A Time to Die (Elemental Rage Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

didn’t
answer.
    Jade crept over to
her sister’s side.  Raven was still lying on her back, staring at the sky with
her mouth open and a sheer look of horror in her eyes.
     
    ~~ Raven ~~
     
    Once Raven knew
something was stalking her, she ran with all her might.  The party shoes didn’t
help. By the time she reached the campus she was barefoot.  One of her shoes
had been dropped at the side of the road near the park, the other when she
stepped onto the curb near the Education building.
    The shadow filled
her with icy cold fear.  She felt it coming, felt its force growing behind her
even as she ran, as if icy tendrils snaked out to dance along her arms.  When
she raced through the grass, she was surprised when the Void servant suddenly
appeared before her.  Slamming into him, she fell to her knees. He put his
hands on her head and ice crystals fell on her hair.
    She felt so cold
in its presence, a bitter chill that made her bones ache and her teeth chatter. 
The grass near her bare legs frosted over and withered where she knelt.  The
Servant of the Void held her head between his hands, his fingers on her
temples.  Raven cried out when she felt the cold seep into her brain.
    He captured her
spirit, pulling her from her body and into space.  The stars passed like grains
of sand and then they were gone while she sped through the universe, dragged by
an unseen force.  The Void Creature was no longer beside her, but she felt the
same presence.  During their travels he had lost form.
    He took her into a
place of utter darkness and formlessness.  She felt so small, like the tiny
speck of sand at the edge of a giant sea.  The Void spoke to her.  She couldn’t
understand what it was saying.  She knew it was trying to communicate, to tell
her something.
    She was sent back
across the span of darkness, passed a multitude of galaxies and back to her own
little world.  Raven felt tears of relief form in the corners of her eyes.  She
realized that she was staring at the sky and couldn’t move a muscle.
    Jade was standing
over her, “Raven?  Are you okay? Can you hear me?”
    Raven’s entire
body felt like it had been dunked in the Arctic Ocean for an hour.  Finally she
forced out a quiet, “Yes.”
    She wasn’t okay,
not in the least.  Raven felt like something had come back with her from the
ends of the universe.  She felt something foreign inside, a coldness that
seeped into her mind.
    Air prodded her
into sitting up. Raven’s body felt dead, the same way her arm felt that time
she fell asleep resting back on her hands and the blood supply was cut off. Her
hands had flopped like dead fish. This time, it was her whole entire body. 
    Raven didn’t know
how long she lay there, staring at the stars.  Jade pulled her up.  Her arm
still around Raven’s shoulders, Jade asked, “What happened?”
    Raven stumbled
with Jade to the car. She said, “I swear I didn’t drink anything. There was
something else there,”
    “I know. It’s
okay. I know you were being chased.” Jade opened the door for Raven.
    Raven realized
that her favorite silk blouse was missing a button and she was walking around
with her bra showing.  That missing button disturbed her in a way that flying
across the universe couldn’t. She pulled the two sides of her blouse together. 
Fighting back tears, Raven asked, “Did that thing touch me?”
    Seeing the way she
held the blouse, Jade said, “No. No. Not like that.  I don’t know what he did
to us.  I know he was looking for something.  My mind feels violated, though. 
And I’d like to kill that thing for the way it made me feel.”
    Raven sank down
into the passenger seat, letting Jade shut the door.  For years they had just
been sisters.  Now they were friends.  Once Jade had settled in the seat next
to hers, Raven said, “Thanks.  I…I was stupid for coming.  Before last summer I
could drink and push Air away and not care, but she’s done so much to help me
that I