Read Online Omega by Lizzy Ford - Free Book Online

to
come to life and join me for my nightly hunt.
    They never did and I was left with a sense
of loss to reinforce the knowledge I was alone.
    Fly! Mrs. Nettles clapped silently and watched my wings flare out.
The vacant look was back in her face. Whatever secondary possession
took hold of her, it was gone once more.
    I wasn’t entirely alone. I had never met
another animated toy, either. We were different and unique, thrust
together by circumstances I didn’t recall.
    I bowed my head to her and turned my
attention to the sky. My beast senses were strong even in human
form and completely unleashed when I was a creature. I swept into
the sky, barreling upward until I was above the city, then flinging
out my wings to catch an air current and hover. My heart raced from
the ascension, and my shoulders warmed from the exercise.
    I turned my focus north, towards the forests
of Maryland, and began flying. My grumbling stomach would wait for
now; I needed to complete Lantos’ mission first. The odd instincts
were stronger in my beast form, the draw of what was hidden in the
forest, the compulsion to find it … her … nearly beyond my ability
to curb. I needed to know for certain if the image in my mind was
accurate and why I’d done the unthinkable and lied to my only
friend about something as unimportant as a nosebleed.
    Whatever was going on, it didn’t take the
primal urges of a beast or warning of a stuffed animal for me to
know the world was about to change.
     

Chapter Five: Alessandra
     
    Even a god cannot change
the past.
    – Agathon
     
     
    I always imagined how I’d feel the day I
left the forest. The reality, that I was forced out alone with no
home to go back to, didn’t hit me the way I expected. I was worried
about Herakles, sad for the priests, glad to be away from the
nymphs.
    But I didn’t feel like crying. It seemed …
weird. How was I so calm watching my life crumble?
    “ You still with
me?”
    I blinked out of my thoughts to look at
Niko. He was driving a car he had stolen, much to my disapproval.
We had fled the area of coastal Maryland, first on foot then by
car, and were on a major highway headed south, towards DC. It was
almost one in the morning, and I was exhausted. After my adrenaline
wore off, I’d begun to wonder why he was helping me if he didn’t
get paid for the job.
    “ I’m fine,” I
said.
    “ You in shock?”
    “ Um. I don’t think so. My
skin isn’t clammy and my pupils aren’t dilated.”
    “ I meant mental shock, you
little shit.”
    I rolled my eyes.
    He was quiet for a moment, eyes on the road,
before he spoke. “If we’re going to do this, we need some
rules.”
    My brow furrowed and I studied his
profile.
    “ One, you may know how to
run, fight and hunt, but your guardian didn’t teach you the most
important lesson.”
    I tensed, not about to let him insult
Herakles.
    “ You are out of your gods’
damned mind if you think you should be talking to or trusting or
otherwise not running at the sight of a stranger, especially one
who looks like me. The men hunting you will try every trick under
the sun to get you to turn yourself in peacefully or seduce you or
outright blow off your legs to keep you from running again. No
strangers. Ever. At all. Everyone you meet is the enemy, including
any other gladiators or mercs that you think are there to help. You
have no friends.”
    “ But you were in the
forest because the priests –”
    “ Wrong. If he looks like
me, you walk away.” He slapped the steering wheel lightly. “What
would you do if you ran into someone like me in the
store?”
    With a sigh, I stared out the window. “Walk
away.”
    “ What about some injured
kid or woman in the street?”
    “ That’s different. I know
how –”
    “ Wrong. Walk
away.”
    “ But that’s not right if I
can–”
    “ Wrong!” he said more
loudly. “No strangers. You’re not safely tucked away in the forest
or at school anymore, Alessandra. You’re about to enter