A God to Fear (Thorn Saga Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page B

quickly. He followed it, felt it disappear at a corner, then found it again, turned with the wall, and kept running. Still no light, nor sight.
    The thing’s footsteps closed quickly behind him, and a gust of air buffeted Brandon’s side. He stopped so he wouldn’t draw its attention; the footsteps passed him right by.
    The thing growled again, this time more softly than before. Was it moving away? Yes—after a few moments, Brandon could scarcely hear its movements. He wanted to turn back and find Heather…
    … But was that light up ahead? In the direction the thing had gone? Brandon looked down and saw his blood-soaked tuxedo, although the blood looked as black and slick as oil in this low light. He used the sleeve that was clean sleeve to wipe some of it off of his forehead, then pressed on toward the light.
    As he approached it, he began to see that the light was much more than a single, small source lost in the vast darkness, as it had appeared from a distance. The light actually came from some sort of doorway: tall and wide, pointed at the top, with strange glowing runes engraved on it. The light shining through it was brilliant—blinding, even. Brandon could see the jet walls, reflective white floor, and high ceiling of the hallway now. He couldn’t think of any building in Bristol with hallways that would look like this.
    The air felt warmer as he approached the doorway. When he reached it, he peered through, squinting into the bright light.
    His breath left him. The door opened onto a mountainside above the most dazzling city Brandon had ever seen—in reality, in photographs, or in the movies. Sunlight slanted in from above to shimmer off immense waterfalls. Flocks of birds twisted above rivers, soaring toward the towers and minarets of the city. Everything looked shiny and yellow, like it was made out of gold. The architecture flaunted a sleek blend of the modern and the ancient. Flying buttresses and immense marble pillars supported abstract postmodern buildings that rose high against the sky. A huge black wall of what looked like computer screens rose in the center of the city, and beyond it…
    Beyond it…
    Brandon refused to believe that the planet in front of him, rotating against a backdrop of stars, was Earth. Whatever grand illusion this was, though, it had nearly convinced him. Lifelike greens and blues blazed off of the majestic orb. Brandon could even see pinpricks of lightning in storm clouds on the night side.
    A few birds flew near him—and he realized they weren’t birds. They were people . Flying people wearing white robes, wings lofting them on the wind.
    Were they angels?
    Brandon couldn’t comprehend what he was seeing, so he stumbled backward, into the darkness of the hallways. He turned a corner, and had to slow down as total darkness took him again.
    “Heather!” he called out.
    “Hon! Where are you?” She sounded close.
    “Over here. Follow my voice.”
    They soon found each other. Brandon couldn’t see her, but he embraced her with his good arm. “Are you okay?” she asked him. “What was that thing?”
    “I don’t know. I followed it, and I found this huge golden city.” A name for that city hovered at the edges of his thoughts, but he refused to let himself say it, or even think it. “Do you know where we are?”
    “No. That guy outside told us to run in here, and I—I don’t know. I panicked. I’m sorry. He sounded so serious, and the plane had just crashed, and—Brandon, you’re bleeding like crazy. I’ve got your blood all over me.”
    “How do we get out of here? We need to get to a hospital.”
    “Yeah, that’s what that guy told us to do. He said we should go to Atlanta, but that’s a five-hour drive. What’s this about a city?”
    Brandon was about to explain, when another thought struck him. “Wait—where’s Virgil?”
    Heather didn’t respond, and Brandon didn’t like the sound of that silence.
    “Hon, where’s Virgil?” he