Ember Read Online Free Page A

he
paced.
    “We're dead?!” I started to pace myself.
    “Yes, dead! What are we going to do?”
    “What can we do?”
    “He's going to kill us.”
    “He is?”
    “You've got to calm down.”
    “You calm down, I don't even know what's
happening.”
    “I've got it!”
    “What?”
    “Hide!”
    “Where?”
    “There!” He pointed to a bush next to a tree
and pushed me down behind it.
    Seconds later I heard footsteps running
towards Cornelius. I situated myself so I could see through the
leaves. Cornelius moved himself in front of me, one hand leaning
against the tree.
    The boy came into view and I looked him over.
He was average build if not a little thin. The mat of short blond
hair on his head looked like it hadn't seen a comb in a while, his
ears were a bit oversized, nothing spectacular, that is until he
smiled. I was never one of those “omigod he has the most gorgeous
smile” girls, but . . . this was something.
    Cornelius had just called him Ikovos, but
recognized the name like I'd heard it before.
    Hmm . . . Oh, right, this was the person that
Thoran had told Cornelius not to let me meet.
    Well, that explains the pushing. I
grunted. Cornelius covered the noise with a cough.
    “Oh, hello Ikovos,” said Cornelius in a
squeaky voice. “What are you doing out here this late?”
    “I took over gate-watching for Luther,” he
said. “But hey, why were you saying you were someone else?”
    “Well, I um . . . .”
    “A joke,” I whispered from the bush. “Tell
him it was a joke.”
    “Oh right, I was just playing a joke of
course,” said Cornelius. He forced an uncomfortable laugh.
    “A joke?” Ikovos said flatly. “Right . . .
well, who was that with you? Where'd they go?”
    “Oh that . . . that was a bird.”
    “Huh?”
    “Tell him it was magic ,” I
interjected.
    “I mean it was magic,” said Cornelius.
    Ikovos raised an eyebrow. “Since when can you
make a fake person with magic?”
    Cornelius backed towards me and whispered.
“Why did you say magic? That doesn't even make sense.”
    “Well, how was I supposed to know? I've never
learned a thing about magic. Why did you listen to me if it didn't
fit?”
    “Because . . . because you tricked me!” he
said.
    “What?” I asked exasperatedly, jumping
aggressively to my feet.
    Ikovos, who had been watching as Cornelius
argued, now stared at me wide-eyed, jaw to the floor.
    When I saw him I screamed and ducked back
behind the bush.
    Cornelius fainted.
    After a few seconds I poked my head out above
the leaves. The boy forced a confused smile and waved. I dropped
down again.
    Come on Eve, pull it together. You are a
confident and outgoing individual. You are a confident and outgoing
individual. I repeated this a few times in my mind then took a
deep breath. Before standing up to face the boy.
    “Hi.” I smiled. “My name’s Eve.” Well,
that was original.
    “Right, I'm Ikovos . . . sorry for scaring
you,” he said as he scratched the back of his head thoughtlessly.
“Ah, do you know Cornelius?”
    “No, well, sort of I guess.”
    “Cause you guys seemed to have something
going.”
    “Heh, it's been a long day. I got a little
too excited. Sorry.”
    “No, no it's okay. I just thought that you
must have known each other pretty well. But I guess not.”
    “Yeah . . . no.”
    Silence followed, crickets chirped, I figured
tumbleweed wouldn't show in the forest but kept an eye out
anyways.
    “Hmm, okay, I'm gonna try to wake him up now,
cause I'm not doing a very good job talking,” said Ikovos, nodding
at me repeatedly.
    “Right, that makes sense,” I said, before
realizing that I had just agreed he wasn't talking well. I did a
mental head bang against the tree.
    I am not outgoing and confident. I am not
outgoing and confident . . . .
    I watched Ikovos move to Cornelius’s side. He
poked him in the chest a few times, then tried shaking him. I knelt
cautiously beside the motionless body across from the boy.
    “Ah, Master