"Peter W. Prellwitz - Shards Universe - Promise Tide" - читать интересную книгу автора (Prellwitz Peter W)

She nodded and left the room.

Stanworth was home thirty minutes later.


***


тАЬPromise! NO!тАЭ Chrissy wasnтАЩt at tears yet, but her pleading insistence raked across my heart the
same. тАЬYou canтАЩt possibly be serious about meeting that woman and her terrorist group alone!тАЭ
Kendall was an hour gone and Stanworth was downstairs, waiting out the storm he accurately
assumed would be going on in our bedroom.

I pulled off my nightgown and donned my second skin. Of Pisces make, the cloth was made of a fiber
plant that grew near volcanic vents in the deepest ocean. Woven tighter than a spiderтАЩs silken thread,
it also shimmered like one. To increase strength and pliability, it had been infused with special oils,
extracted fromтАж well, never mind. Pisces could be a secretive people when it came to knowledge of
the sea.

тАЬAre you even listening?тАЭ Chrissy said in exasperation. тАЬPromise!тАЭ

The material clung to my skin, allowing me my feminine modesty without hindering me in any way. I
reached for my special ribbon, woven from fluid silver, and tied my hair back. Nothing could throw
off the pace of a swim more than sucking in a gillful of hair.

I looked at my hump longingly, but decided against it. Made of the same material as my second skin,
it was a carrying pack that clung to my back and was almost unnoticeable. If they did see it, however,


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Peter W. Prellwitz - Shards Universe - Promise Tide (v1.1)


theyтАЩd think the worst. Or think me weak. Neither would do.

тАЬPlease,тАЭ she pleaded. This time the tears were there. Her fingers gently stroked my back. тАЬPromise,
please donтАЩt go.тАЭ

I turned to her and let her see the tears in my eyes, too. I wiped her tears, and then mine. Taking her
by the hand, I led her downstairs.

Stanworth was at the door, holding ChrissyтАЩs heavy coat. HeтАЩd known from the beginning that I
would do as I said. He and grandfather had been friends and comrades twenty years before I was
born. HeтАЩd been with him the day grandfather became my guardian from infancy, shortly after my
parents had been murdered. Stanworth knew me even better than I did, for heтАЩd known grandfather
even longer. An odd thought crossed my mind that he must be around sixty years old. Yet he still
looked to be in his forties.

Chrissy sighed and let Stanworth put her coat on her. Chrissy and I had been best friends since we
were three, and much more than friends for the past several years. She didnтАЩt understand me