Read Online Wind-Scarred (The Will of the Elements, Book 1) by Sky Corbelli - Free Book Online Page A

stable,
non-traversable wormholes. Unfortunately, there were some rather
bizarre unanticipated side effects for reality. Sections of
Sanctuary would loop in time, slow down or even freeze. It caused
completely understandable panic.”
    “ Wait, I've heard of that,” Ezra said, “but... but that was
just a Guild of Sundry prank. I heard that there were teams of
performers all over the city, acting normally, freezing for a
minute, then continuing as if nothing happened. Or acting out the
same sequence of events over and over. There are videos of it on
the net! You're telling me that it was all...”
    Ezra stopped talking as the pieces started
coming together in his head. GoS on the doors in the secret base.
Guild of Sundry. The man in the base he had fled saying something
about a mission. Gliders out everywhere, covering up what he was
doing, making it all part of the event. Just like they had for his
great grandfather. “You cover it up. The things that would frighten
people, that would make them ask questions that could lead to
answers you don't want to share. The Guild of Sundry. And no-one
looks past it, because they think it's all just an elaborate
prank.”
    “ And you couldn't have figured this out two minutes ago ?” Agent Doe shot him
an exasperated glance.
    “ Unfortunately, I'm afraid we've run out of time here. There's
a skiff waiting outside to take you home. Miss Doe, please escort
Mr. Hawkins and see to it that he has an appropriate cover story.
We'll contact you soon, Ezra.” Mr. Blair deftly removed the card
from the table and wiped its memory.
    Ezra was still caught up in thought. He
wracked his brain for other Guild of Sundry events, trying to tie
them to potential cover-ups. The Day of Pants-less Shuttles...
maybe something that made people forgetful? The University Statue
Caper... had someone animated statues? The Great Waffle Switch...
a... um... huh. He looked up to find Mr. Blair gone and Agent Doe
waiting for him at the door, smiling a knowing smile.
    “ The Great Waffle Switch?” she asked. Ezra blinked and nodded
his head. The girl shrugged. “I don't think anyone's figured that
one out. Come on, we should get you home.”
    They walked back through the DOLT office and
collected Ezra's gear. Ezra was still trying to work through
everything he had heard that night. Outside, the Founder's Day gala
had finally come to end. Streets were mostly clear, and the
dizzying kaleidoscope of color that painted the town was beginning
to fade. A closed skiff was parked in front of the building. They
got in, it hovered to life and began the short trip to the Hawkins
estate.
    “ Ezra,” Doe said, looking directly at him, “I'm going to help
you with your cover story, but it will be up to you to make sure
that it sticks. You're going to have to deal with the people in
your life who might notice something is off or ask difficult
questions.”
    “ Okay , I think I can manage something
Agent Doe... look, do you have a real name? Something I can call
you?” He thought the question might somehow be inappropriate. How
were you supposed to ask secret agent for her name?
    She smiled back at him. “I'm afraid it
really is Doe. I come from a long line of Doe's, all the way back
to a man at Founding who apparently didn't want to give his real
name. A proud family with a long-standing grunt tradition.”
    Ezra winced. Grunt, or more formally, GRNT,
stood for General Research Non-inheriting Technician. They were the
people who never got a breakthrough, the nuts and bolts of
Sanctuary. Assistants, maintenance workers, or service technicians,
the kind of people who went to school to learn rather than being
taught at home by parents or siblings. And certainly not the sort
of people a Legacy heir should be overly friendly with. How was he
going to work her into any plausible cover story? Kirsten O'Donnell
would never find this acceptable, and the woman had a tendency to
pierce even his most carefully laid