The Last Dragon Chronicles: Fire World: Fire World Read Online Free Page A

head. “OK,” she drawled, “spare me the pedantry.” (Which made Harlan laugh and Eliza frown.) “It might as well be mine.” She crouched down and picked a daisy. “I’ve been here for eight or nine spins at least.”
    “Nine spins?” said Eliza, sounding alarmed. (A ‘spin’ was a term used to describe the flat rotation of Co:pern:ica round its fire star. Sometimes people called it a ‘year’.)
    Harlan touched her arm. “Why were you brought here, Rosa?”
    “My family didn’t want me,” she said with a shrug. She threw the flower aside

    and took David’s hand. “Come on, I’ve got lots to show you.” They were almost through the librarium door when Eliza called out, “David?”
    He turned and let go of Rosa’s hand. Although displays of affection were
    uncommon   on   Co:pern:ica,   he nevertheless came back and put his arms around his mother.
    “You won’t forget us?” she said, unsure of how to hold him.
    David gave her a puzzled look. “It’s anadventure, isn’t it?” He turned to hisfather.
    Harlan was looking at the discardeddaisy, lying in the grass, its life juicesteadily seeping away. If this place hadbeen a construct, the Higher would havefixed the daisy by now. He glanced up at

    the silent building and nodded. “Yes, a proper adventure,” he muttered. And with that he waved goodbye to his son, drew Eliza into the taxicar and took her away.
    “Hey. New boy.” Rosa was at one of the ground floor windows. She had her elbows on the sill and her chin in her
    hands. “Cover your eyes and count to ten.”
    “Why?”
    “After ten, you can come in and find me. And remember, you’re not allowed to extend your fain. If you do, I’ll know and I’ll punish you.”
    “Erm, how?”
    The dark eyes rolled. “I won’t talk to you for three whole days.”
    And this is a bad thing?   David thought, extending his fain so she might commingle if she wanted to.

    She stuck out her tongue.   Yes   , shereplied.
    So you  can  commingle, then?
    “Yes, but it’s   not   allowed,” she said. “It hurts me, anyway. And I won’t do itagain or Mr Henry will be cross. Eyes. Cover. The full ten, OK? Runcey will bewatching. He’s my best friend. He’ll knowif you cheat.” She pointed to the firebirdin the next window along. It was sittingwith its green wings folded back and aslightly faraway look on its face.
    David shrugged and covered his eyes.
    After a not-so-generous ‘ten’, he lookedup and saw that Rosa and the firebirdwere both gone. Quickly, he ran inside thelibrarium, where he soon discovered thatspeed of movement was of little advantageand actually a positive hazard. Books of

    all sizes and colours, some glossy-backed, some dull and plain, some open, some not, were stacked and strewn in piles of varying height (including singly) across the floor of the foyer and again up the dark, uneven-looking stairs. Picking his way through them, he turned to his right and headed for the room he thought Rosa had spoken from. She wasn’t there, but the scene was exactly the same as in the foyer, except the walls were also laden with books, so many that the shelves were bowing with their weight. As he stumbled across the room, almost losing his footing on something called   Flamenco Guitar Made Easy , David found himself on the threshold of two more doorways, at rightangles to each other. He took the one he thought would lead him deeper into the

building, convinced that Rosa would be hiding in the heart of it. She wasn’t. In total, he visited eleven more rooms. And the only difference between any of them was that some had windows and some did
    not. And in one he found a chair that rocked, and in another an old-fashioned easel. In the twelfth room he thought to glance out of the window and realised, to his surprise, that the daisy horizon was shrinking. In other words he’d actually been going upwards, though he’d had