Plague Cult Read Online Free Page A

cans littered the floor.
    She followed Shawn down the concrete steps to the basement.
    Paul was there, sitting in a recliner even rattier than the one upstairs. A radio blared a horse race. “There you are.” Paul didn’t bother turning the radio down as he hauled himself out of the chair. He was a guy about forty, seriously overweight and it was affecting his breathing. His voice had a slight wheeze. “If it isn’t my favorite healer.”
    “Hi, Paul,” Ruth said reluctantly.
    Paul was sleazy, but not dangerously so. Porters had independent status with the Collegium, but the organization wouldn’t have tolerated an abusive one. Paul knew it, too. He kept his nuisance status dialed to the have-to-tolerate-him level.
    “We’re travelling to San Antonio,” Shawn said.
    “So I’ve been told.” Paul brandished his phone. He shouted into the portal. “You there, Sue?”
    “Yes.”
    “I’ve got the two Collegium mages. Sending them through.” He smirked at Ruth and held out his hand.
    Hiding her cringe, Ruth accepted it.
    His palm was damp.
    Travel through the in-between was a dizzying, disorienting experience that was shortened to a few seconds if porters handed a person from porter to porter. Bracing herself for the chaos of the in-between, and holding onto Paul’s hand, Ruth stepped into the shimmering metallic-gray portal in the center of the basement’s cement floor.
    The crazy, weightless, spinning reality of the in-between claimed her. Nausea churned her stomach. She shut her eyes.
    A cool hand replaced Paul’s clasp and hauled Ruth out.
    “Portal sick?” The San Antonio porter studied Ruth’s pale face, her own face a healthy tanned color with a humorous if sympathetic expression.
    “I just need to get my breath back.” Ruth shuffled backwards on the old, brick-paved floor, making room for Shawn to step out of the portal.
    He entered the Texas cellar as casually as a man walking into his own kitchen. “Thanks, Sue.”
    The middle-aged porter smiled at him. “You’d better take your friend upstairs and into the fresh air. She doesn’t look so well.”
    Shawn gave Ruth an assessing look. A smile tugged at his mouth. “No, she sure doesn’t.”
    Ruth couldn’t summon the energy to glare at him. Instead, she put a hand on her stomach and sent a pulse of magic to calm it.
    “Keys.” Sue threw a set to Shawn. “One of the mages in town left a truck for you.”
    “Thanks.” He caught the keys, pocketed them, and gripped Ruth’s elbow. “Let’s get you upstairs. The wind of the open road will help.”
    “Huh.” Ruth let him haul her up the neat wooden staircase and into a sunny sitting room. They kept on going across the clean tiled floor with its scattering of Navajo rugs and out to a tidy suburban backyard warm with afternoon sunshine. Ruth tipped her face to the sun and inhaled deeply. She smelled lavender and rosemary, and heard the buzz of bees.
    “Better?”
    “Yes. Thank you.”
    He released her elbow, giving her shoulder a quick squeeze before heading for the side gate. “I reckon that’s our truck.”
    She was a fraction slower to move. His sympathy for her portal sickness had been edged with humor, but still real, and it had been a long time since anyone had cared for her. After all, she was the healer. She looked after others. Climbing the stairs just now, she’d leaned on his strength—and that was dangerous.
    Shawn was a guardian. Like a healer, he had his own protective instincts.
    She had to beware of them. She rubbed her shoulder which tingled where his hand had squeezed briefly. A lonely person had to be careful of mistaking kindness for something more, especially when the kindness came in a sexy package. On the other hand, on this mission, she had a partner, and partners worked together. Her confused resonse to him was something to think about.
     
     
    The drive to Bideer was mostly silent. Shawn didn’t know why Ruth was silent. Maybe it was habitual? She was