Read Online Forever by Pati Nagle - Free Book Online

around campus looking at everyone’s khi?”
    A brief look of impatience crossed Caeran’s face. “The alben will not return to the campus until they hunger again. Meanwhile we will search the places where they are likely to seek shelter. Unless they are unusually integrated with human culture, they will be limited by lack of identification. They are unlikely to have funds other than cash. This narrows our field.”
    “Well, I’ll help however I can, but it sounds like more than a handful of us can do.”
    Everyone was silent. I had said something wrong.
    “You cannot help us, Steven,” Lomen said quietly.
    “Sure I can.”
    “No,” Amanda said. Her voice sounded choked.
    Caeran turned to me. “I am sorry, Steven. You are too vulnerable to assist us in this—search, and far too valuable to be risked. We must ask you to remain here.”
    “Look, I’m no prize fighter but I’m not a wimp either.”
    “It is not a question of your strength,” Caeran said.
    “No human can resist an alben,” Amanda said flatly.
    I turned to her, surprised. “What are they, supermen?”
    “Compared to us, yeah. They can control us with a thought.” She drew her knees up and hugged them. “The freeze. You don’t even have time to yell for help, usually. There’s no way for us to fight it. They’re too powerful. They can even control ælven, sometimes.”
    “That depends on the relative strength of the individuals,” Caeran said.
    I looked at Lomen.
    “Yes,” he said, looking unhappy. “They use khi to control their human prey. It is against the ælven creed to do so, but most alben do not honor the creed.”
    I remembered Kimberly, lying in her own blood. No sign of struggle, except the broken glasses, but that could have happened when she hit the ground.
    A door in the south wall opened and Len came in, carrying car keys and her pack. Caeran got up to greet her, then turned to me. “This has reminded me that we should allow Steven to bring some clothing and whatever else he needs to the house. It’s best to go get these things before dark. I can drive you now,” he said.
    “Uh...I’m OK at my place, really.”
    Caeran shook his head. “I am sorry, but until we locate the alben you will be safer here. Amanda, you will stay as well.”
    “Yeah, I brought a bag over.”
    “Excellent.” Caeran looked at Len, who handed him her keys.
    I was thinking about refusing. These people had turned my life upside-down already; now they wanted me to move in with them?
    Please go with Caeran, Steven. He wants to talk to you.
    I looked at Lomen. His face didn’t show much, but his eyes were pinched with concern. I would do pretty much anything to wipe away that anxiety.
    I got up and followed Caeran through the door Len had come in, which led to a garage. We got into a Lexus sedan and the garage door rolled up. Caeran seemed at ease, and I wondered how long he’d been driving.
    Strange, because he looked so similar to Lomen that they could pass for twins, but I wasn’t attracted to Caeran at all. I wasn’t repulsed by him either, mind. Ælven are easy on the eyes. But sitting in a car with Caeran just made me miss Lomen.
    The sun was still up but it was definitely slanting. The breeze had grown stronger, tossing stray leaves around in the gutters.
    “You may be wondering who elected me president,” Caeran said as he drove toward my apartment. His voice was a little lower and throatier than Lomen’s, I noticed. “I was the one who chose to act, is all. When we first arrived here, one of our clan was ill. I knew that Madóran, who is a healer, might be living north of this city. Indeed, we decided to come to New Mexico because Madóran had done so, centuries earlier.”
    Centuries. They tossed that word around pretty casually.
    “So I went to the library at UNM to look for information that would help us find him.”
    “And met Len.”
    Caeran nodded, and a smile softened his face. He was silent as he concentrated on