On the Meldon Plain (The Fourline Trilogy Book 2) Read Free

she’d killed the Nala after it bit Soris, and its lifeless body had floated down the river. Why do I keep having this nightmare? she wondered.
    She pressed her head against the tiled wall, letting the water slide down her back. The hot stream stung her shoulder, and she stepped to the side to avoid the pain. She glanced at the wound. The ugly bluish-purple spot the length of her thumb was the same. Two months with no ebb to the ache. “The wound that never heals,” she said to herself, thinking of Soris. She switched off the shower and dressed for a run.
    Viv was still curled into a ball on her bed when Nat returned from her run around campus and into town. She kicked the leg of the bunk, and Viv groaned.
    “I’m going to breakfast, want to join me?” Nat pulled on a pair of rumpled jeans and ducked, avoiding Viv’s pillow.
    “I have a headache, leave me alone.”
    “I told you to steer clear of Butler’s punch. It lit on fire when I dropped a match in it.”
    “Stop making noise and go away,” Viv said, her muffled voice rising from under the comforter. “Wait,” she called out just as Nat put her hand on the doorknob. She emerged from under the covers, her hair sticking up in every direction. “Did Dermot ask you out last night?” She yawned.
    “Why do you ask?” Nat crossed her arms.
    “No reason. He just . . .”
    “You put him up to it, didn’t you?” Nat glared at her roommate. Viv slunk a little deeper under her covers.
    “You need a life,” she said indignantly. “Besides, he’s wanted to ask you out for ages.”
    “The last thing I need right now is a boyfriend, especially one that needs encouragement from both my roommate and a drink.” Nat glanced at the worn carpet. “He’s not really my type, anyway.”
    “Type? You don’t have a type.” Viv tossed the comforter to the side and clambered out of bed.
    “I do, too, and it’s definitely not Dermot,” she said, thinking of Soris’ green eyes.
    “Then who? The foreign guy from your theater class last semester, Estos? What about him?” Viv clutched the loft post and rubbed her forehead.
    “Estos? No, he’s just a friend, and I think he took the semester off, anyway.” She grabbed her backpack, wanting to end the conversation. “I’ll see you this evening, I’ve got class all morning and lab in the afternoon. I want to squeeze in—”
    “Another run. I know.” Viv waved her arm at Nat. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were trying to avoid me.”
    “You could always run with me,” Nat offered.
    Viv hefted a book from her bedside table and threw it just as Nat ducked out the door. The book landed with a thud.

    Nat dropped her backpack by the empty cafeteria table. The ache in her shoulder was worse. Maybe it’s time to see campus health again, she thought as she slid her tray onto the circular top with her left hand and sat down.
    A few students wandered along the buffet, filling bowls with cereal and grabbing fruit. She stared out the dining-room windows, past the dormitories to the bleak snow-encrusted fields. Clouds hung heavy in the morning sky. She played with her oatmeal, her thoughts straying to Soris and his broad smile. She tossed her spoon into her bowl and pushed the tray away . I miss you, Soris. Maybe it would be better if I could just forget you, forget Fourline.
    But she couldn’t, and Annin wasn’t around to wipe her memories. Annin would be back in Fourline with the rest of the former rebels-in-exile by now, anyway. Nat had seen Sister Barba and Professor Gate from a distance a few times since her return, but no one else. Besides, she told herself, I don’t really want to see any of them except Soris.
    She cleared her tray and wandered out of the cafeteria. Students threaded their way past her, and she stepped cautiously to the side to avoid bumping her shoulder. From a distance, she saw Signe’s tall figure pass through the Science Center doors. Nat hurried down the path. If she