The Crystal Bridge (The Lost Shards Book 1) Read Free

absolute opaqueness and solidarity. Kaden tried not to dwell on it much each time.
He opened his eyes as the tingling sensation returned and then dissipated. He stood naked on the top of a dune, the warm wind flowing over his pinpricked skin. I really wish clothes came through with me. A stop watch would be even nicer.
“Trip number five to another world.” He announced to the lifeless desert. “I’m also staying five minutes this time. No bus sized tigers hiding out there, right? Here kitty, kitty.” He smiled as no answer came but the shifting wind, blowing soft sand in fluid-like waves down the steep dune across from him. “Good.”
He kept the Egg open, the image of his bedroom hovering before his face, ready to leave if anything strange popped up. He’d tried using the alarm clock by his bed, still visible this way, to track the time on an earlier trip, but that hadn’t worked. The numbers had remained frozen and after about two or three minutes he’d come home to find himself in the exact moment he’d left.
Kaden had determined to make it to the full five minute mark without being attacked, mauled, eaten, or shot by locals. He started counting. “One, two, three, four…”
He reached roughly four minutes and twenty seconds when a swarm of black insects with orange spikes on their backs crested a dune in front of him. Thousands poured over one another as they headed toward what Kaden assumed was west by the reddish sun’s place in the sky.
They must have spotted him as the swarm changed directions and started clicking pincers with an excited buzz. “Of course, I should’ve known.” Kaden tapped the image of his bedroom and left before he reached his five minute goal.
    Chapter 2: Lavender Scented White Noise

A ren spun her lock as the hallway filled with jostling students, deafening though not just from sound. She closed her eyes, pushing away the noise of invasive memories, images, secrets, and sins not her own. Each body in the hall carried these around them like a cloud, a thick, choking cloud that Aren couldn’t help but see. Oh, how I hate crowds .
Tracy, Aren’s best friend, leaned against the locker to Aren’s right and continued to drone on about the new kid, Kaden. Aren hadn’t heard a word. She opened her eyes and spun the lock again.
A small fist slammed into the locker to her left, startling Aren. Steph had been Aren’s locker neighbor for two years and her feisty nature made her fun to be around, most of the time. Steph hit the locker again and made a growling noise of frustration in the back of her throat. Puffy, pink eyes caught Aren’s look of concern.
“Sorry, Adam’s being a jerk!”
Aren didn’t hear her. She’d already fallen into one of Steph’s memories.
Aren found herself looking up through Steph’s eyes as Adam’s face came closer. They were in the auditorium, lights dimmed. Aren could feel Adam’s warm breath roll across her face, Steph’s face. She wanted to pull away, but this wasn’t her memory. She had no control over what happened here.
Soft lips touched hers, prickling with the thin mustache Adam had been trying to grow for months. Steph burst out laughing in the memory. “You really need to shave that thing.”
Aren pushed her way free, surfacing in reality and turning away from Steph. “I’m sure he’ll get over it. Being a jerk, that is. He always does.”
Steph sniffed and smiled. “You’re right. He does. Doesn’t he?”
Aren nodded and swallowed, managing to keep Steph’s other memories at bay by staring at her locker. Avoiding eye contact usually helped.
Steph slipped away down the hall and Tracy started tugging at Aren’s sleeve.
“You listening?”
“Of course I am.”
“Okay…where was I?”
“Kaden…”
“Right. I know you’re probably sick of hearing about him, but he’s tall. Not as tall as Brian, but still up there. He has dark hair, almost black, and green eyes. Sea green. At least I think they’re green, maybe hazel.