Prism by Rachel Moschell

Author:Rachel Moschell
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-09-27T23:00:00+00:00

19

transparent

THE DOOR SLID OPEN BEFORE WARA AND Alejo with a mute whine. Alejo flipped on the light switch and Wara pushed past him into the room, identical to the Martirs’ except that it held only two single beds. Past the point of absolute exhaustion, Wara stumbled over to one of the beds and kicked off her white flip-flops. The wool blanket covered worn, striped sheets, and she ripped back the covers and fell inside.

She forced her breathing to even, willing herself to sleep, just sleep. She was lying here in a hostel room with the man who tried to kill her and Noah. Only sleep would bring the blessed unconsciousness she craved.

But sleep wouldn’t come. Her frayed mind whirled around a single thought, faster and faster, polishing it to a weighty obsession. Finally, she flipped herself over on the lumpy bed to face Alejo, still visible in the dim light of the small bedside lamp. He was hunched over on the edge of the other bed, wearing the same gray t-shirt and cargo pants, head in his hands. For some reason, the thought crossed Wara’s mind that those were now his only clothes; Nazaret’s brother had literally left his old life with only the clothes on his back.

He could probably never go back and get any of his stuff from wherever he had lived, because now he was in big trouble. Because he had saved Wara’s life.

“Why did you do it?” she wondered out loud.

Alejo twisted to face her, hazel eyes rimmed in red. “The bus?”

“No—I mean yes. But first—why did you leave your group? You believed so much in what you were doing you were willing to even kill.” The words tasted bitter, like copper. “Why would you leave?”

Alejo drew in a breath, and it was sharp, hurried. He took his time, swinging his legs over to the other side of the bed so he could face her, eyes flickering back and forth.

The guy looked tortured. He raised his eyes to hers, slowly closed then opened them. “It started because of Jesus,” he said. “I realized that I can’t believe what I believe about him and be a Muslim. My group is made up of Muslims. But then there is Ishmael, our boss.” He hesitated, eyes flickering again as if seeing some painful scene across the back of his eyelids. Wara saw the exact moment he decided to go ahead with whatever it was he was going to tell her.

“Ishmael and other powerful men don’t want the word to get out about what I saw in Pakistan,” he said. “On my last trip there, Ishmael took me to the Tribal Area near Afghanistan. That’s a place…”

“I know where that is.”

“Ok.” Wara enjoyed the moment of showing him she wasn’t as dumb as he might think. Alejo nodded with respect and continued. “We were way out in the middle of nowhere, visiting a five-house town near the fighting. And huddled inside one of the buildings where fighters crash when they’re

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.