Thorn Fall Read Online Free Page B

eyebrows at me.
    “It’s less the distance and the rust, and more the cost of lodgings there. It’s a tourist trap. I’m sure the Motel 6 is three times as expensive.”
    “Actually there’s not a Motel 6. Or an Econo Lodge.”
    “That should tell you something. Why don’t we stay here and drive over in the morning?”
    Alektryon jogged back into the influence of the headlights. His sword was no longer in his scabbard but in his hand. I eyed the edge but didn’t see any blood dripping from it.
    “What is it?” I picked up the tablet.
    “ Dhekarzha ,” he said.
    “Gesundheit?” Simon asked.
    “No,” I said, “that was the word our elves had for themselves. Alektryon, was it Jakatra? Eleriss?” Maybe they had come to watch us to make sure Temi returned safely.
    Alektryon gave me a blank look. Right, they had probably never given him their names. I grabbed the tablet and asked, “The two from the cave?”
    He shrugged.
    “You’re sure they’re elves? Dhekarzha? ”
    He took the tablet and wrote, “I would have caught a human. The Dhekarzha move with speed and agility that cannot be matched.” He must have remembered my request, because he spoke the words as he wrote them. His gaze drifted toward the treetops for a moment, then he finished with, “One of them was spying upon us.”
    For our own good? Or for… other reasons? Nothing had bothered us during the last week, but Temi and her glowing sword hadn’t been here, either. The last jibtab had been drawn to it. As had the elves. With it back among us, would we be magnets for trouble again?
    “I think it’s time to wake Sleeping Beauty.” I nodded to the car.
    Temi hadn’t moved from the back seat; she had simply crumpled over to take the spot Simon had vacated. Her clothes were caked in dirt and—damn, was that blood? She hadn’t appeared injured when we picked her up, though I hadn’t been able to tell from the way she slouched wearily to the car whether her knee had been fixed up. She had tossed her tennis bag in the trunk, the glowing sword presumably still inside, without commenting on Simon’s paraphernalia. Or maybe she hadn’t noticed it.
    I shook her shoulder, wondering if I should be checking for a pulse. “Temi? You can sleep more later, but I need to ask you a couple of questions.”
    I thought I would have to shake her a few times, but she jerked awake, sitting bolt upright and gripping the back of the seat, her eyes bulging. “Are there more? Are they attacking again?”
    “Uh. Not yet.”
    Alektryon had followed me to the car, and he didn’t seem surprised by her reaction.
    Temi blinked a few times, looking around the camp, and finally focusing on me. Her eyes were bloodshot, and I felt bad about waking her up. “Do you have any water?” she rasped. For the first time, I saw how chapped and dry her lips were. What exactly had Jakatra’s “training” involved?
    “I’ll get some,” Simon blurted before I could answer.
    “Temi, we apparently have an elven visitor,” I said. “We need to know if it might be Jakatra or Eleriss. Would they have followed you back? To make sure you arrived home?” I made a face and waved dismissively at the campground, since it wasn’t exactly home.
    “They didn’t follow me,” Temi said.
    The cooler door slammed inside the van, and Simon appeared an instant later. He had never brought me a soda that quickly. He lifted a chilled water bottle in one hand and a can of his treasured Mountain Dew in the other. Temi took the water; she must have recovered from her earlier lapse of judgment.
    “We don’t have any Gatorades, do we?” I asked. “Something with electrolytes?”
    “I get my electrolytes straight from the can.” He popped open the Mountain Dew and took a swig.
    “Healthy.”
    “I’ll be fine,” Temi said after downing half the bottle in thirty seconds. “I still have a couple of the green wafers they gave me. They seem to contain everything you need.”
    “Did you