Read Online The Quest by Adrian Howell - Free Book Online

Less than twenty paces farther, though, Alia started whimpering and telepathically begged in a frantic voice, “Addy! Addy! Stop!”
    I stopped walking and asked, “What’s the matter, Alia?”
    “I can’t do this! Please go back! I can’t be here!”
    Terry called from the front of the line, “Hey, what’s the holdup?”
    Alia was speaking telepathically despite the crowd, which she wouldn’t do unless she was seriously upset. “Just wait a minute!” I called back, and quickly carried her back to the edge of the lake.
    I set my sister down onto the ground but she refused to let go of me, her shoulders quivering as she desperately tried to regain control of her breathing.
    “Alia?” I said gently. “What’s the matter?”
    “I’m sorry, Addy,” she said miserably. “I thought I could do it, but I can’t.”
    I finally understood her fear. I said as soothingly as I could, “It’s just trees and bushes, Ali. Just like a big park.”
    “It’s not!”
    “Didn’t you once come running after me through a forest back when we were living with Mark?”
    “There was a road! Please, please don’t make me do this.”
    I would have thought that with everything else we had survived over the years and all that we had just come through, a hike through a forest would have been a cakewalk for Alia, but then again, I wasn’t her.
    I heard Terry call, “Come on, Adrian! Let’s go!”
    “I can’t fly you over this, Alia,” I said. “There’re no two ways about it. We have to go through.”
    Alia shook her head. “I can’t, Addy. I just can’t.”
    Gripping her shoulders tightly, I looked into her damp eyes. “Steady, Alia. You’re not alone this time. Just hang on to me. Close your eyes if you want.”
    Patrick came back to us and gave my sister a concerned look. “Are you okay, Alia?”
    Alia took a few breaths before answering aloud, “I’m okay. I have to be. Just walk with me.”
    My sister looked like she was on the verge of another panic attack, but Terry was still calling to us impatiently. I telekinetically lifted Alia onto my back and Patrick walked beside me, holding Alia’s free hand as I carried her into the forest once again. I was grateful for Patrick’s support. It was difficult walking together, especially since Patrick was carrying the baby and I had Alia, but at least my sister wasn’t hyperventilating anymore. Alia knew more than most about facing fear, and to her credit, she made no more complaints.
    It was slow going, finding our way through the thick trees. Though it wasn’t exactly jungle, nevertheless we could have made good use of a machete to cut through the undergrowth. Terry used the sharp edge of her hook as best she could.
    A little past noon, Terry gave us a two-hour break, and almost everyone slept or dozed a little. There was nothing to eat. Alia stayed close to Patrick and the baby girl, caressing the infant’s short blond hair.
    “We’re still not far enough away from the plane,” Terry said anxiously. “But then again, the way we’re walking, it’ll be easy to track us no matter how far we get.”
    We occasionally followed what appeared to be animal trails, but for the most part we made our own, noisily crumpling leaves and snapping branches as we pushed through the foliage. Alia was kept busy with everyone’s cuts and scrapes.
    Once, little Teddy fell behind, and we only noticed when we heard his distant cries. Fortunately, it wasn’t difficult to retrace our steps, and I wasn’t too surprised to discover that the boy who had been put in charge of looking after Teddy was my obtuse pyroid pal, Steven. Terry was equally unimpressed with Steven’s attitude, and reassigned Teddy to me.
    “Good,” said Steven. “I was getting tired of dragging that brat along anyway.”
    Terry said icily to him, “Keep it up and we’ll leave you here.”
    Steven snapped back, “Don’t you talk to me like that, girl! My father’s on the Council. You’re supposed to