The Ascension Read Free Page B

of the smartest boys around, with a good head on his shoulders. He came in second to winning the game, right behind Gem. Without his help, she wouldn’t have won. Without his help, she wouldn’t have survived. Facing al the dangers and excitement of Anachronia, Gem had to admit, she and Sparks had grown very close. “Promise me that you won’t do anything stupid like get kil ed?”
    “I’l try not to,” he said softly, touching her lips with his fingertip. “I shal say the same about you.” He kissed her again then, and this time they only split when Dr. Brown started muttering about the possibility of the world ending while they were stil busy. With a shared smile, the two of them headed for their respective sleep pods, lay down, and closed the lids.

Chapter 2
    Sparks had a hard time settling down in the sleep pod, and not just because he found himself thinking about Gem. Gem was stil as beautiful and captivating as she was the first time he saw her. Dr.
    Brown had said that getting into Myriad was about your state of mind, but what state of mind? Sparks decided to try for something serene , clearing his thoughts as best he could as he drifted into a somnolent haze, heading towards sleep. He found himself thinking, for some reason, of birdsong.
    Birdsong, the feel of dappled sunlight, and the rustle of wind through trees…
    He was standing in a forest. Even knowing that they were trying to get there, the shock of the sudden transition was enough to make Sparks jump.
    He clanked as he did so. Looking down, he saw that he was wearing chain mail armor, a white tabard slung over it and emblazoned with a sunburst design.
    A sword hung at his hip.
    Gem stood just a few feet away. She looked as she had in Henry Word’s castle, unchanged by the shift to wherever this was. Sparks could certainly think of less pleasant things to see on arriving on another world. As though summoned by the thought, Rio stepped out from behind a tree. Like Sparks, the other boy was wearing armor, only his tabard had a wolf’s head design, a design mirrored in the pommel of the sword he wore.
    “Where are the others?” he asked. Gem shook her head.

    shook her head.
    “I haven’t seen them. Maybe they didn’t make it through.”
    Sparks nodded.
    “Dr. Brown did say that maybe only those who were meant to be in Myriad might get there.”
    “Assuming we’re in Myriad,” Rio pointed out.
    “This looks a lot like the Wickedly Woods in Anachronia to me.”
    “I don’t think so,” Gem said.
    Sparks didn’t either. While al woods probably looked the same to someone like Rio from one of the inner cities, having been raised in the country, he could see the differences. The trees weren’t the same, nor was the forest floor. Where the enclosing canopy of the Wickedly Woods had made for clear ground between the trees, here shrubs and wild flowers took up most of the space. It didn’t feel the same, either. There was something tranquil about this wood. It seemed like the sort of place that smal animals could forage without being pounced on by shadow creatures or dragons.
    “It’s definitely not the Wickedly Woods,” he said. Rio made a disbelieving sound.

    “And how would you know that? Are you an expert on woods, al of a sudden.”
    “Probably more than you.”
    “Boys,” Gem interrupted. “I do know the Wickedly Woods. I’ve spent enough time in them over the last couple of months. This definitely isn’t them. The only question is what we do now.”
    “We should try to find a path,” Sparks suggested, setting off in a random direction. The others fol owed, picking their way through the undergrowth as delicately as they could until they reached a rough track that meandered through the trees.
    “So,” Sparks asked, “which way?”
    “Either is as good,” Gem replied. “It’s not like we know which way we’re going. We just have to hope we meet someone who can point us in the right direction.”
    “Preferably without