The Ascension Read Free Page A

some time to think about it,” she suggested. “After al , this has probably been a shock.” It certainly had been to her. To her relief, Dr. Brown agreed, saying that he would go and check assorted parts of the computer set up, and would be back in a little while.
    The others seemed to let out a col ective breath as the scientist left. Sparks leaned back in his chair.
    “Wel , that explains why you didn’t keep in touch over the summer.”
    “I’ve been a bit busy,” Gem pointed out.
    Sparks smiled.
    “I’m not criticizing. Anyways, it also explains some of the weird stuff that has been happening.”
    “Like what?” Gem asked.
    Sparks looked around them, as though he wasn’t sure he should be saying anything. It wasn’t like him, Gem thought, to be indecisive.
    “For the last few weeks,” he said at last,
    “there has been some guy fol owing me around, dressed in this real y garish costume, like some sort of jester’s outfit. A couple of times, I tried to confront him, but it was like he… flew off or something. Al I found was this weird dust, like he’d been…
    sprinkling it round as he went. I know it must sound insane.”
    “Just a little,” Kat interjected . “Are you sure it wasn’t a dream? I’ve been having this weird one, with this wizened old woman, leaning on a stick, only her fingers are pure ice.”
    “Ice isn’t that bad,” Jack put in. “If you live with it long enough, you get inured. Back home in Alaska, I hardly notice the cold now.” And of course there was his sudden growth spurt. Gem added it to a mental list before turning to Rio. This close to him, she could see that he had a day’s worth of dark stubble covering his swarthy good looks. It only added to the sense of danger he seemed to carry everywhere with him.
    “What about you, Rio? Have you been having weird things happen to you?”
    “What? No, nothing like that.”
    There was something about the way he said it that made Gem feel almost certain that there was something, but she knew better than to pry. Trying to get an answer out of him would only make Rio more taciturn than he already was. Gem drummed her fingers on the edge of her chair.
    “Look, everyone, I know this is al a lot to take in, but we’l have to decide if we’re going. I am.
    Whatever I feel about Henry Word, I… I owe it to him to at least try, especial y if what Dr. Brown said is true.”
    Sparks nodded.
    “In that case, I’m going too. Maybe I’l even find an answer or two.”
    Rio nodded as wel .
    “If you’re in, Gem, I’m in.”
    “Me too,” Jack said. Gem noticed the way he looked at her as he did so. Kat looked around al of the boys and snorted.
    “You do realize that you’re al pathetic, diving into danger just because you fancy Gem?” she chided , ignoring the chorus of objections that fol owed. Gem noticed though that Kat’s eyes lingered on Rio before she gave her own answer.
    “Al right, I’l do it. Just don’t go blaming me if we al get kil ed.”
    Gem went and found Dr. Brown, who seemed delighted at the news.

    delighted at the news.
    “Your sleeping pods are exactly where they were, of course. Please, we should hurry before anything can happen to Henry.”
    He led the way through the castle, and Gem could feel the sense of expectation coming from the others as they headed for their rooms. Sparks paused with her in the hal way outside them, waiting for the others to head inside. He kissed her then, deeply, and Gem found herself kissing him back.
    They only broke apart when Dr. Brown coughed pointedly. Gem laughed as they stepped back from one another.
    “We should be getting to Myriad.”
    “Yes,” Sparks said. “I just wanted to make up for not seeing you.”
    “Oh,
    you
    did,”
    Gem
    assured
    him,
    remembering how much she was attracted to Sparks. When she first met him before they went to Anachronia, she thought he was just a handsome jock like the ones she cheered on at school, but he’s proven to be one