Read Eden for Free Online Page B

heading to bed early.  I
watched them, feeling a sense of pride for them yet feeling
disconnected and distant.  I was one of them but they didn’t
understand me and I didn’t really understand them.
    I heard rubble being
disturbed on the trail that led to my spot and poked my head over
the ledge.  Avian climbed up over the rounded ledge, giving me
a half tight-lipped smile as he joined at my side.
    The silence was
comfortable as we saw the fires being lit below us.  Trails of
smoke drifted into the sky before they faded into the darkening
light.  The sound of Avian’s breathing comforted me.  It
was so familiar.  If anything was home in this wreck of a
world it was Avian.
    “ What do you think of
them?” I finally broke the silence, my eyes never leaving the tents
below us.  I picked West out, walking hesitantly to a
fire.  He didn’t sit to warm his hands, just stood back from
the group and watched.
    “ I don’t know,” Avian
mused, watching.  The glow of the fires cast an orange haze to
his face that highlighted his sharp brow, the line of his cheek
bones.  “The woman and child seem harmless.  I don’t know
what to think of West though.  There’s something strange about
him.”
    I nodded in
agreement.  West had history to him.  Some people were
just like that.  You just looked at them and could tell there
was a story behind their face.  “He’s keeping a
secret.”
    “ Like what?” Avian
asked.
    I shook my head. 
“I’m not sure.  He knows something.”
    Avian was quiet, unsure of
what to say, echoing my own thoughts.  I didn’t like being
uncertain about people, especially when those people could end the
lives of the others around me.  All it would take was one
simple beacon to call out the Fallen.
    “ Happy birthday, Eve,”
Avian said quietly.  He extended his hand out to me, a small
box in his palm.
    A small smile tugged at my
lips.  “My birthday.”
    It probably wasn’t my real
birthday.  Having no memory of anything when I came to Eden,
Sarah insisted we pick a day as my birthday.  Some date to
mark the years of my life as they passed.  I had no idea the
date had come.
    “ There was once a time
when turning eighteen meant something.  It used to be a big
deal.”
    I took the box from his
hand.  It was simple, nothing special to it.  I pulled it
open and something light and shiny fell into my hand.  I held
it up to the light.  It was a silver necklace, attached to it
was a tiny set of wings, carved out of a soft black
stone.
    I took the wings gently in
my fingers.  They seemed so delicate, yet hard at the same
time.  I knew I must be gentle with it or it would
break.  It was the most elegant piece of craftsmanship I had
seen.
    I smiled as I recalled the
conversation he and I had had when I was about fourteen.  I
had asked him what his name meant.  He explained that it
related to things to do with birds and flight.  I had loved
his name ever since.
    “ May I?” Avian
asked.
    I only nodded.  Avian
took the necklace and fastened the clasp behind my neck.  His
hands felt warm as they brushed my neck, causing goosebumps to rise
on my flesh.  He sat back and watched where it lay on my
chest.
    “ You made it,” I stated,
picking it up again to observe the flawless details.  The
feathers looked so soft I almost brushed my fingers over
them.
    He only nodded, his eyes
still looking at his creation.  “I didn’t want it to go by
without some notice.  It’s an important day for
you.”
    “ It doesn’t feel
important,” I said as I lowered the necklace to my chest
again.
    “ It is,” Avian said, his
eyes going back to Eden.
    And we sat there on the
hard earth, our shoulders barely brushing, until the sky went black
and the stars shone with burning intensity.

 
     
     
     
    FIVE
     
    I cinched my pack tighter
to my back as I walked out of the armory.  A blade was
strapped to each of my legs, a handgun secured in my belt, and a
rifle rested in my left