shrugs.
    “And I guess you noticed your boy grew out
some facial hair?” Jace smirks, glancing from Reid to me.
    “Yes. I did notice.”
    “You like it?”
    “Jace,” Reid sighs.
    “What? I’ve been curious about this since
you decided to let it grow,” he looks back to me, waiting for an
answer. “Well?”
    “It’s…” I grin, not wanting to give away how
much I love it, “… pretty hot.”
    “Nice.”
    “Ew,” Pratt frowns. “Can we not talk
about Fallon and Reid? I want to know what happened with you!” She
looks at me. “Where did you go? What did you do?”
    “All good questions,” Clarence pokes his
head past the curtain, “but I’d like to hear the answers as well.
Why don’t you all come on down to Hozfin’s? Food’s just about
done.”
    Werzo races for the curtain first, followed
immediately by Jace, and once the rest of us have piled out of
Tucker’s, we set off across the enormous branch-bridges and toward
the largest home in Zinnollo.
    I run my hand along the wooden railing,
tracing the grainy cracks and grooves with my fingertips. Wood
feels different than rock, and rock has been all I’ve known
recently. I inhale the sweet forest nectar with a sigh. Part of me
still can’t believe I’m here, that I’m actually back on Nerwolix,
that my three months are over.
    And it feels amazing to be back.
    Especially as I smell the food wafting from
the king’s home. My mouth is already watering, my stomach growling
in anticipation. On Arosin, I only ate vegetation, nothing more
than cabbage-like plants that grew in small tufts along the
underground cavern walls. It may have been awhile, but I still
remember the delicious scent of the barbecued Horrop. Is this what
I’ve been missing out on all this time?
    Following Pratt into King Hozfin’s home, I
inhale the delicious aroma, my eyes growing wide at the amount of
food spread among the floor. Bowls filled with blue and red berries
sit next to wooden platters piled high with steaming roasted Horrop
meat. Orange liquid nearly overflows green and yellow melon-cups
that sit littered throughout the feast and all around them, jars of
the oversized fireflies, like a dinner table lit with opulent
candles.
    “Fallon,” Sampson gestures me in, “please,
find a spot. You are, of course, the guest of honor.”
    I’m not more than a foot into the king’s
home when arms fly around me, halting my progress with a tight
squeeze. I don’t know who’s hugging me until I catch a glimpse of
his bright orange hair. “ Walker .”
    I knew someone was missing from
Tucker’s—someone I thought should be there.
    The tribesman was never part of the Rogues.
Actually, he used to work for the Kings when we