I Am Not Junco Omnibus: Books Four - Six Read Online Free Page A

as he follows me into the elevator, I just tap my foot impatiently as we ascend and when the doors open my heart is buzzing with excitement.
    I catch a flurry of black wings ascending the terrace stairs, going up to the flyer pad on the roof, and look over to Gid for an explanation.
    Gid looks away.
    My legs kick into high gear and I take the steps two at a time and burst up to the pad just as he's about to climb in his waiting flyer.
    "Tier?"
    He stops mid stride but doesn't turn.
    "Are you leaving? Without even saying hello to me?" My eyes burn and my throat clenches up as the words leave my mouth.
    His head drops and his chest heaves a little. And then he turns and I step back.
    He's glowing green with anger.
    "I didn't come to see you, Junco. I had a message for Gideon."
    "Oh." I feel the tears but control them. "Well, you can stay now that you're here."
    He shakes his head. "I'm not staying."
    "Why? I mean, are you mad at me?"
    He laughs. "Is that a real question?" He storms over to me, pushes his body up against me and stares me down, emphasizing the height difference between us. I have to tip my head up severely to meet his gaze.
    A challenge. He's challenging me.
    I squint up at him, annoyed. "What the hell are you doing?"
    His hair is cropped short, much shorter than when I saw him last and he's wearing a black uniform but it's not Aves like we used to wear. It's got a lot of little things dangling off it. Like a service uniform. Or an officer's uniform. An officer of excessive rank. He is definitely running something, and it's not just some elite warrior team, that's for sure. From the ribbons and medals I'd say it was an army.
    "I'm doing my best not to smack ya down to the ground, Junco. That's what I'm doing." His growl comes out with such venom I step back and look away. "I came here to deliver a message and believe me, if there was anyone else to deliver it, I wouldn't have come."
    I keep my head turned. "Why? Why are you acting like this? Why haven't you come to visit?" I look back and wait to see if he will answer. "I've only been here a few weeks, Tier. I have no way to leave. I'm stuck in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. How could I have found a way to see you on my own?"
    "Fuck, yer so stupid."
    The shock leaves my body as a gasp. "What?"
    "Ya think I want ta see ya after what ya did? Really, Junco? Ya think I'd just forgive something like that?"
    "Something like what? Like what, Tier?"
    His face dips down to mine and he bares his teeth at me. They are not the same teeth I remember. Fangs, almost. "You had a choice back there in the Runout valley, Junco. Us or them." His head motions behind me and I turn to find Gideon and Selia standing at the top of the stairs.
    I swallow. "That's not fair."
    "Not fair, eh?" He pushes me this time and I stumble backward. "Not fair? What's not fair is the baby ya killed when you let that bitch take ya."
    Now it's my turn to growl. "Fuck you. Fuck you! I didn't let her do anything!"
    He storms towards me again and Gideon covers the distance between us at a run. "Don't touch her again, Tier. Or I fucking swear—"
    Tier's bright green eyes look up and find Gideon. "Ya swear what? What? You'll do what, exactly, Gideon? Because I'd like nothing better than fight ya to the death right now." He clenches his fists and turns away from me, still talking. "You had a choice, Junco. I told ya." He turns his rage back to me. "I told ya I wanted ta quit. So we could have a normal life. And what did you do? You chose chaos and death, just like ya always do. This incessant fascination you have with death, it makes me sick ."
    I'm silent.
    "That was my child too."
    The tears slip out.
    "And ya killed it." He breaks our stare and looks over to Gideon. "For him."
    My chest starts to heave as breathing becomes difficult.
    "Gideon told me what ya said."
    I look over to Gid and he turns away.
    "That you killed yerself because you just wanted to die. You never cared about saving me."
    I shake