Preserving Hope Read online

  As Arthur recovered, Adam turned to Will, and offered him a handful of pungent berries, and Will recognized what they must be. The morange berries, the trigger for the abilities that Elizabeth had developed and, most likely the basis of the Purge Will himself had taken in the future. Arthur would now, after a great deal of pain and suffering, build the abilities he’d so long desired.

  “Eat them, Will. They develop the abilities I demonstrated earlier. We will let the two of you recuperate from the effects of the berries, and then train you in how to use them.”

  Adam turned back to face what remained of the village, as the flames died down and they were cast into darkness. “This effort at building a village of high commerce was a failure. The three of us will use our abilities to rebuild, and recruit others, and build another home upon the ashes and memories of what we left behind. We will have rules about how we treat each other, so that we avoid the disaster here, a disaster that ended today. And we’ll have a name to define us.”

  He motioned to the ground, where shards of wood were scattered, and Will recognized the shattered remnants of the sign on the Schola that he himself had hurled against the well. Adam laid the pieces out on the ground and, by the light of Will’s torch, he assembled the pieces to form a single long word.

  AL IO I NC RE MENT UM SCH OLA

  Adam looked at the letters. “Our name should be formed from the shattered remnants of the building where so much potential good might have been done.” He began shuffling the pieces of wood, removing some chunks and moving others around.

  He finally looked at Will. “What do you think of this?”

  Will looked at the ground, but he already knew what it said.

  AL IO MENT I

  Will pushed the letters together. ALIOMENTI. “I like it. I think it will define our group for a very long time.”

  Adam nodded. “Arthur, what do you think?”

  The morange berries began to have their effect at that moment, however, and Arthur’s opinion on the name was lost to the sounds of his screams.

  But Will knew what his answer would be.

  Author’s Note

  Thanks for reading! I hope you’ve enjoyed the ongoing saga of Will Stark and the Aliomenti. To find all of the books in the series, check here.

  Signing up for my mailing list gets you instant email alerts when new books are published, as well as access to the free prequel and other related short works I release. You can sign up here: http://smarturl.it/e90d4n.

  Thanks again!

  Alex

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  Other Books by Alex Albrinck

  The Aliomenti Saga

  Book 1: A Question of Will

  Book 2: Preserving Hope

  Book 3: Ascent of the Aliomenti

  Book 4: Coming in 2013!

  Copyright (c) 2012 by Alex Albrinck. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used, reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law, or in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, contact [email protected].

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.