Attack on Phoenix Read Free Page A

let's get back to our rooms. They're serving dinner soon, and I want to sneak in a shower first."
    "Me, too." Leila stepped away from the window. "Then after dinner, I’ll know if I’m chosen for the expedition."
    Torsten turned left, ready to head to the men’s wing, but Leila grabbed his hand, pulling him back.
    "I promise I'll come back if I'm sent out. I won't die." Her eyes were wide.
    She suddenly seemed like a child to him again. The little girl whose pigtails he'd yanked, until the day she'd slugged him so hard in the gut he couldn't breathe.
    Torsten kissed his sister on the cheek. "You'll be fine. No one will get past you."
    She smiled, spun on one heel, and ran down the hall to the right. Torsten sighed. He didn't want his sister to die, and he didn't want either of them to live under the thumb of the collectors. Their parents had left behind debts Torsten could never work off in a lifetime. He'd kept Leila sheltered, knowing there was little she could do to help at such a young age. But if he was chosen for the expedition, and if he died in battle, the reparation would be enough to pay their debts. Leila would be free.
    There was no chance he’d be chosen. Torsten was useless in battle. Leila was an obvious choice. His stomach turned as he thought of his sister stepping into one of their few spaceships, and being sent into space to fight the dragzhi.
 

Chapter Three
     
     
    Torsten ignored his reflection in the mirror. He knew exactly what he looked like. As a child, he had been short and pudgy with buck teeth and unruly hair. No one looked at him. Not girls, and not the boys. He wasn't strong or quick enough to excel in sports.
    So Torsten remained on his own as much as possible. Leila never treated him differently, and she didn't seem to understand why the other kids invited her to play, but not him. Torsten had always insisted he had something else to do, or somewhere else to be. Leila had never questioned him, happy to be distracted by the other kids. It kept her busy when she might have been mourning over their parents instead.
    Torsten wanted her to have a happy childhood. He did everything he could to assure her they were safe, despite losing their parents. And so far Leila had trusted in him. After the first six months, she'd stopped crying. Her smile had come back, and she'd grown into a beautiful young woman. Every year she attracted more attention, until Torsten started to worry about what kind of attention she was attracting. Luckily, his own looks kept him isolated, and he'd been able to focus solely on her happiness.
    Until the previous summer. Torsten had gone through a change he could only describe as excruciating. His body had stretched out, his voice deepened, his cheekbones became more defined. Muscles sprang up from under the fat he began to shed. His huge teeth moved into place. He hadn't changed anything in his daily routine. His body had simply decided it was time to leave childhood behind and make him a man.
    It brought a lot of attention from the same people who'd ignored him for the last six years. Torsten shied away even more. He was serious, and while he was interested in other women his age, he didn't want anything to do with the girls who'd called him names in the hall, or laughed at him when he finished last in every race.
    He wouldn't be found in the hall pawing at a girl the way Mellok pawed at his sister. He couldn't let go of the years of insults they'd hurled at him. He'd gathered them as a shield, one he wore to protect himself from becoming one of them.
    Torsten ran his fingers through his wet hair and pulled on a clean uniform. The silver fabric clung to his thighs and hugged his chiseled abs. Torsten sighed, wishing he could go back to the dumpy kid he'd been not long ago. He felt uncomfortable when most of the girls, and some of the guys, ogled him.
    He pulled on his dirty combat boots. They needed to be shined, again. The blinking numbers on the clock told him there