Demon Crossings Read Online Free PDF Page B

Mom and Dad. The man shared Aiden’s pale eyes and reserved smile. The woman had her arm wrapped around the man’s waist, beaming up at him. They looked happy. Grace smiled wistfully and turned to the next picture. This one was more recent, of a young girl. Her heart thudded hard in her chest as she reached for it, thinking at first that the girl looked familiar. About five years old with blond hair. Oh, no…
    There was an instant of relief when she realized it wasn’t Maia and then her stomach bottomed out.
    Cold that cut to the bone. No escape. Blue ghost fire that did nothing to light the darkness. No sun. No trees. Only icy rock and howling desperation. Howling. They were coming.
    It took everything Grace had not to drop the picture as if it burned. Carefully, with her hands shaking and her vision blurring, she replaced it on the mantel and stepped away. She couldn’t stop staring though. The girl sat on a horse looking proud of herself. Pretty, long, pin-straight blond hair, gray eyes and a huge grin on her face that made you want to smile back. Which only made it more awful.
    She didn’t hear Aiden come in until a floorboard creaked behind her.
    “My daughter. She passed away last year.”
    Grace half opened her mouth to correct him before snapping it closed. The truth could be no comfort to him. Unless he was lying. Please, no. Fear pulsed through her body, an echo of that vision, telling her to flee. Even after she put the picture down, it still choked her mind like black poison. Nearly sentient, it wrapped tight around her and wouldn’t let her go.
    She needed to get outside before she threw up.
    “I’m so sorry,” she said, bracing herself before turning around to face him. But he wasn’t looking at her. He was staring at the picture and whatever momentary thoughts she’d had about him being somehow responsible for that girl’s pain disappeared when his grief hit her so hard it nearly dropped her to her knees. She shouldn’t be picking this up. That wasn’t how her gift worked. She controlled who she opened herself to and even then it was never this strong. Something about this place ramped up every psychic sense she had, tearing through all her shields. It had to be a lingering effect of the head injury. She grabbed onto that explanation like a drowning woman.
    She took a step away from him, closer to the door. He shook himself and summoned a faint smile.
    “Thank you.” Aiden ran a hand through his damp hair. He’d changed into a nicer shirt, one hand was shoved in his jeans pocket and his eyes were flat and very old. He tipped his head toward the kitchen. “Let me go grab the keys.”
    She handed him her coffee cup. “I’ll wait outside.”
    As soon as he turned around, she bolted for the door. His daughter wasn’t dead but wherever she was, she was scared and alone. And for the first time in her life Grace had no idea how to get to her. It was almost as if the girl was here, walking beside her.
    She tripped down the steps and hit the unlock button three times before triggering the release to the car. Her hands wouldn’t stop shaking. In her line of work, she’d dealt with some really messed up things but nothing like this. As strong a connection as she’d gotten from Maia but with an unnatural quality. She thought of that thing on the road and couldn’t dismiss it as a deer anymore. She should get in her car and go home, forget breakfast, forget Maia, return the Lindens’ retainer and fly off to Hawaii. She could give the grandmother the name of this town as a lead.
    Because…suddenly Maia was the least thing wrong about this place.
    The sunlight made her flinch and she paused for a second, undecided. A flash of movement caught the corner of her eye but she turned to see nothing but rows and rows of green corn. The wind stirred through the stalks, there was a noise like a small animal scurrying away and then Aiden stepped out onto the porch.
    She looked at him standing there, hands