Death's Awakening Read Online Free PDF Page A

her.
Her blue lips turned up into a small smile.
    “ I had to
prove to you this was real and not a dream,” she said. “ You
have no idea how long I have been waiting for you. You are special,
my young one.”
    The witch sobbed and
shook her head. “No, you’re wrong,” she said. She
swiped at the frozen tears on her cheek. She couldn’t think
straight against the pain. All she could do was hear the memories of
past voices, telling her she would never be special. “I am no
one.”
    “ You are
everything to me,” the frozen woman said.
    The voice was soft in
her mind. Sweet and delicate like a mother’s final whisper
before sleeping. Only, the young witch was being lifted out of sleep
now. She became aware of the warm ground beneath her body and the
heat of the sun against her cheek. She fought against the waking,
wanting to stay with the Dark One where she was special and wanted.
But there was work to do.
    And someone was shaking
her.
    Her eyes popped open to
find a man staring back at her. He was young and strong. Handsome. He
smiled.
    “Hey,” he
said in a gentle tone. His hand was warm against her arm. He glanced
back at an older woman standing there in the field. “Momma,
she’s awake.”
    The witch attempted to
sit up, but her head spun in circles. Hunger tore at her stomach. She
fell back toward the ground, but the handsome man caught her in his
arms. She collapsed against him. “Thank you,” she
whispered. Her voice was gritty against her throat.
    “You’re
welcome,” he said. He stared into her eyes like he’d
never seen a woman before. Like he was entranced with her. “I’m
gonna carry you, if that’s alright.”
    She nodded.
    He lifted her and she
wrapped her arms around his neck, holding tight to him. Her right
hand ached with pain. Something from a dream, she thought, but she
was too weak to remember.
    As they walked, she
closed her eyes and listened to the steady thrum of the man’s
heartbeat.
    He and his mother
talked quietly as they made their way back to their farmhouse. They
had found her on their land. A farm far from the nearest city. They
had no idea how long she’d been there and were debating whether
to drive her to the distant hospital or give her time to recover in
their home. The hospital would be expensive, though, and they didn’t
have much extra.
    The older woman
commented on her dress and cloak, wondering why a young girl would be
wandering around out here in such strange clothes.
    The young witch had no
answers for them. Only silence.
    By the time they
reached the farm house, the man’s mother was coughing and the
young witch was drifting off to sleep, dreaming again of the girl
with purple eyes.

Parrish
    Parrish stared at the
woman by the buffet table. Her eyes were ringed with dark,
bruise-like circles. Her lips were dry and cracked. The woman looked
like death warmed over.
    And she was coughing
all over the shrimp cocktail.
    Parrish dropped her
shrimp onto her full plate, then dumped it into the trash can and
scanned the crowd. Standing near the back door, Madelyn Sorrows
looked straight at her.
    Crap. Eye contact.
Parrish ducked behind a man in a blue suit, but she knew it was too
late.
    “Where in the
world have you been?” Her mother’s voice had that
talking-through-gritted-teeth sound to it.
    Parrish shrugged.
“Talking to some friends,” she said. A bold lie. Parrish
never had friends over and almost everyone at this party was
middle-aged.
    “You know how
important tonight is,” her mother said, already looking away,
barely paying attention to her. As usual. “Don’t
embarrass me, please.”
    Parrish held her
breath. And her tongue.
    Why did her mother even
want her out here? She would have been much more comfortable hiding
in her room listening to music and playing video games than out here.
Her mom had insisted she put on this stupid dress and uncomfortable
heels and come out here to keep up appearances of a happy family. But
now that she was out