Free ON EDGE (Decorah Security) by Rebecca York Page A

thought I would have this pleasure,” she whispered.
    He clasped her to him, wanting to lie in that opulent bed for eons, without thinking about the future, but finally he had to ask the question that was burning inside him.
    “Where do we go from here?”
    “Where do you want to go?” she whispered.
    “I want you to stay with me.”
    “You mean in this world?”
    “Or yours.”
    She raised up and looked down at him, her face serious. “It may not be allowed.”
    “By whom.”
    “By the high gods.”
    “What high gods?”
    When she didn’t speak he knitted his fingers with hers. “We have to talk—about who you are.”
    “I know. But it makes me afraid that you will . . . run from me.”
    “I think my running days are over.”
    “In this world, perhaps.”
    “Are you saying I can live in your world?”
    She didn’t answer the question directly. He felt her hand tighten on his. Then she murmured, “I must tell you about myself, I think.”

Chapter Nine
    Frank watched her sweep her tongue across her lips before she began to speak.
    “I come from this world—the same world as you.”
    He was glad to hear it, but he didn’t interrupt as she kept talking.
    “When I was a little girl, I had a bad illness. The coughing sickness. I think today you would call it tuberculosis. I became very weak, and I coughed up blood. My parents were in despair. They were very devout, and they took me to the temple, where the priest said a blessing over me, although I think he believed no ordinary prayer could save me. But while I was there, a flash of lightning came down above the altar, and we all bowed down.
    “A voice spoke from high above us. The voice said that I could not live in this world, but I could go to another world and be of service. My life there would be long and valuable if I could complete my training.”
    When Frank started to speak, she shook her head. “I have never told this to anyone. Let me finish. My parents didn’t want to lose me, but they saw this as a way for me to live, and they agreed. They left me with the priest. When they were gone, he carried me to a . . . I don’t know what to call it. It was like a large round box with a flat surface inside that turned.”
    “A turntable.”
    “Yes. He opened one door and laid me on the cushioned surface. Then he closed the door, and I was in the dark—frightened and alone. He turned a crank, and I heard gears clanking. The turntable moved. It moved me from the temple to somewhere else. A door opened on the other side, and I climbed out—healthy and strong. And I was no longer in my world. I was somewhere else. A huge stone building. There were other people there, and they told me I was one of the chosen. I must study hard so that I could serve the gods.
    I was in a class with a few other girls and boys. I had never even learned to read. I learned reading there, and mathematics, and all the subjects you would expect in a school. And in that place I learned powers, too. Skills that would help me fight evil. You have seen that I can change matter. And I can move from place to place without the need of walking or using conveyances.”
    “Yes.”
    “I was a good student. I learned well. And I knew that my duty was to serve. I was trained to fight the evil mind vampires and other horrors that visit the earth.”
    “It was hard work?”
    “Yes, but I was good at it. Some . . .” She let her voice trail off and start again. “Some left us before they finished.”
    “What happened to them?”
    “We thought it better not to ask.”
    “Who were your teachers?”
    “Men and women who had served for long years.”
    “Not the gods?”
    “We never saw them as you would see another person. They were beings of light and energy.”
    “Who were they?”
    “I think they don’t consider themselves gods in the sense that we do. Perhaps they are from far away in the universe. Or from somewhere else entirely, but they want humanity to succeed. They don’t