Black Orchid Read Online Free PDF Page A

couldn’t open her mouth. In her mind she
started screaming.
    “Lila!
Lila!”
    “I’m
here. I’m here, Adelaide.”
    But
she wasn’t there. Adelaide couldn’t see anything, anyone. She felt tears on her
lashes as they squeezed out of eyes jammed tightly shut. Her entire body was
wracked with a shuddering so awful her teeth hurt from the rattling.
    “What’s
happening to me?”
    She
heard an unrecognizable voice say, "Lila, you’ve got to get her to calm
down."
    “I
can’t contain her,” another grunted.
    Adelaide
felt her body start to change. A force that had been buried inside her felt as
though it were tearing her apart… as if her flesh were being shred off her
bones as the pressure pushed outward.
    Voices
filled Adelaide’s ears, so many she couldn’t keep track, and nothing they were saying
made any sense to her. But she heard the alarm in their words, and it fed her
own.
    “Hold
her, Alex!” someone shouted.
    “I
can’t!”
    “Griffin,
get your shield over her. Help Alex pin her down.”
    “I’m
still working on her memory. I can’t do both.”
    “Ellie,
help her shut it down!”
    “I’m
trying. She’s blocking me.”
    “When
the hell did she get that power?”
    “LILA,
FLOOD HER EMOTIONS!!”
    “They’re
already flooded. There’s no room for anything other than panic inside her.”
    “Selene,
turn her off. We can’t let her morph.”
    “She’s
not letting me.”
    “Together
then. Everyone hold onto me and Adelaide. On three… One. Two. Three.”
    Adelaide
felt her body bow up and twist. Intense, blinding light flooded her vision, and
air filled her lungs. She sucked in a long breath that burned her throat. Her
eyes flew open, and she saw the brilliance of the blue sky. With the return of
her senses, she was able to release some of the terror that seemed to hold her
in its claws.
    She
collapsed, her body going completely limp like a wrung-out rag doll. But at
least she could breathe.
    What
just happened to me?
    Adelaide
forced herself to sit up. She glanced down, slightly shocked to see that her
skin was still in place and she wasn’t lying in a pool of blood.
    “Adelaide?”
    She
looked up and felt a small bit of relief. “Lila?” But then she frowned. The
girl sitting beside her was her sister. But something was different. She
looked… older.
    Lila
reached out, but Adelaide jerked away. “What’s going on?”
     “What’s
the last thing you remember?” Lila asked.
    Adelaide’s
gaze swung from her sister to look at another face - an unfamiliar girl with
violet-blue eyes and long black hair who was kneeling on the ground beside her.
    Adelaide
scooted backward. “Who are you?”
    The
girl held out her hands. “I’m Ellie.”
    When
Adelaide said nothing, but stayed where she was, Ellie quickly introduced the
others around them: another woman with pale blond hair named Selene, a man with
dark hair and bright blue eyes named Alex, and a red-haired man named Ramsey.
And incredibly, a massive golden-colored wolf they called Griffin.
    Overwhelmed,
Adelaide struggled to her feet. She took a moment to steady herself on wobbly legs.
When everyone surrounding her stood as well, she held out her hands. “Don’t
come any closer.”
    “Look
at her eyes. They’re glowing yellow.”
    Adelaide
searched frantically among the group standing before her. No one’s mouth had
opened, but she was sure she’d heard someone speaking.
    “The
dragon is still close the surface.”
    Adelaide
slammed her hands over her ears. “Who’s saying that? Who’s talking?”
    Desperately,
she focused on the one person she knew she could always depend on. “What’s happening?”
she whispered brokenly to Lila.
    Lila
started to move toward her, but so did the others. Adelaide stumbled back. “No.
Just Lila. I… I don’t know who any of you are.”
    Her
sister looked over her shoulder at the guy named Ramsey, who shook his head as if
he didn’t want her to go. Adelaide frowned as her ability to