Maia and the Xifarian Conspiracy (The Lightbound Saga Book 1) by S. G. Basu

Author:S. G. Basu [Basu, S. G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Vinayaka Publishing
Published: 2014-01-17T23:00:00+00:00

26: The Moon Harvest

The visitors’ station was in a small building next to the main entrance. As soon as the gatekeeping personnel informed her that her guest had arrived, Dani pranced ahead. The siblings were busy talking when Maia entered the lounge, a little hesitant and embarrassed to interrupt. Hans turned around and smiled as she walked in. Maia blinked, realizing immediately that Dani’s brother was nothing like she had imagined. She could not help but notice how his left cheek dimpled faintly every time he smiled, how his sharp yet friendly eyes twinkled when he spoke, and how a wisp of curly hair seemed to love hovering on his forehead.

“This lovely young lady must be Maia,” Hans said as he shook Maia’s hand.

“Hello.” Maia was surprised at how demure her own voice sounded.

“It’s a great pleasure to meet you,” Hans smiled, radiating warmth.

They sat discussing the trials and the upcoming challenges while waiting for the rest of the team to arrive. It was not long before Ren and Nafi walked into the room together, arguing loudly about some stunt Ren had pulled, one that clearly did not make it past Nafi’s moral standards. On seeing the puzzled onlookers, Ren waved an apology.

“Sorry. Hello, Hans.” He shook hands quickly and started to explain. “I had a parachute so my buggy wouldn’t accidentally dive off a cliff and crash. I call that insurance. Nafi calls it cheating.”

“Not exactly cheating, but treading where the lines are blurred. You’re not supposed to have built-in safety systems,” Nafi countered impatiently. “Why do you always have to be like that? What if you were disqualified? Do you realize what that would do to the team standings? Don’t you remember that your name is in his Black Book already?”

“You should have seen the look on Kehorkjin’s face when I let the parachute open just for the effect,” Ren grinned. “It looked so fantastic, Nafi, it even said ‘Go Sliver’ on it.”

Nafi plopped down next to Maia, shaking her head in frustration. “And here come the tales.”

“I just wanted to share my adventure with you guys. Or would you want me to hide stuff from you all the time just to make you like me better?” Ren asked as Nafi slumped some more.

“That would be treading blurred lines as well, so you don’t want to do that,” Hans said.

As Ren chuckled at Hans’s words, Nafi shook her head again. “But Hans, what if the team was penalized because of him?” she asked.

“That’s certainly a risk,” Hans said. “You should discuss such plans with your teammates, Ren. If not all of them, at least with your team leader.”

Nafi scoffed, throwing an accusing look at Maia, and drawing Hans’s prompt attention.

“I can imagine how hard it must be for you, Maia, to juggle so many tasks, but you have to keep trying for the sake of your team,” he said.

Embarrassed to the core, Maia could not even find the strength to nod. She felt a little annoyed at Nafi for calling her out in front of their visitor.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.