The Never War Read Online Free Page A

watery at first, but then suddenly snapped into sharp focus to reveal…
    A girl. Actually, not a full girl. A girl’s head. No kidding. Just a head. It was big, too. It floated over us like a huge Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon.
    â€œWho are you?” the head demanded.
    Her voice was loud, as though amplified. The girl-head looked normal enough. She had long blond hair tied back in a ponytail. Her eyes were blue, and she wore small, wire-rimmed glasses with yellow-tinted lenses. I’d even say she was cute, for a monster head, that is. She didn’t look dangerous, but then again, a giant floating head didn’t exactly look normal, either.
    â€œI’m Bobby Pendragon,” I said to the head, trying to sound head-friendly.
    â€œAnd my name’s Vo Spader,” Spader added. “Who are you?”
    â€œI’ll ask the questions!” boomed the head.
    I felt like I was standing before the great and powerfulWizard of Oz. With any luck, there’d be some befuddled old man hiding behind a curtain pulling on levers to control the big thing.
    â€œWhere do you come from?” demanded the head.
    â€œI’m from Cloral,” answered Spader. “My mate here is from Second Earth. Do you have a body to go with that head?”
    The head suddenly dipped down toward us. We both hit the floor. For a second I thought she was going to take a bite.
    â€œI said I’ll ask the questions!” she roared.
    â€œSorry, mate,” yelled Spader. “No worries. I’m with you now.”
    The head floated back higher without taking a chomp. Spader and I exchanged worried looks.
    â€œWhy did you come here?” asked the giant blonde girl-head thing.
    â€œSpader and I are Travelers,” I said. “We followed someone here. His name is—”
    â€œSaint Dane isn’t here now,” the head announced.
    Whoa. The head was a couple of steps ahead of us…no pun intended.
    â€œUhh, sorry to disagree,” Spader said. “But he definitely came here from Cloral.”
    The big head rolled her eyes like we were annoying her, and said, “I didn’t say he was never here. I said he’s not here now. Weren’t you listening?”
    Spader and I shot each other looks. This was getting even stranger. We were talking to a big, floating, obnoxious head.
    â€œWatch,” the head said impatiently, as if she were talking to a couple of naughty children. “This happened a few minutes ago.”
    The head then disappeared. Just like that. It faded out like a movie. I began to wonder if it had really been there or if itwere some kind of projection. We were in the dark again, in more ways than one. But not for long.
    Another light began to grow. At first I thought the head was coming back, but what appeared right in front of us was another image entirely. It looked like the mouth of the flume! It was like a 3-D movie projected in space. Very cool. That started to explain the giant head. My guess was these guys on Veelox had some hot technology going on.
    Spader backed off. “What is this, Pendragon?” he asked nervously.
    â€œIt’s okay,” I assured him. “I think it’s like a movie.”
    â€œOh,” Spader said. “What’s a movie?”
    The image of the flume then came to life. Bright light shone from the mouth and the musical notes told us that somebody was about to arrive. And then this strange movie took an interesting turn.
    Saint Dane stepped out of the flume.
    â€œHobey!” shouted Spader in surprise.
    â€œIt’s okay,” I assured him. “It’s just pictures.”
    Saint Dane stood in the mouth of the projected flume. This may have been a hologram movie, but it sure looked real. His long gray hair cascaded over the shoulders of his dark suit, and his piercing blue eyes cut through me as if he were actually standing there. Saint Dane even gave us a wave, as if he knew we were