Read Switched: Brides of the Kindred 17 for Free Online

large—very large—with
long, well-shaped fingers and very clean nails which she liked.
There was nothing worse than a man with dirty fingernails. Carlos
had always had dirt under his nails which disgusted her…
    “ Hey—you can’t just stop walking in the middle of a busy
thru-way,” the
masculine voice barked sharply in her head. “You’ve got to keep moving or that
Peace Keeper is going to suspect something. He’s still watching us,
you know!”
    “ Where am I supposed to go?” Frankie demanded in a low voice.
She supposed she did look kind
of crazy, standing still in the middle of a crowded walkway and
studying her hand. But this was so weird, damn it—even for a dream!
    “ Just keep walking—head down the right hand hallway. The
two-oh-one transport is the one you want.”
    Frankie walked as
the voice ordered, keeping quiet though she was burning to ask a
lot more questions. But she didn’t want to look like she was
talking to herself so she kept silent until she found the train the
voice had ordered her to take.
    It
was a long, sleek, bullet shaped thing with a shiny black surface
that almost looked like liquid oil. Frankie was sure it was just a
trick of the light but when it whooshed to an almost silent stop in
front of her, the shiny skin shivered and then melted open—there was no other word for it—to form an
oval door.
    “ Eww!” she exclaimed involuntarily, taking a step back and
causing heads to turn in her direction. “What the
Hell—?”
    “ Keep your voice down,” the voice in her head instructed tersely. “Talking in public places
isn’t encouraged here. The State prefers all citizens to be silent
in crowded conditions to minimize confusion.”
    “ What?” Frankie asked—in a whisper since she was trying to
obey the order. “You’re not allowed to talk in public
here?”
    “ Not unless you want a citation,” the voice informed her. “Now get on the damned transport so I
can figure out what to do.”
    Frankie was
reluctant to go through the melted opening in the shiny black train
but she didn’t see what else she could do. Ducking her head, she
stepped in, being extremely careful not to brush against the edges
of the “door.” This was surprisingly hard to do since her shoulders
were now extremely broad and the opening seemed to be made for
someone with a much narrower frame. Still, she somehow managed and
found herself standing in the middle of a crowded subway car. The
seats on either side were taken, as was much of the standing
room.
    “ Walk to the end of the transport,” the voice in her head commanded. “It’s usually empty
there. We can talk.”
    There certainly did seem to
be a lot to talk about. Frankie began making her way to the back of
the long train but it was so crowded she found it impossible to
move without shouldering people aside.
    “ Excuse me,” she murmured, as she tried to squeeze past some
men with narrow shoulders who were standing in the center of the
car. “Pardon me—excuse me. Oh—I’m so sorry!” she exclaimed when she
stepped on a woman’s foot.
    The woman looked at
her mutely with something like shock on her face. Had she not
understood what Frankie said?
    “ I
said, I’m sorry I stepped on your foot,” she said to the woman
again. “I didn’t mean to do that—are you okay?”
    “ Shut up!” roared the voice in her head, so loudly that Frankie winced,
certain that someone else must have heard it.
    “ I
was just apologizing,” she muttered under her breath as she
continued her journey to the back of the train. “What’s wrong with
that? Don’t you people have manners here? Wherever here is?”
    “ Not in a crowded transport,” the voice retorted. “Just keep quiet and push to the back. And
I do mean push —you have
to if you want to get through this crowd. And don’t apologize. You might as well hang a sign around
my neck that says “Switched.”
    Frankie wanted to
ask what he meant by “Switched” but she kept