Free The Two Worlds by Alisha Howard Page B

another slice of now cold pizza.
“We’ve got to wake up for a Death Walker.”
    “ Lord!” Finny exclaimed ,
chuckling. “You’ve got your work cut out for you, Lo-Lo.” Yolonda
laughed in agreement.
    “ Wait a minute,” Nia said,
standing up and placing her hands on her hips. “Before we run off
anywhere, I want to know what exactly you did to land yourself
underneath Nipsin’s in the first place. You owe us
that.”
    “ Why are you being so
spiteful, Nia?” Yolonda retorted. “You trying to say my cousin’s a
thug or something?”
    “ Maybe I am,” Nia retorted.
“Saints don’t end up in the KaKonian Bubble as
prisoners.”
    “ Hey, hey!” I interjected.
“Calm down. No one is accusing anyone of anything, all
right?”
    Yolonda glowed bright amber, and Nia
sucked her teeth, crossing her arms.
    Finally, Nia asked, “Finny, I am
curious to find out how you got in the Lodge. What
happened?”
    “ It’s actually quite a long
story,” he began.
    “ We’ve got time.” Nia pursed
her lips with attitude.
    “ Nia’s right. I do owe you
an explanation. There is a reason I know Caldbeck so well. I was
once the assistant to an Awakener that was a part of the Eromina
Faculty. They’re the ones that Awakened the cells the prisoners are
kept in. Of course, my Awakener had a large amount of work to do
and was fairly busy, so we ended up all over the place. Awakening
things day and night. After a while, we could walk the layout like
the back of our hands. Caldbeck is huge, but once you know your way
around, you’re suddenly impressive and a hot commodity. Could be
good business for someone with hidden agendas. I guess my Awakener
was thinking the same thing because one night, he was at his
favorite drinking spot, the Nipsin’s Lodge, and decided to boast
about it.”
    Yolonda gasped. “But...that’s
ridiculous! Every Evrode knows never to speak of his boss’s
assignments to another person.”
    Finny sighed. “You notice I’m not with
that Awakener, don’t you? His bragging got him into a fight with a
small group of drinkers, and they decided, as punishment, they’d
take his Evrode.”
    “ You can’t just take an
Evrode, Finny,” Nia said, with an edge to her voice. “Once around
your boss’s neck, it stays around your boss’s neck.”
    “ You’re absolutely right,
Nia,” Finny said, sounding sad. “Once around your boss’s neck, it
stays around your boss’s neck.”
    “ So how’d they get it
off?”
    “ They cut his head off.”
Finny said this with an air of finality. Nia sat down slowly, and
we all waited for Finny to continue. He cleared his throat and went
on. “My Awakener was a good fellow, and he didn’t deserve what
happened to him.”
    “ What,” I began, “happens to
someone when they die here on Turgor?”
    “ If they’re a wizard,
they’re buried here, on the planet.” Yolonda explained. “But if
they’re not naturally of this world, they die in their sleep in
another world.” I swallowed a lump that was forming in my throat
and looked at Finny.
    “ Beard Jack himself decided
to bury me as a prize,” he said. “He’s a beast.”
    “ Are you satisfied, Nia?”
Yolonda asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Nia nodded and
looked away. The sun had gone down and a round yellow moon replaced
it. A cool wind whipped around us, causing leaves to dance on
sidewalks among the feet of children running after one another.
Trees shivered and moved closer together. A chill ran down my
spine, and I suggested we go inside the house for
dinner.
    Once we were back inside and had a warm
fire started, we began to figure out our next move.
    “ Are you on assignment,
Nia?” I asked, helping myself to a buttered roll that was resting
near the fireplace.
    “ Nope,” she said, shaking
her head. “My assignment was just to create you a house, which I
did. I’m done until further notice. I’ve been on Turgor for a
little over a year now, Kay, so I’m almost ready to take my