The White Renegade (Viral Airwaves) Read Online Free Page A

this whole enterprise a routine operation, but Seraphin couldn’t shake the horror creeping up his spine whenever he thought about it.
    Routine operations involved crackdowns on rebellious cells. At best, they meant a slew of violent arrests. Seraphin stared at his hometown, small houses huddled together, half hidden by the giant conifers, and his thumb rubbed against his skeptar. In Iswood, everyone knew everyone, and they all knew who was involved in the network of guerrilla fights against the Union army.
    They all knew Damian Holt, Seraphin’s father, led them.
    Seraphin turned away from the vista of his hometown. With every step, the red string around his wrist scratched him a little, a constant reminder of whose name he bore. He tried to ignore the nagging heirloom as he walked back to their military camp. The latter wasn’t all that big: five squads had converged in the area and set up tents. Seraphin’s squad was to take care of Iswood tonight, then the group would move to a bigger target under General Vermen’s orders. They had a few solar motorcycles at the edge, tied to a makeshift fence, ready to use for couriers. Then the soldiers’ tents rose on the left, all across the small plateau. On his right were the mess tent, the general’s bigger quarters, a command area, and part of the field that had been left empty for morning exercises. Seraphin tried to focus on the bustling soldiers still raising tents, but the scratchy skeptar wouldn’t let him forget who their next target was.
    A part of him wanted to slip out of camp and warn everyone in town. What if they thought the army was only there in passing? Unless the Union forces knew about their little meetings in the tavern’s basement, there was no reason for soldiers to attack. Seraphin glanced in his hometown’s direction again, where green roofs repaired and maintained by Alex would glow tonight, peaceful. As he thought of the Wet Lizard , and of his last night in the pub eighteen months ago, anger crawled back in his throat. Seraphin straightened up, ground his teeth. He had already warned them that night. His father hadn’t listened, and now the army camped outside Iswood.
    Seraphin hoped they wouldn’t resist. As he thought about the one night they had invited him to their meeting, however, his doubts began to rise.

    *

    Seraphin followed his father into the basement of the Wet Lizard , Iswood’s only pub. He straightened his back and forced as much dignity in his strides as he could. He was an adult now, and was no longer asked to wait in the common room with watered beer. He wished Alex could see it. Seraphin’s friend had never been allowed down either, despite being a year older. Too much of an outsider, even after two full summers living in Iswood. It wasn’t just about how long Alex had been around. They were too different for Iswood. The hamlet needed more time to digest their lack of gender, their taste for flashy clothes, and their refusal to apologize for any of it. Seraphin wasn’t sure the townsfolk would ever completely accept it. Until he reached the bottom of the basement staircase, he hadn’t believed his town would get past his albinism and bisexuality. Sometime in the last summer, Seraphin had dared to kiss Alex’s cheek in public, and since then their passage had brought wary whispers. After that they’d kept anything resembling intimate contact to the forest, just in case.
    Yet the townsfolk had let him in, so perhaps one day it would be Alex’s turn. For now, however, Seraphin focused on controlling the butterflies in his stomach.
    The basement was a small room, its walls the stone foundations of the tavern. Everyone else had arrived, and eleven men and women had turned to stare at him as he’d entered. The lacquered planks under his feet creaked as he moved forward, following his father. Seraphin pushed his glasses farther up his nose and met their gazes for a split second—long enough to be able to say he had. Then