In Darkness Reborn Read Free Page A

funding increases, my department head agreed to take him on as a lab assistant on a trial basis.”
    According to her boss, the Other was actually to be treated as an equal by everyone, but she wasn’t about to tell Penn that. The whole idea made her absolutely furious; she could just imagine how her brother would react.
    â€œMeaning what? That for a few bucks, Bane keeps Barak from sniffing around his girlfriend? Instead, the scum will be hitting on my sister.” Penn clearly wasn’t going to back down anytime soon.
    â€œIt’s more than a few bucks, and I can use the help. Toting all that equipment around isn’t easy, especially on the steeper slopes.” She smiled with a confidence she didn’t really feel. “I’ll make sure he knows I have a big, bad Paladin for a brother. That should scare him into behaving.”
    â€œNot anymore.” Penn tried without success to flex his right hand. “I couldn’t hold a sword long enough to scare anybody.”
    The doctors had warned Penn there was no guarantee that he’d ever get full motion back in his hand. An Other had come close to severing Penn’s hand completely, and the recovery process had been slow and painful. She couldn’t remember the last time Penn had been really happy.
    â€œYou’re not helpless, Penn. If you were, they wouldn’t trust you to guard the Center.”
    That much was true, but holding a gun or rifle wasn’t the same as being able to fight with a sword. Until he could handle a blade, Penn couldn’t protect the barrier in the tunnels down below the city and the surrounding area. The desire to serve near the barrier beat strongly in the heart of every Paladin, and Penn could feel the fluctuations in the beautifully colored sheet of energy that separated their world from dark madness on the other side. Until he could do the job he was born to do, Penn would be a miserable man.
    â€œWell, I’ve got to get inside or I’ll be late for work.” She would have given her brother a quick hug, but he was in his usual disguise of a derelict living on the streets. If she got too close, some of that grime and stink he worked so hard to perfect would get on her clothes.
    He grinned. “What? No sisterly kiss for me before I let you pass? How about a hug?”
    She laughed and held up her hands, backing away. “No way, bro. Not unless you’re willing to pay my cleaning bill.”
    â€œAll right, I’ll let you get inside.” Then he turned serious again. “But if this Barak fellow gives you any trouble at all, I want to be the first to know. Even if I can’t handle a sword, his kind isn’t immune to bullets. I’d be glad to remind him of that fact.”
    â€œThanks…I think.”
    After keying in the security code, she stepped into the dim interior of the Center. Leaning against the cool tiled wall, she waited for her pulse to slow down. It was hard enough to deal with her own frustrations without having to take on Penn’s as well.
    Her boss had warned her not to walk into the meeting with a chip on her shoulder. Somehow she was supposed to hide her feelings from her boss, Devlin Bane, and the Other himself. How could she, when she hated and despised everything about the Others and the havoc they caused whenever the barrier went down?
    At least Dr. Louis had given her some warning. He’d called her at home last night to break the news, knowing if he’d waited until she’d reported to work, she would likely have walked right out again. It had taken her a solid hour to unclench her teeth. How was she supposed to work side by side with one of the monsters that had not only killed her brother twice but had nearly crippled him as well?
    Was any amount of money worth the constant uproar over a monster in their midst? Why didn’t someone just skewer the Other and be done with it? She’d be glad to provide the