Magisterium

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Book: Read Magisterium for Free Online
Authors: Jeff Hirsch
Tags: Speculative Fiction
and a thin shadow rose up onto the roof and approached her window. Her heart seized. She pushed herself against the wall, drawing the covers over her. The shape took form, long thin arms and spindly legs. It reached her window and crouched down. Its head turned one way and then the other, and then it raised one fist and pounded at the glass. Hopkins leapt to the edge of the bed, hissing with his teeth bared. Too scared to run, Glenn peered out and tried to make sense of the shape, but all she could see was an outline of legs, arms, and … a Mohawk.
    “What’s your problem, Kevin?!” Glenn shouted, tearing off the bed. “So help me, I will kill you!” She threw the window open, letting in a blast of frigid air. “What are you doing?”
    “You have to pack your things,” he announced as he shoved past Glenn into her room. “You and your dad.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    Kevin took her by the arm. “You have to run,” he insisted. “Now!
    They’re coming for you!”
     
    “Run? What are you talking about? Who’s coming?”
    “Good, you’re dressed. Get your shoes.” Kevin snatched Glenn’s jacket off the bed and pushed it at her. Hopkins howled and swiped at his arm. “Ow. Hopkins!”
    “Kevin!”
    “Let’s go! They’ll be here any second!”
    “Who?”
    Kevin grabbed Glenn’s shoes as he herded her out into the hall.
    “Is your dad in his workshop?”
    “I don’t know.”
    Kevin drove her on ahead of him, down the stairs and outside.
    There was a yowl from behind them as Hopkins followed.
    “No, Hopkins, stay there.”
    Glenn snatched her shoes from Kevin and stumbled into them as he dragged her down the hill, his hand clamped on her arm.
    “Mr. Morgan!” he called.
    Dad was at the door when they got there. He looked no better than he had the previous night, manic and disheveled. Glenn found she couldn’t meet his eyes.
    “What’s going on? Glenn, are you okay? Kevin, what are you
    doing here?”
    “You have to run, Mr. Morgan,” Kevin said, catching his breath.
    “Now! No time to talk.”
    Glenn tore her wrist out of Kevin’s grasp. “We’re not going anywhere unless you tell us what’s going on.”
    Kevin saw he was beat. “As soon as you left my dad’s office he started making calls. A bunch of them. The last one was to Carraway at Science. They talked about some project and then I heard them mention an Authority warrant. Mr. Morgan, they’re coming to arrest you.”
    “Arrest him?” Glenn was stunned. She wanted to make Dr.
    Kapoor see that her dad needed help, not that he was dangerous.
    “Glenn, why were you with Dr. Kapoor?” her father asked.
    “What were you talking to him about?”
    “I — I can fix this,” Glenn stammered. “I can talk to him. It’s a mistake.”
    “Glenn, what did you do?”
    She met her father’s eyes for the first time that night. “I was worried. After our talk last night, I went to see Dr. Kapoor.”
    “To talk to him about me?”
    Glenn’s throat seemed to have closed up. She nodded.
    “You didn’t tell him about The Project, did you?”
    “Dad —”
    “Did you?”
    “I mentioned it, but —”
    “YOU ARE UNDER ARREST.”
    They all turned as a thin rectangle slid into view, hovering silently above the trees. It was maybe eight feet long and six wide, with skin the featureless gray of a shark’s. An Authority skiff. Its underside exploded with a light so intense it flooded the entire yard and hit all of their bodies like something physical.
    Dad ducked into the workshop. There was a clatter of metal from inside.
    The skiff’s loudspeakers boomed as it descended. “YOU ARE
    UNDER ARREST.”
    Glenn and Kevin followed Dad inside, hoping to escape the noise and light, but it was useless. The skiff’s beams tore through the gaps in the workshop’s walls. Inside, Dad was huddled in a corner in front of a wadded-up pile of papers. Glenn smelled smoke.
    “Notes in the other basement computers,” he mumbled as he
    worked.

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