The Deavys Read Free Page A

as he moved further into the now quiescent room and toward the three parallel beds, “this is really important.” Behind him, Pithfwid lay against the base of the door, blocking it from being opened from the other side as he groomed himself. “Haven’t you heard about someone stealing the Truth from Mr. Gemimmel’s store?”
    â€œOh, wow, no,” Rose responded. Suddenly serious, all three girls turned their full attention on their brother. Amber even closed her magazine, and N/Ice densified herself to the point where she looked as solid as her sisters. They all knew how important the Truth was, especially because it was so tightly bound to their mother.
    â€œHow did it happen?” Amber asked.
    â€œWho took it?” N/Ice wanted to know.
    â€œThe truth of it is, the Truth has gone missing, and Mom and Dad are worried that without it around, people will start to believe what those developers who want to cut down the woods are saying, and vote for the project to go ahead.”
    â€œThey can’t do that!” a thoroughly alarmed Rose exclaimed.
    Amber looked equally shocked. “They can’t cut down our woods!”
    â€œThat’s for sure,” N/Ice muttered loudly. “If they cut down the woods, where will Joey and I go to—” She broke off, suddenly aware of the expressions on her sisters’ faces. “Well, what are Mom and Dad and the Ords doing about it?” Amber asked.
    â€œNot much.” Simwan leaned against the wall, not wanting to divert his sisters’ attention or incur their rage by sitting on one of their beds. “They keep muttering about bringing in outside assistance, but everybody and anybody who could really help seems to be busy with other, more important projects. And since the Truth was taken, Mom hasn’t been herself. You know, there’s a lot of Truth in her, and a lot of her in the Truth.”
    â€œNothing’s more important than the woods,” Rose asserted firmly. “Or to Mom, the Truth.” But her tone was uncertain. “What can we do about it, brother?”
    â€œWhat can we do?” Amber echoed plaintively.
    Straightening as he pushed himself away from the wall, Simwan walked to one of the windows that overlooked the backyard and the first trees of the forest beyond. “You know adults. They’ll bicker and argue and try to find the best way to do something. What we need is the quickest way. So if they’re going to delay, I guess we’ll just have to find out who took the Truth and bring it back ourselves.”
    â€œWe’ll do it!” At the foot of Amber’s bed, the figure of N/Ice suddenly expanded to a height of twenty feet. Head scraping the apex of the ceiling, eyes blazing with fire, lightning crackling in the depths of the dark nimbus that swirled about her flowing locks, she thundered: “WOE UNTO THE FOOL WHO TOOKETH THE TRUTH, FOR WE SHALL SMITE HIM INTO ASHES!”
    â€œCalm down!” Simwan told his sister. She immediately shrank back to her normal size, though a faint odor of ozone remained clinging to her blond curls. “First of all, we don’t know who took the Truth or where they took it. If it’s out among the Ords somewhere, we can’t go around flinging magic every which way while blazing and roaring like Titans. That would be an unforgivable violation of the Prime Codex and you know that sort of thing just isn’t done.” He glared at N/Ice. “Secondly, tooketh isn’t a word.”
    She looked properly abashed. “Oh, Simwan.” Her expression reflected her uncertainty. “ Taketh ?”
    â€œIt doesn’t matter,” he told her impatiently. “If we’re going Truth-hunting among the Ords, we have to control ourselves at all times. Otherwise we could unleash Chaos, upset the natural order of things, unsettle the World of Man, and our parents would probably cut our