Ash Read Free Page A

through the crowd.
    I turned and gave a mock bow, which resulted in more whistles and shouts. I tried to remain poised, but a smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. I couldn’t wait to tell my dad what had happened.
    “Don’t you mean way to go, Laira?” Dax Harris interrupted, trying to take away my moment. “Without her destiny, this would never have happened.
    “You must be joking,” Portia said, coming to my defense. “That Ash didn’t do anything but almost get run over. If it wasn’t for Madden, that criminal would have just driven off.”
    Dax wouldn’t let up. “That Ash has a name. It’s Laira. And she triggered the whole thing.”
    “Why am I even bothering talking to you?” Portia muttered in annoyance and turned her back on Dax. “Way to go, future Minister Sumner,” she said, giving me a knowing smile.
    We walked away from Dax and joined the rest of the Purples. Several other friends congratulated me before I noticed my boyfriend, Bastin, walking our way. Portia nudged me.
    “Good looking and knows how to dress,” she sighed. “It’s not fair, Madden.”
    I just smiled. Bas looked good today. He always did. Sandy brown hair, perfectly-fitted shirt, tanned from his many tours around New City—a chore of being on the prestigious Rebuilding Tomorrow committee.
    “Hey,” he said as he approached. He stopped beside me and put his hands around my waist. He leaned down to kiss me, but I gave him my cheek.
    I couldn’t go around kissing in public—not even with my boyfriend. As a future minister, I had an image to protect. I couldn’t very well risk being snapped in a lip-lock with my boyfriend, no matter how handsome he was. It just wasn’t good PR.
    He knew that too, and shook his head in defeat. “What’s with the Destiny Keepers over there?”
    “An Ash destiny,” I said.
    Lavendar butted in before I could say anything else. “Madden caught a criminal.”
    Bas frowned, his blue eyes clouding. “Are you okay?” he asked me.
    “I’m fine,” I assured him.
    “Really?” Worry knitted his brows together.
    “Yes, I promise.” It was cute the way he was so concerned.
    “What happened?”
    “A guy took a PAE van, and—” I waved a hand as I saw Bas’s disbelief. “It was nothing. He was immediately taken into custody.”
    His expression relaxed. “Big day at Spectrum, huh?” he said.
    “You don’t know the half of it,” Portia said with an evil grin. “The guy almost ran down some Ash in the process.”
    Bas raised his eyebrows. “Seriously?” he said, starting to laugh. “Sounds like I missed out on some ultra fun.”
    Several students laughed around us, and I immediately held my hands up. I knew my friends were joking, but Lavendar, Portia, and especially Bas could get downright mean when it came to the lower rings, and we were in mixed company. “Come on now. You know it’s not the lower rings fault they can’t improve society in the same way we can. They may not make much of an impact, but it doesn’t mean they don’t have a purpose.”
    “Yeah, to infect our ring,” Bas said. “We’d probably have been better off if that Ash did get run over. Ashes and Slates shouldn’t be allowed in the Purple zone. It’s that simple. Don’t tell me you don’t agree.”
    I didn’t get a chance to answer. Dax Harris saw to that.

M y fingernails stabbed my palms as I watched Laira’s face crumple. She had just completed her destiny. She might have even triggered something huge, but no one would remember her part of the story. The focus had shifted, like it always did, to a Purple. And not just any Purple. To the queen of the pack, Madden Sumner. Laira met my eyes for a moment, shrugged, then looked away in defeat. Madden and her friends didn’t care that Laira could hear their conversation. They didn’t care that their words would be what she remembered from her Destiny Day. Bastin Worthington was the worst of them all.
    He didn’t go to school at Spectrum, but