Paladin Prophecy 2: Alliance Read Free

rock should have been freezing, but it was hot to the touch, almost too hot to hold, like it held a living flame inside. He took it out and stared at it, gripping it lightly between his thumb and first finger.
    “It won’t hurt you,” said Jericho.
    Will closed his palm around it, feeling the heat penetrate his skin, but instead of burning him the warmth spread into his fingers and wrist and up his arm. At that moment a falcon’s call sounded, somewhere in the sky high above them. Will looked up but couldn’t spot the bird anywhere; still, he felt his chest open, cold air rushing in, nourishing him at the deepest levels.
    “What else do you know?” asked Jericho, smiling slightly.
    “I feel like I’m back in my body,” said Will, breathing deeply, feeling the surge of heat shoot into his core and from there down and out through his limbs.
    “That means you’re healed.”
    Jericho was right. Will could feel vitality spreading deep into his muscles and bones. His mind tingled. His senses opened up to everything around him. He felt connected to the rocks, the wood, the fire, the sky, the lake. He was alive again.
    He was AWAKE.
    “So that’s what this has all been about?” asked Will. “Me and you. Helping me recover?”
    “You tell me,” said Jericho.
    “Yes.”
    But there’s something more to it than that. Something else going on. You’re helping me prepare … but for what?
    “Tell me what else you feel, Will.”
    The events of last fall projected through his mind like a scrambled movie trailer: the destruction of his life in Ojai, the kidnapping and disappearance of his parents at the hands of Mr. Hobbes and the Black Caps, the attempt on his own life and those of his friends by Lyle Ogilvy and the Knights of Charlemagne.
    “I feel … ,” said Will, taking another deep breath, a surge building in his chest. “I feel really … angry.”
    “Who are you mad at, Will?”
    “The people who did this to me and my family.”
    Jericho paused. “Hate wears you down and doesn’t hurt your enemy. It’s like taking poison and hoping your enemy will die.”
    “I didn’t say I hate them,” said Will, looking right at him. “I just want to take them out.”
    Jericho smiled his enigmatic smile.
    RULE #24: YOU CAN’T CHANGE ANYTHING IF YOU CAN’T CHANGE YOUR MIND.
    Returning from the lake, Will burst through the pod door, brimming with energy. Brooke Springer sat at the dining room table, twirling a strand of her long blond curls, reading something on her tablet. She looked up, startled, when he came in, and their eyes met. Will felt an electric jolt but he didn’t speak, hoping she’d break the ice first, say something, anything to him … a single welcoming word …
    But Brooke’s eyes shaded over and she looked away, with only the slightest nod of acknowledgment. No more than you’d give a total stranger sharing a ride in an elevator.
    The same treatment he’d been getting from her since she came back to school three months ago. Will thought hard about finally calling her on the distance she’d put between them, the tension and alienation:
    Why are you treating me like someone you don’t even know when we were so close a few months ago? As close as I’ve ever felt to anyone not named West.
    But if he said one word about this now, he knew his restraint would break and he wouldn’t be able to stop until he’d poured out everything he’d been holding inside.
    Not the right time.
    Will grabbed some water from the kitchen and sailed straight to his room. He closed the door loudly, but with control, then paced around from wall to wall, trying to decide where to start.
    He grabbed Dad’s List of Rules and opened it randomly, looking for guidance, and the List didn’t disappoint. His eyes fell on:
    RULE #74: 99 PERCENT OF THE THINGS YOU WORRY ABOUT NEVER HAPPEN. DOES THAT MEAN WORRYING WORKS, OR IT’S A COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME AND ENERGY? YOU DECIDE.
    Okay, thought Will. Today let’s say