Read Online Ignition Point by Kate Corcino - Free Book Online Page B

they splashed into the shallow edge of the river. She snatched up a branch and began pushing it into the water, feeling along the bottom.
    “Here,” she finally said. “There’s a sandbar. The river’s deep, but it isn’t fast. We can cross on the sandbar.”
    “Cross to where? Merry—” Lucas looked around, trying to get his bearings in the dappled light filtering through the trees. He hadn’t been back long enough to know the city well, much less the surrounding countryside. All he knew was that the moss-coated humps of the ruins of old buildings made his heart thump and his mouth go dry. The remnants of the world that had been before were now draped with vines and hidden by ferns. The hidden ruins were a reminder of the evil of the world that had come before. They were a reminder of his place in the world that was now.
    He wanted the ordered, clean lines of the city around him. “Where are we going?”
    Before she could answer, he realized where she was taking him. It wasn’t anything directional. No more than a feeling, like an echo of his grandfather’s words. Those conspiring against him consorted with Sparks. His mind flashed to the scene in the alley.
    And isn’t she already guilty of the same? His mind hissed the thought. She loves you , after all.
    “Merry, are you taking me to the Kennels?”
    Her happy expression flashed into irritation. “Don’t call it that. It’s a village. A community, just like the one we live in.”
    “Okay,” he said. A feeling of wrongness worked through his belly like spreading fingers. What business did she—did either of them—have in the Spark village? “But are we?”
    Meredith smiled and glanced over her shoulder at the far shore, still focused on luring him onward.
    Was she a lure? What had Edgar said? Once they had Lucas, they had his grandfather?
    How had Edgar known he was a Spark? Lucas had told only one person….
    “Why?”
    She let an impatient huff of breath escape and tilted her head. “I wanted to surprise you. Dad said to wait, he was afraid…. But the Councilor knows now. You talked to him, and we’re getting married!” She let a giddy laugh escape and threw her arms to the side, gesturing her happy disbelief with the long stick. “He knows about us, and of course, he knows about you. The Councilor’s own grandson is a Spark. Dad couldn’t even hardly believe it when I told him.”
    Lucas felt a sick sort of spinning in his midsection, as if something—his breath, his understanding—was being sucked down into a death spiral.
    He’d told her she had to keep that between them. It was his deepest secret. It was his shame. He’d shared it with her because her love somehow eased it….
    What had she done?
    She’d given his weakness to her father as a weapon.
    A rush of heat suffused his face. His pulse throbbed in his temple. He could hear the pounding in his ears, the force of his blood echoing the anger that flashed through him.
    “Yes, we’re going to the village.” Her voice was breathless, excited. “We’re going to see my niece. She’s strong, so strong. Stronger than any of the men. Do you know the Council policy on girls like that?”
    He nodded automatically. Lucas had heard Grandfather discussing policy with aides. But what difference did the stupid policy make? Why was she even talking about this? She’d betrayed him. And she was babbling on like it didn’t matter.
    “They take them away,” he said. “Because the Council believes they’re a danger to the delicate balance of freedom and production.” It was easy to parrot what he’d heard. The Council wanted Sparks just strong enough to power the cities but not so strong that they could do more. Not so strong that they could want more. With a matrilineal power, that was dangerous. The rare strong girls, a one-in-a-thousand evolutionary slip, would grow into women who’d pass on their strength. They’d create a generation of monsters just like them.
    He didn’t tell