Free Blind Destiny: Grimm's Circle, Book 7 [retail mobi] by Shiloh Walker Page B

how he’d be reborn into this life sightless. He patted Krell’s head. “He’s my eyes.”
    “He is beautiful. May I…” the boy paused, his face scrunching up. “I would like to touch him.”
    He sensed Krell’s intention and placed a heavy pressure on the dog’s mind before the silly animal could start begging for attention. Krell knew better. He hadn’t been trained as a companion animal—he was Luc’s companion, but Luc wasn’t exactly the typical blind person and it wasn’t wise for a boy to go and pet a companion animal. “He is working right now, I’m afraid. If I go letting him get attention right now, he won’t want to work and then he might think he can get lazy on me and not take me back to the hotel. I’d be in trouble then. He’s only allowed to play when he’s off his leash. I hope you understand.”
    The boy looked even sadder, so sad that Luc almost relented, but he’d hate for the boy to make a mistake later on that could cause problems. “You can sit by us, if you like,” he offered.
    A few minutes later, the boy settled by them, keeping several feet between them. Krell cast him longing looks. The boy did the same thing. It was rather pitiful and Luc felt like a bastard.
    “Are you always up and out so early?” he asked. He nudged Krell with his knee. “I had this hairy oaf dragging me out of bed, but if it wasn’t for him, I’d still be sleeping.”
    “I like it here early.” It came out in a near whisper. Krell wasn’t looking at the boy, so Luc couldn’t read what was on his face, but his mind was a tangle of fear and misery.
    An ugly twist of it.
    Images slammed into Luc and he lapsed into silence as he went through them. Angry voices. A fist. Hands clenching tight into skinny arms. Hunger, the kind that was an aching pit in the empty hole of one’s belly. Fear and shame—
    So much of it.
    Pressing lightly at the boy’s mind, he saw more. Too much.
    Confusion. Memories that went further back. That angry voice—the boy’s mom, Luc thought—softer now. Kind and gentle. Full of love. Dancing in the sunlight.
    “Have you lived here long?” Luc asked softly.
    “Two years,” the boy said quietly.
    “Hmm. It’s a pretty spot. I’m thinking about moving here myself—”
    “No.” It came ripping out of the boy, torn from the very soul of him.
    Don’t. People who come here die—I’m going to—
    Well, hell.
    Reaching up, he closed a hand around the pendant he wore around his neck.
    Mortals used cellphones, emails, Facebook and the like to communicate. The Grimm had their pendants. Magical little things, really. They were all identical, silver circles etched with upswept wings. If one stared at them long enough, one might see the words—they would start to glow. A language long dead.
    Handy things—they didn’t run out of batteries. They didn’t stop working in tunnels, in elevators, underground or when the power went out, and they didn’t run on a server that could be crashed or hacked, either.
    The bad thing? They only worked with one other person.
    Will.
    Will, the angel in charge of their merry band of lunatics.
    A man Luc would very much like to hurt just then.
    As the pendant pulsed and warmed in his hand, he sent out a question.
    Is this boy in danger ?
    He didn’t bother explaining who the boy was, how he’d met him, any of that. Will would know. After all, this was Will.
    He might not be the omnipotent Almighty, but he wasn’t far from it. Omnipotent, that is. Will was too big a bastard, too callous and arrogant to be anything like God.
    Mere seconds passed before Luc had his answer. Everybody in that village is in danger, Luc. That’s why you and Sina were sent.
    Luc blew out a pent-up breath, turned the problem over in his head and pressed upon the boy’s mind a little more. Cold. Hungry—
    Had slept on the street last night, with a blanket he’d taken from his room. He was too afraid to sleep in the house, but his mother had gone looking for