"John Meaney - Sanctification (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Meaney John)

 position on her bed, relaxed yet alert for any attack. There were none.
Nobody in the monastery ever saw Lucinda again.

Several nights later, Zenshara crept through the corridors of the
monastery after dark. She knew the security systems were observing her,
but she had a feel now for the way the Teachers and Administrators
handled
acolyte relationships. The policy was one of minimal interference. This
seemed strange to her, since so much of the training was geared towards
self-control and discipline of the mind... but it was, nonetheless,
their
approach.
She went past the boys' dormitory to the smaller individual rooms where
the monitors slept. She knocked at the farthest door. When it slid
open,
the large boy who had helped Lucinda was standing there, blinking in
the
half-brightness of his night-light and running a hand through his
tousled
hair. He opened his mouth to speak, then stopped.
"Can I come in?" asked Zenshara.
"I don't think so." His voice was not unkind. He understood
immediately:
she had no friends among the girls, and never would. She was destined
to
be a loner, a pariah in their midst. So she had come to him for some
companionship.
"I'm sorry," he added. "I need my sleep. But if you knock on Zhiang's
door
- that's his, next door along - you'll probably find the little bugger
awake, playing games on his terminal." He smiled: a kind, gentle smile.
"OK. You're Mark, aren't you?"
"You've accessed personnel files? Well done, Zenshara. You're a girl
after
Zhiang's heart. Don't keep him awake all night, now."
He waited until he saw her knock on Zhiang's door, before he retired.
Zhiang, as expected, was the short impudent boy with spiky cropped hair
who had winked at her, at the very moment when she was most sure that
she
would be banished from the monastery forever.
"You shouldn't be bothering Mark." Zhiang led her into his room. How
had
he known? Zenshara didn't think the walls were that thin.
"I didn't mean to-"
"Oh, he'll be a good friend. But he's on the verge of Sainthood: a real
golden boy. It's best he keep a little distance."
Zenshara had not realized, had not even thought that there might be
people
close to actually achieving Sainthood in the monastery right now.
It transpired that Zhiang was thirteen, though he was smaller and