Free Chosen by Lisa Mears Page A

standing at the kitchen bench, drinking a cup of coffee. She
brushed away a copper curl that was hanging across her eye. ‘I
think we should start looking for the next portal location so we
can move on and find the next Chosen. We don’t know how much time
we have left and we want to keep ahead of Anubus’ followers.’
A soft meow came from the
basket near the heater, everyone turned to look at Shibby who had
been forgotten in all the confusion of the morning. Max bent down
and stroked Shibbys head. ‘How are you today my little man, you’re
looking much better.’ He licked her hand and purred loudly. Max
looked up at her three new friends. ‘I can’t leave him here, I
won’t leave him here, what if those people come back, they’ll kill
him, like they killed his brother.
‘Then we will take him with
us,’ said Haven offering Max a helping hand as she rose to stand.
‘There is no reason why you can’t have a friend with you.’ Daria
was about to disagree but Gilster cut her off.
‘I agree,’ he said, ‘Shibby
comes with us. ‘Now let’s decide how we’re going to go about
finding the next portal and Chosen.’
Max thought it might be a good
idea for her new friends to change their clothing before they did
anything else, this would make it easier to move around in public
without attracting as much attention.
Daria fitted into some work-out
pants and a large T shirt that belonged to Max, but there was
nothing that would fit either of the men, not any of her father’s
old clothes or her old boyfriend. ‘I think we need to go shopping,’
said Max.
‘What is “shopping”? asked
Daria.
‘Don’t worry, I’ll show you,
I’m very good at it,’ laughed Max. ‘In fact, you could almost say
I’m an expert.’ She gathered up her purse and put it in her bag,
checking her credit-card was inside. Grabbing Daria by the arm she
hustled her towards the front door, eager to leave.
‘Could you bring back some
food,’ said Haven, ‘I haven’t eaten for a while. . . big man, big
appetite,’ he winked.
Max stopped mid-stride, ‘I did
it again, didn’t I?’ she said, ‘I’m so sorry, with everything that
has happened, food completely slipped my mind. Please, help
yourselves, it won’t be much but whatever you can find is
yours.’
‘Don’t mind him,’ smiled
Gilster, ‘he thinks with his stomach.’
‘I do not, I just require a lot
of fuel to keep me going,’ said Haven, pretending to be hurt by the
comment.
‘We’ll see you soon, hopefully
we won’t be too long, but I can’t promise,’ said Max, as she and
Daria left.
Max had already told them about
what Janus had said, how the next portal was at the temple in the
mountain. Looking back, it sounded a bit vague and lacked any
practical information, like how were they supposed to find this
mysterious temple. Max didn’t live in an area known for its old
temples or its mountains, she lived on a small acreage outside of a
seaside town.
‘What do you think we should be
doing?’ said Haven drinking a beer, something he had taken a
distinct liking to since arriving on Earth.
‘No idea,’ said Gilster,
lounging comfortably on the sofa, ‘they really didn’t give Max much
information at all did they? How are we supposed to find this
temple without any clues.’
Shibby, who was asleep in his
basket, suddenly raised his head, flattened his ears and growled
menacingly. Both men look at him in surprise; then they heard a
sound at the back door, the handle was rattling. Stealthily, like
cats themselves, they moved into the kitchen, and heard voices
arguing.
‘We’ve already been here I tell
you,’ said one.
‘I know that you idiot, but
they said we had to come back again so here we are.’
‘What are we looking for
now?’
‘I don’t know, but look we will
if we value our lives, I know and so should you, not to argue with
Rast, remember what happened to Ches?’
‘I’d rather not,’ said the
other voice, ‘it wasn’t pleasant.’
Haven and