Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 116263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
Images flooded Pax’s vision.
The vile.
The foul.
The seed that had been planted and its ultimate progression.
Pax’s knees weakened, yet he somehow became more determined.
He rushed toward it, gathering the light as he bent his mind to wrap it around the Ghorl.
It startled, detecting him before he had time to contain it.
It shattered into a million pieces, the shadow breaking apart and darting along the ground in every direction.
Hopelessness took his chest in a fist.
He would never be able to bind every fragment as it fled.
The light had to be focused on the shadow as a whole to completely extinguish it.
It would speed along the barren floor, hiding within the rolling fog, and then regather. In its regeneration, it would grow stronger.
A roar broke from his throat. “Aria!”
He couldn’t let this happen.
He couldn’t.
And all logic was lost.
Every warning he’d been given ceased to exist.
His purpose forgotten.
His blood pumped with fury, his mind frenzied as he searched the soiled ground for the nearest Kruen.
One he knew would lash out.
Pax rushed up behind it.
It whirled around and reared in defense, its eyes wild and vicious.
“Pax!” Ellis cried out when he realized his intention. “Do not do it!”
Pax didn’t slow. He lunged forward, and he propelled himself through the air with his arm cocked back in a fist, loosing a misleading threat.
It lashed out, just as Pax knew that it would.
Satisfaction billowed through Pax when it struck him across the chest, the burn searing through him and sending his spirit toppling back to humanity.
Because if he was going to get to Aria in the day? Every second counted.
Chapter Ten
Aria
My eyes flew open to the wispy darkness of the room. Fear pierced like talons as a nauseating sense of awareness sank into my bones.
Jenny was in her bed six feet away, her breaths rhythmic in the abyss of sleep, an even rise and fall that whispered through the air like peace.
But I felt no peace.
Forcing myself to remain completely still, I tuned my ear to the oppressive silence that hovered in the room like a wraith. My senses pushed out to try to determine what had awakened me.
Wrapped in the thin blanket, I lay on my side, keeping as still as possible.
I might have been disoriented, my mind foggy from the jolt of being torn from the sanctuary of Pax’s presence, from that sphere to this one, but I was alert enough to know I needed to be afraid.
My heart galloped, and I struggled to listen over the pulse that pounded in my ears.
I heard nothing . . . yet I was sure there was something.
Gathering my courage, I peeked out from beneath the blanket.
Blackness cloaked the room in a murky curtain. The only light was a splinter streaming through a crack in the door that illuminated a narrow strip down the center of the room.
Somewhere in the distance, a patient wailed, but the hall beyond our room was still.
Jenny shifted and rolled to her side. For the briefest moment, the tempo of her sleep was interrupted. The pause was long enough to expose the controlled breaths that had been meant to match hers.
Shallow and regulated.
Emitted from somewhere near the foot of my bed.
Bile rose in the back of my throat, and a cold chill streaked down my spine.
It was a man, I was positive.
I could almost sense the outline of his rigid frame lurking in the dark.
Penetrating eyes burned into me as if they could see beneath my cover, leaving me vulnerable and exposed.
I hugged the blanket tighter in a vain attempt at sheltering myself.
Terror blistered through my spirit when he shuffled forward. His footsteps were light, the only sound the faint squeak of rubber-soled shoes against the linoleum floor.
Panic edged into my consciousness, and I squeezed my eyes shut as if that might be able to conceal my presence. Tears gathered and slipped free, running along the edge of my nose and dripping onto the pillow.
I fought to find the strength of sleep. Who I was when I fell through the darkness and into Faydor. To embody that power.
But I was also fully aware of the limitations of my human body.
A sob stuck in my throat when the mattress suddenly dipped at the side of my feet, and a husky, nasally breath escaped the man and slithered through my senses.
Revulsion crawled across my flesh, and my throat clogged as I gagged.
My mouth opened with the intent to scream, but no sound came. It was only a soundless plea that pitched through the air.
I couldn’t let him do this. Couldn’t let fear freeze me. I had to fight. Find a way.
Even though there was a piece of my consciousness that had already known my fate the second I’d seen into Jenny’s mind last night.
Suddenly, brisk footfalls echoed down the corridor, and two hushed voices grew louder as they approached.