Avamarie gradually stood up and wiped the blood off her mouth as she chuckled weakly. "You're right, Mother. You did teach me to duel, and I never did defeat you," she said softly. I watched her closely my gut telling me she was up to something. My gaze flew between the two women trying to figure out what was happening. Avamarie couldn't be giving up that easily. Jenevive was indeed enormously powerful, but it was becoming obvious that Avamarie was truly quite powerful in her own right. Movement behind Jenevive caught my eye. A large boulder that had come out of the ground began to quiver then slowly float up. I glanced over at Avamarie trying to see how she was doing it. One finger was lifting, but the hand was pressed so tightly to her side that from where Jenevive stood she wouldn't be able to see. "Look out!" I screamed. Jenevive spun around just in time to be plowed over by this boulder. She flew across the clearing until she landed brutally on the ground, bouncing once
I laid the ruby on the ground and brought the solid rock down on it as hard as I could. The ruby shattered instantly and the shockwave from the power being released hurled me back to the ground again. A bolt of light shot to the sky and little lights sped out of it so fast that it looked like one light if you weren't as close to it as I was. Souls. I thought. Souls were being freed. They streamed at light speed towards the sky and as soon as they touched the storm they shot off in all directions. So many souls that the sky began to light up like it was noon instead of almost midnight. The roar of the souls leaving their prison was so loud you could hear it for miles. A loud scream from the circle snapped me out of the hypnotic state that the light show had put me in. She was beating against the field still, but this time it wasn't it anger it was in fear. "Let me out! Let me out! She's gonna kill me! Help! Help!" she screamed frantically. I jumped up to go help her, but Jenevive
The sunlight shined through the gossamer curtains and hit my face. I awoke gently, blinking several times as my eyes tried to adjust to the light. As the window became clearer and clearer, I couldn't place it. I sat up trying to remember where I was. "Vicki?" said a deep voice from behind me. I turned and behind me were the sleep hazed eyes of my husband. Everything hit me at once and I began to shake. He wrapped me in his arms as he had done every morning since our return. We got back to that tiny shore side town to find Craig, Erin and Marcus had been waiting for us at the edge of the pier. They had greeted us like heroes, and I hadn't been able to stop holding Marcus or checking him over to make sure he was okay. Other than the rope burns he seemed physically okay. There was a haunting look in his eyes, but he refused to talk about what had happened while he had been an Eater. I had been forced to let it go after a while, but not before I made him promise to talk to me when
It started out slowly, quietly as epidemics usually do. But this was no epidemic. This was no virus that the medical community could study or solved. This was something else. Something that could only be dreamt up in the darkest recesses of the mind. It was a curse. A curse set upon us by a madwoman bent on either ruling the world or destroying it. I know what you are thinking, curses aren't real. They are a silly made up superstition given to us to help explain things that aren't rational. Well, tell that to those who have succumbed to it, because I'm not sure they know just yet. I want you to tell that to all those who are weeping in grief because this thing took their family from them. But I'm getting ahead of myself, let me take you back to when it all started-I slammed my head against the wheel as hard as I could, realizing I had gone through this parking lot for the fifth time. "Damn it, how the hell do I get lost in my own city?" I cried to the bobblehead dog on the dash.
I know you are wondering at this point when it'll start moving along and when I will start to finally explain how things got so bad. Just bear with me it'll happen sooner than you think. I hated waiting rooms at the doctor's office. They were always so cheerful and brightly lit that you ended up wanting to tear a wall down by the time the nurse called you back. Watching a cough rack my son's tiny body, did not make this time any better. I pulled his head on my lap and began running my fingers over the little brown curls as I watched the TV. The sound was down but someone had turned the captions on, so I was able to keep up with the story even though it lagged a bit. The news program was about the virus epidemic that was sweeping the nation. According to the reporter, this contagious virus was dropping people like flies all around the world. The hospitals were overflowing with the sick and doctors didn't know what to make of it. There had even been several reports of extreme cases wh
My heart began to race and the sense of dread that I had been fighting swamped me. I threw open the door to my pickup and jumped in, barely even throwing my seatbelt on before I threw it into gear and floored it. The sounds of angry horns once again accompanied me as I sped down the street. This time, I didn't stop until I reached Marcus' school. I grabbed Johnathan out and raced into the school, almost running over a few ladies from the office in the process."Mrs. Andrews what are you doing here?" the teacher asked in shock as I stormed into the classroom. I ignored her as I searched for and finally spotted Marcus' dark brown hair. His confused eyes connected with my panicked ones. "Marcus, come with me we need to get home," I said ignoring the teacher. "What's going on, Mom?" he said worriedly responding to the urgency in my voice. I didn't answer as I grabbed his stuff and shuffled him out the door still ignoring the protest of the other adults. "What's going on, Mom?" Marcus
I looked down and there was a solid silver chain with a beautiful black stone hanging off it. In the center of the stone was a brilliant yellow star that caught the sunlight just perfectly, so it seemed to twinkle and dance. I looked back up at the woman in amazement, but she had vanished. My gaze swung around the street and over by the river that separated the school from the farmlands. Although, there was no sign as to where she had come from or where she went. The wall that had been keeping me upright suddenly disappeared and I fell on my butt with a hard thud. Looking behind me I realized there had never been a wall there and assumed that it had been my own mind that had prevented me from moving further back. A glint from the silver chain caught my eye and I picked it up gingerly as if it were a hot rock about to burn me. After all, it was rather warm as if it were heated from the inside out. I turned the stone this way and that, staring at the beauty of it in awe. The yellow star
"Can you do that for me, sweetheart? I want to go try and find your mom.""No!" she suddenly screamed and wrapped her little arms around my neck. She squeezed so tightly that it almost cut off the airways and if she had been a little stronger, it probably would have. "Melissa, I need to go help your mother if I can. Please, let me do this," I begged. "She's a monster," she whispered into my neck. I wrapped my arms around her and held her close unsure of what to say back. There were no words I could find to reassure a little girl that her mother was not a monster if she had been acting anything like the people across the field. I held her for a moment longer until she sniffled then rubbed her forehead on my shirt. I silently begged her not to wipe her nose off on me as little kids were apt to do and then I set her away from me. A rustling from the bushes drew our attention to it. "Please, let that be a dog," I whispered to the sky. Melissa buried her head in the crook of my neck