Awakening Read Online Free PDF Page A

grasped
at nothing but air. I had stopped wearing the pouch when I had
stopped being a healer.
    There was no place to go as the
banshees filled the alley. I took quick steps backward until I felt
a brick wall at my back. They had me cornered like a rat in a
cage.
    The banshees moved faster and faster
around the men. Bodies were fleeing, and as they fled the lights
followed, surrounding them, circling them. Men’s voices full of
panic filled the air. I looked toward the woman. She’d thrown her
whole body onto the ground, and her hands now covered her
head.
    I should have been doing the same
thing, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away. Rain streamed down my
face, my hair clung to my cheeks and fell into my eyes. I pushed it
aside and watched as blue streaks of light broke off from a guy
standing not far from me and began heading in my
direction.
    “ Don’t ever look into a
banshee’s eyes.” I heard the voice inside
my head. It was a warning that had been instilled in me from
childhood.
    “ What’ll I see if I look
in its eyes, Pa?”
    “ Death. And when you look
at death, child, it can take a hold of you and suck you into the
ether sea.”
    And remembering my father’s
words, I dutifully closed my eyes, but I
felt the energy swish around me. It surrounded me, and as it did a
loud screech filled my ears. And then, to my horror, I realized
something was touching me. A chill ran down the length of my body.
The thing teased my hair and slid across my skin, and where it
touched me I felt a sharp pain, followed by a burning sensation. It
crawled across first my right forearm and then my cheek. I cried
out in pain. The compulsion to open my eyes and see the nightmare
that surrounded me was very strong. Suddenly the world went still.
Another high pitched, bone-chilling cry sounded, but this time it
seemed farther away. More silence and then another screech. I
counted the seconds in between the screeches and willed whatever
was near me to disappear.
    A minute, maybe more, passed, and
there was no sound. No movement my ears could detect. I decided to
risk it. I opened one eye and then the other. Three long, ugly
scratches ran across my forearm. I raised my hand to my cheek and
felt raised welts. The banshees had actually touched me. I didn’t
know they could to that. I had heard of the screeching, of their
soulless cries, but I hadn’t actually been up close and personal
with a banshee before. If this was the type of magic the death
dealers could wield, it was powerful. They could raise the dead.
The thought of it sent another shiver down my back.
    The alley was now empty except for
Luke. I looked up the alley and made out the back of the woman
fleeing in the darkness through a sheet of rain. She was making her
way onto a well-lit side street. The gang members were all long
gone. Luke was down on his knees in the mud on the alley
floor.
    I pushed myself up and made my way to
his side. “That was some show,” I said, not hiding the relief in my
voice. Thank God it was over.
    When Luke didn’t answer, I put my hand
on his shoulder and watched in horror as he slumped
forward.
    It took my mind a moment to
catch up with what was actually going on. A pool of blood was
forming from underneath him--it streamed out onto the dirt. I
pushed his body over and looked in horror at the gaping hole on the
left side of his abdomen. I sat staring, unable to move. Blood, people screaming in
pain --the images flashed before me. I
covered my hands over my ears to keep from hearing the screams.
They were dying--they were all dying, and there was nothing I could
do to stop it. I don’t know how long I stayed immobile, the images
keeping me frozen, but Darla’s voice crying out broke the
spell.
    I looked up and watched her making her
way down the ladder. She was crying out her brother’s
name.
    I sat shaking, rain pouring down my
face. Luke, I had to help him. The blood had become a river,
snaking its way down the pavement. He was dying, and I