Read Online Rion by Susan Kearney - Free Book Online Page B

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    As the crowd screamed, ducked, and panicked, Rion dived and tackled Marisa, and they rolled, knocking into people who were
     trying to scramble out of the line of fire. Rion used their momentum to keep rolling. They ended up behind a garbage bin.
    “You found me?” Marisa wiped her hair out of her eyes, which speared him with defiance. “Of course you found me. You need
     me.”
    “There’s no time to talk.” Rion grabbed her hand. “Come on. More Enforcers are on the way.”
    R ION POINTED OUT a group of Enforcers headed in their direction. “Keep your head down. By now, they know what you look like.”
    “They do?”
    “They took our pictures the moment we arrived on the platform. By now, every Enforcer in the city must be looking for us.”
    The Enforcers’ deliberate march through the parting crowd and toward them made Marisa’s mouth go dry with fear. Police in
     any country looked much the same, but the difference here was that the populace practically tripped over themselves to avoid
     their own Enforcers.
    Something swooped at her. She staggered, and a small projectile whizzed by her ear. “What was that?”
    “Tracers. If one of them tags us, it’ll make it easy for the Enforcers to keep tabs on us.”
    She caught a flash of wings. Between Rion’s kidnapping and the Enforcer’s capture, she’d forgotten that Cael’s owl had also
     flown through the portal.
    “We have to move out. Now.” Rion placed his arm over her shoulder to steady her. “They have the exits covered.” He urged her
     forward, and she didn’t pull away.
    Rion might have forced her here against her will, but it was in his best interests to keep her alive. Going it alone had almost
     gotten her killed.
    “If Merlin hadn’t flown right at me, the tracer would have gotten me.” She craned her head back and searched for Merlin but
     didn’t see him among the monorail vehicles that swished in and out of the terminal. Overhead, more moving cars traveled through
     the air and disappeared into tunnels. She saw no tracks, no wings, and wondered how the moving trains stayed aloft. The immense
     geodesic dome had several windows. Outside, the sky was blue, a deeper blue than on Earth, and wisps of silver clouds floated
     by. But Merlin had vanished. “Where did he go?”
    “Someplace safe, I hope.”
    From his tone, she knew she and Rion were far from safe. She glanced back longingly but could no longer see the platform with
     the transporter.
    With eyes sharp and wary, Rion glanced over his shoulder at the Enforcers hunting through the crowds for them. Together he
     and Marisa dodged into thick foot traffic, and he pulled her with him behind a food station, where they merged with a group
     of singing youngsters.
    Rion took a right, then a left, leading her past stores and fruit stands, then maneuvered them onto a moving walkway. They
     stood between a janitor pushing what looked like a phone booth full of cleaning supplies and two men who had to be over seven
     feet tall.
    “Where are we going?” she asked.
    “To meet my contact.”
    “To get the charges dropped?”
    “To hide us until we can leave for Honor.” He steered her around a copper-colored puddle on the pavement. But it couldn’t
     rain inside this building, could it?
    She needed to focus. On the important things. “I want to go home.”
    He raked a hand through his hair, face weary. “I’m sorry I had to drag you into this. But if you help me, I’ll make sure—”
    “I don’t make bargains with kidnappers,” she snapped.
    Rion glanced over his shoulder. “Keep your voice down.”
    She spotted a large squad of Enforcers coming toward them and jerked her thumb. “They’ve already spotted us.”
    “Come on.” Rion dragged her to the side of the moving walkway. He leaped onto the railing and hauled her up beside him. She
     looked down. They were balanced ten stories above another level. Below, the people were tiny. The ground was steel or