The Forgotten Shrine by Monica Tesler

Author:Monica Tesler
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin

15

AS SOON AS SEELOK AND the admiral exit the bay, the general unloading of the passenger craft gets under way. The Alks on the low scooters rig a second ramp to the craft for the luggage. The rest of the pod leaders disembark first. At the end of their ranks, Gedney hobbles off. When he sees us, he heads in our direction.

“How are you, kids?” he asks. “Officer Johnson didn’t provide a very detailed report.”

“That’s because Officer Johnson has no clue how we’re doing,” Lucy says. “Did you see him in that blinged-out gold jumpsuit? That tells you all you need to know.”

“He’s been occupied with food, wine, and friends of the virtual variety,” Marco says.

“They’re using VR here?” Gedney asks.

Cole fills him in on the VR tech, but I don’t listen. I scan the cadets as they disembark from the craft. First the Bounders in my class head off. Ryan, Meggi, and Annette descend the ramp and join their pod leader, Captain Ridders, in the corner. Then the new wave of cadets spills out. Ryan flags a group of them over to the corner. Those must be the juniors in their pod. Still there’s no sign of Addy.

Gedney touches my forearm, and I jerk.

He smiles. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I asked how you’ve been, Jasper.”

“Oh, I . . .” I keep my eyes on the exit ramp.

“Don’t worry. Your sister will be along soon. She’s in my pod, you know, so you’ll be training together. I suspect you’ll be back to sibling bickering in a matter of hours. Not that I’m looking forward to that. I have about all I can handle in the sibling bickering department.”

What’s that supposed to mean?

The new cadets keep coming, and finally I spy my sister.

Addy steps out the craft door flanked on both sides by other cadets, who appear to be hanging on every word she says. She stops at the top of the ramp and scans the port. When she finally spots me, she takes off running.

“Hi, J!” She crashes into me with a giant hug. When we break apart, she waves to Cole, Marco, Lucy, and Mira. “Hi, senior pod mates.”

“Hey!” I say, giving her another hug. “You okay?”

She pulls away and gives me an odd look. “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

I shrug. “Just asking.” I check out the other cadets and recognize the two girls as the twins Addy was sitting with on the trip to the space station. They both have curly red hair, green eyes, and freckles, and I doubt I’ll ever be able to tell them apart. One of the guys I’ve never met, but he has jet-black hair and is almost as tall as Marco. The other boy is Desmond, the annoying kid we met on the first night. Addy is standing between me and Marco.

“How goes it, Adeline?” Marco asks.

“It’s Addy,” she says, correcting her odd formality on launch day. “Let me introduce everyone else.”

“Isn’t that Gedney’s job, Adeline?” Lucy asks, squeezing into the small space between Marco and my sister.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.