A Circle of Crows Read Online Free PDF

could see the girl, blond curls falling over her filthy face, and she felt the dampness and cold of the floor on which she lay.

Chapter 7
    Intuition
    Rachael sat straight up out of a dead slumber. Had she heard a noise? As always, Morgana's safety was her first thought. Having the feeling of something being wrong, she leaped out of bed and with haste, went to her bedroom door and flung it open, startling Rae, who sat up immediately. Their eyes met and both twins perceived fear in the other's eyes.
    "Morgana?"
    Raena ran across the room to the fireplace and grabbed a poker from the hearth and lobbed it toward Rachael. She caught it in midair and did not pause, even momentarily, from her ascent up the stairs. “Should I call for Sam and Bella?” Raena cried.
    "No time."
    "Right."
    They flew up the staircase, already feeling the draft blowing down as they approached.
    * * * *
    Bella opened her eyes quickly and stared about the room. Sam was snoring peacefully beside her. Was that a noise ? Maternal instincts, which had been steadily growing since her attempts to conceive, kicked in and she immediately thought of her niece.
    Is it safe?
    She threw back the down comforter and ran to the window and peered into the dark. She watched as the light in the Autumn Room flicked on.
    "I knew it,” she muttered.
    She ran out the front door and bounded across the lawn, barely perceiving the cold September air. What she did notice was the leaves. They were swirling madly through the night air and forming a funnel-type cloud, which was flying straight into the Autumn Room's open window, almost as if a vacuum had been created.
    At this sight, Isabella broke out into an all-out run. She plowed through the kitchen and up the stairs and was calling to her sisters as she navigated the dimly lit hallway, now filled with swirling leaves. Indeed, it appeared that the leaves had overtaken the house. She stepped through piles of them on her ascent up the stairs.
    At the door of the Autumn Room, Bella stood staring at her sisters. Raena was trying to pull down the window to stop the influx of leaves, which were flying around the room as if in a wind tunnel.
    Rachael, looking ill, was calling her daughter and coming out of the adjoining bathroom.
    " Morgana! Morgana! She's here, I know it, but I just can't find her."
    Raena managed to shut the window and the wind stopped as if a current flow had been shut off. As she shut the window, the swirling silver appeared in the mirror.
    "The mirror,” said Bella. She ran to it directly. Isabella put her hand on it. The mirror turned from silver to smoke, and suddenly, Isabella's torso fell into it as the vacuum recommenced. The window shattered from the force of the wind now streaming toward the mirror again.
    "Bella!” Rachael yelled. “Raena, help me!” she called to her sister, who was on the floor and bleeding from the shards of broken glass in her palms and feet.
    Rachael reached toward the mirror and grabbed her sister's waist. She tried to pull Bella out, but was failing miserably. Isabella slipped further forward and her waist disappeared. Raena crawled forward and grabbed her sister's other leg, the pair of which Rachael had seized in desperation seconds before. Isabella's voice could be heard screaming, but it sounded as if it was underwater, and her words were imperceptible.
    "Rachael, on the count of three, give it all you have and pull. Brace your legs against the wall. Ready: one, two, three ... now !"
    Bella flew backward out of the mirror, covered in a wet, gelatinous substance. She fell into her sisters’ arms and the mirror turned transparent and was normal again. The three huddled together on the floor and Rachael began to weep. Sam entered the doorway, bare chested with goose pimpled flesh, but readily armed with a shotgun in his right hand.
    "What's happened?"
    "Morgana, she's been lost."

Chapter 8
    Old Wives’ Tales
    The sisters sat around the scrubbed wood table with cups of coffee