Orphan of Mythcorp Read Online Free

Dick stuff?’ Marie wondered. ‘What did
I miss?’ She resumed her dancing, floating up and away.
    “ No worries.” I fled before his pals
could ask me what the fug had just happened. At this point they
likely figured I was just an orphan who’d hitched a ride with the
Morai, and not a Mythcorp product with extra-human gifts. It was
best if I let them continue thinking that.
    Feeling weak and disgusted, I made my way to
room 214 on the second floor. Internet History with Mrs. Deem. I
didn’t know jack about the Internet except that accessing it
without Mr. Monmouth’s supervision would earn you three stripes and
a week in Solitary.
    Chatter and laughter. Rumors and lies. Mrs.
Deem ordering the class-holes to sit down.
    Ash was in this class too. I was beginning to
think I was in the middle of a conspiracy. When we were all seated
and the teacher had taken roll call, giving everyone another
opportunity to laugh at my girlie name, we got down to the
important business of learning.
    ‘ Why they teach Internet History?’
Charles, the hairy spook who appears whenever I am feeling
particularly glum, asked. I hate old Charles most of all the spooks
who haunt (annoy) me because he insists on running around in the
buff. It doesn’t take much imagination to figure out what he was
doing when he croaked.
    What a charming life I lead.
    Thirty minutes in: we were learning
interesting stuff—like the fact that Bill Gates didn’t actually
invent the internet, and that civilization existed long before the
advent of the computer. Who knew? Just as I was starting to nod
off, Ash spoke up.
    He was using his usual caressing voice,
sounding like a girl. No one spoke when he did.
    “ Mrs. Deem, do you think it would still
be open and operational if the Mythicon Tom Sawyer had been allowed
to continue running Mythcorp?”
    A collective sharp wheezy as he mentioned the
no-no word. What was Ash thinking?
    “ Um,” said Mrs. Deem. It was the usual
response to Ash. “Ash? Listen dear. We don’t mention . . . that
place. Now, as I was saying, according to the Zuckerburg
Principle—”
    “ What if someone were to forge another
Tom Sawyer,” Ash persisted in that same tranquil manner. “And they
reopened Mythcorp with him in charge. Wouldn’t that be like . . .
okay? Wouldn’t it be better to have a corporation around that could
forge Mythicons—Morai, even—who could protect us? With all the
bombings going on and the Tesla Arms Race, it just seems we could
use people who have real power to keep the peace.”
    Jeez frigging Louise, even I was buying it.
It wasn’t a Mesmer, not exactly. But with the innocent timbre of
his voice, the baby cheeks, and his wise words, who could argue
with Ash?
    Mrs. Deem, apparently. “That is quite enough.
No more talk like that or I’ll send you –”
    “ He’s right,” Gareth said. “I always
wondered why they didn’t just put someone else in charge of
Mythcorp after the end of the war.” His long white locks danced as
he gestured. “And if they’re never going to reopen it, why haven’t
they razzed the place? The real estate’s got to be
primo.”
    Mrs. Deem exhaled loudly. “We are not having
this conversation.”
    “ You should send them all to the
principal’s office, Mrs. Deem,” a pretty brunette said. “They’re
Alexander-lovers. Bringing them here was just stupid. I mean, their
parents worked for that despot.”
    Impressive. Who knew snide high school girls
had such vocabularies.
    More voices joined in until the entire class
was sharing their opinions in the loudest, most annoying debate I’d
ever heard. ‘Look at him,’ Marie chimed beside me. ‘Look at Ash.
He’s smiling. Do you think he intentionally provoked this little UN
summit?’
    I turned my head to peep at Ash. The little
zipperdick was sitting just as calm as you please, not a care in
the world. His whites bore into Mrs. Deems blue peepers. She blew a
whistle. Everyone shut up lickety-split. “Okay