Free Tremor by Patrick Carman Page A

revealed an earring. It was a black circle, not quite the size of a dime, and about half of the middle was hollowed out.
    â€œThat’s a mighty big hole you’ve got there,” Dylan said, trying to imagine what it would feel like to have a space that big stretched into the flesh of his earlobe.
    â€œUsually you’d keep on inserting bigger metal bars so the hole widens slowly. But we don’t have that kind of time. We have to do what usually takes a few months all at once.”
    â€œHuh?” Dylan said. He had a second pulse, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t feel pain if he let it in. This was going to hurt like hell. Faith, on the other hand, seemed mildly intrigued by the idea of what it might feel like having a pencil-sized hole punched into her skin.
    Hawk continued: “I’ve been working on this thing for weeks, just wrapped it up this morning. Meredith thought it would be best if I didn’t mention it until we were on the road.”
    â€œWait, how do you know if it even works?” Faith asked.
    Hawk fiddled with the pliers and made a few adjustments on his Tablet without answering.
    â€œSo you’re going to skewer us with that thing, and it might work?” Dylan asked. He knew this reaction from Hawk. He’d seen it before.
    â€œIt’ll work. I’m practically sure. And it’s worth it; trust me,” Hawk said. “If we have these installed out in the field, we can talk with one another. All you have to do is cover the hole with your thumb and finger. In theory that will open up a connection between everyone who has a sound ring. No one else can hear us, but we can hear one another. Cool, right?”
    â€œIn theory?” Dylan asked.
    Hawk had the first application prepared and ready to roll. “Undetectable, not on the Tablet grid. It uses old cell towers and outdated satellites instead. Who wants to go first?”
    â€œI will,” Faith said, pulling her long blond hair into a ponytail. Her drifters tattoo, the one with the ragged hawk on a limb, appeared at the nape of her neck.
    â€œStop staring and start drilling,” Faith said. Hawk was definitely gawking. He’d never stopped thinking Faith was gorgeous; and her neck was, in his opinion, first-rate. Also, she smelled fantastic.
    Dylan almost said I’ll go first , but he’d never had his ears pierced and Faith had. He at least wanted to see how it was done before getting stabbed.
    Hawk foraged around in the black box and came up with two sides of an earring just like the one he was wearing, only this one was sparkled with blue and green, which was a perfect match for Faith’s eyes. He held a penlight in his mouth, pointing the shaft of light at the two parts of the sound ring.
    â€œAre those wires?” Dylan asked. Exposed silver tendrils as thin as strands of hair were rolled up inside.
    â€œYeah, and a circuit board. She’s small, but she’s powerful.”
    â€œI like that it’s a she. We need more girl power on this mission,” Faith said.
    Hawk didn’t answer as he loaded the two sides of the sound ring into the piercer, which Faith got a better look at for the first time. The center of the piercer was loaded with a pin that looked like a railroad spike.
    â€œUmm . . . . ,” Faith said.
    â€œNot to worry; just smear some of this on your earlobe, and it’ll loosen things right up.” Hawk was barely paying attention as he held out the tube of clear gel.
    Faith applied the gel and felt her skin tingle and numb, and then Hawk held out a length of cloth.
    â€œThere’s maybe going to be a little blood.”
    â€œA little?” Faith asked as she took the cloth and Hawk moved in for the kill. She put up a hand and began softening her second-pulse shield. When she was ready, she nodded and Hawk leaned in, pliers in hand. It happened very quickly and without any warning, and Dylan was surprised