Ever Shade Read Online Free PDF Page A

right? That makes no sense. My mother is not magical. She is a modern soccer mom with 4 kids to feed and a single mom at that! My father is dead, he died two years ago, and there is no way he was a faery!”
    Shade was growing agitated, her father a faery? No it couldn’t be because he had been so normal. She could still remember his calm voice reading to her at night before bed and the wrinkles that hugged his eyes and his smile. Faeries aren’t parents; they don’t die in car accidents like her father had. It was making sense to her, not at all.
    “I know this may sound impossible. I knew that it would be difficult for you to accept. You are the oldest in your family, right?” Shade nodded. “Your mother was with a faery once; he charmed her into loving him instantly. She had no choice really. That’s how she became pregnant with you. Of course, this faery enchanted (the one you call father) almost as soon as he knew there would be a child, to make sure you would be taken care of in ways he could not provide. So your adoptive father fell in love with your mother, married her right away and then you were born. Both were none the wiser.” Ilarial paused, watching Shade’s reaction. She was careful in not enhancing the details.
    “My dad was not my real father? How would you even know that? Who was this ‘faery’ then? Did he tell you himself? What if you’re lying?” Shade stood up suddenly looking down at Ilarial, her heart beating hard within her chest. Her breath caught in her throat, causing it to feel tight and it soon burned.
    “Shade, please, sit down, you must listen to her, she knows more than you think.” Jack was suddenly standing behind her, taking hold of her shoulders and pressing softly down.
    She took a breath, eyeing Ilarial with suspicion. She sighed, deciding it would be better to sit down and listen to whatever was thrown her way. Slowly, she sank down into the sea of pillows.
    Ilarial was calm and still as a lake. She was not stirred up so easily but smiled again. The same warm feeling flooded over Shade once more. Calm, it said , so calm .
    “I must tell you, faeries cannot lie. Unless of course you are not a full faery like yourself. We can enchant, stretch the truth or work a way around it, but never a straight out lie. I do hope you believe me. I mean no harm to you my child. I only wish to find truth for you.” She nodded and looked down onto the table before them. She picked up only the stones and warmed them in her hands. She then dropped them on the table and watched them roll to their places.
    “These stones are quite powerful; they are mined from the heart of the earth, deep within crevices never seen by man. They are called seeing stones and the runes on them foretell futures or sing of the past. I see a great journey you must undertake, a misshapen love with a broken heart, confusion…” She pointed to each stone, first a blue stone, then a pink red one, and then blackened quartz. The last three were turquoise, purple, and yellow and they were wedged in a group together. She paused before them, turning her head slightly, as if waiting for them to speak. “Ah, yes, a most special task has fallen to you where your true self shall be revealed.”
    Shade stared at Ilarial. Nothing made sense to her, absolutely nothing. The stones glistened and vibrated on the table, almost glowing. Shade felt power radiating from them like a nauseating heat that was making her slightly dizzy. “What does that all mean?”
    “It means that you have come here in a time of war within our kind. Our Queen demands a force to be assembled. Now as we speak, we must prepare to take a great journey that has not been traveled in a thousand years by our tribe to retrieve the Santiran magic. It is a pool of water; this water holds the powers of the origins of earth. All elements and creatures were born of this spring. It holds life and death. It can be used to summon the powers of earth, it helps the