I Am Titanium (Pax Black Book 1) Read Online Free

differently about this kind.”
    Pax looked ready to argue, but he looked around helplessly and shrugged. “Fine. Whatever.”
    The boy’s form flickered: his physical body had been severed from his astral energy. His mortal body was dead, though Pax wouldn’t know it for a while yet. The boy would start fading soon, but not so soon that there wasn’t time for the ceremony, and a chance at change.
    Terkun’shuks’pai folded his hands in his lap for a moment out of respect, and then began making the tea, pouring the hot water, scooping a small ladle full of white powder into the water, and mixing it into the tea bowl. The kintsukuroi container of white powder was real—at least, in the context of this pacha— but the powder inside was not; it was merely a symbol.
    But it was a potent symbol, one that would give him permission to do what was necessary to the boy’s physical body, back on Earth. It was more important for the boy to drink the tea than to understand, or even agree, to what Terkun’shuks’pai had to do to save the boy.
    Terkun’shuks’pai replaced the clay lid on the container of powder and took up the bamboo whisk, carefully stirring the tea until the white powder dissolved. He scraped the whisk along the edges of the tea bowl, making sure none of the powder remained, and tapped the whisk against the bowl three times. Setting the whisk on the floor, he balanced it on its flat handle.
    He handed the bowl to the boy, bowing to him.
    Pax took the bowl and bowed back, not as deeply as he would have if he had been familiar with the customs related to the ceremony, and then straightened up and sipped from it.
    “What is this?”
    “Is it to your liking?”
    The boy sipped again and then tipped the bowl up and drank it greedily, draining it to the last drop. A thin line of viscous white tea rolled down the side of his mouth; he caught it on a finger and licked the finger.
    “It’s delicious.” He put the bowl down in front of him and stretched, putting his hands on his knees. The bones in his back popped. He opened his jaw and stretched it, wiggling it from side to side, then closed it, and breathed in deeply, until his lungs were full to bursting. “That was part of it, wasn’t it?”
    Terkun’shuks’pai smiled again, this time with genuine pleasure. “You have always had great intelligence, Pax. You are correct; that was part of what I must do to save you. Your mortal body is too weak to endure. And I am unable to repair the extent of damage it has suffered. So we must replace it.”
    “Replace it?”
    “With astral material.”
    Pax looked down into the empty bowl. “That white stuff in the tea.”
    Terkun’shuks’pai nodded.
    “When I go back… I’ll have a new body. An… astral body?”
    “We will build one together, yes.”
    “My mortal body will be dead.”
    Terkun’shuks’pai nodded again.
    “ I’ll be dead.”
    Terkun’shuks’pai waited.
    The boy shook his head. “Only my body will be dead. I’ll be alive.” The boy’s blue-gray eyes seemed to spark with understanding. “I’ll be able to live . Let’s do it!”
    Terkun’shuks’pai raised a hand. “There are a few issues we must discuss.”
    “What’s to discuss? I’ll be alive!”
    Terry smiled. “I will need to come with you at first, Pax, to ensure your astral body and your physical form will bond with each other. It may be an extensive process, lasting for more than an earthly year.”
    “I wouldn’t mind that. Spend a year with you? Think of what I could learn. What you could teach me.” The boy was grinning. He picked up the bowl and rubbed a finger around the inside, sweeping up the last few drops of liquid. He sucked on the finger.
    “I did not expect that condition to be… something that would require you to consider for long.” Terkun’shuks’pai paused. “However, there is a condition you will not accept as easily. Political issues in the White City have kept me from traveling to your plane