Five: Out of the Dark Read Online Free PDF Page A

aloud, hoping the spell would still work even though my voice was high and shaking. “
Lacio expello locus exigo
!”
    The void opened, and the Demon was sucked back into its own world.
    Johnathan twisted toward me; his breathing was heavy and drops of sweat trickled down his brow. Dark eyes searching mine, he lifted a hand and pushed a strand of hair away from my face. He rested his hand on my cheek. His touch caused a wave of dizziness and I reached for his arm to steady myself.
    “Are you okay?” he asked, his forehead creased with worry.
    The muscles of his arm were tense, yet the touch of his hand on my face was so warm and gentle. I smiled a closed lip, shaky smile.
    “I’m fine. You’re the one that was nearly turned into Demon chow. Are you okay?”
    He smiled, causing my stomach to do somersaults.
    “I’m great,” he said in a near whisper.
    That night, the three of us decided to take our practicing more seriously. We focused the majority of our efforts on learning defense and fighting skills aimed at Demons and other Netherworld beings. After a little further studying on the matter, we figured that Mr. Ghost Demon was a lesser Demon and worried that others we might have to face would be much stronger and smarter than it was. I’m not exactly sure why, but I wrote the Demon’s name in the White Book.
    Another decision we made that night was that we should move our base camp around every couple of days and start using wards to keep unwanted guests out of our sleeping quarters.
    That’s how Seth joined our group. We heard something come in contact with one of the protective wards we’d placed around the entrance to our new digs, then a grunt as the ward worked as planned and threw the intruder a short distance away.
    Alec disabled the ward, and the three of us went out to see what we’d stopped from entering our rubble strewn shelter. We found a burly blond kid with messy hair falling in his eyes. He scrambled to his feet and put his hands out in front of him, forming a ball of light between them.
    “Whoa, dude. Relax the magic, there,” Alec held a hand out and formed a
star-bright
. “You’re one of us.”
    The boy dropped his hands and the light dissipated. His shoulders relaxed a little and one corner of his mouth twitched.
    “I’m Johnathan, this is Alec and Paige. What’s your name?”
    “Seth.” He looked at us each in turn. “Are you all … can you all, uhh, you know … do stuff?”
    “Yeah, we can all do stuff,” Johnathan half-smiled.
    Seth’s story was simple. Not long after he discovered his abilities, he realized they created a dangerous environment for his family. So he left.
    He joined our practices and shared our living quarters as our supply of canned beans dwindled.
    That same week, Johnathan returned from his search for where we would next shelter, with a small, filthy girl following closely behind him. She studied us with big green eyes—one of them peeking from behind a strand of shoulder length brown hair.
    “Halli, this is Paige, Alec, and Seth.” Johnathan pointed each of us out to her.
    “Hi, guys.” She stepped up and shook each of our hands with a strong grip. She wasn’t as timid as she appeared.
    “Halli’s like us,” Johnathan said, smiling down at her.
    “Where’d you come from?” Alec asked.
    Her face screwed up in concentration before she shook her head and stared down at the ground. “I don’t remember.”
    Johnathan put a hand on her shoulder. “I found her curled up in a dark corner, shaking and confused. She only remembers her age and her name. Nothing else before waking up in that corner.”
    “Oh,” I said, very near tears for the young girl. “That must have been terrifying. Are you hurt? Hungry?” I stepped up to her and wrapped my arms around her in a hug. The top of her head didn’t even reach my chin.
    She leaned into me for a minute before answering. “I’m not hurt, just dirty. And, yes, I’m starving.”
    Seth got her a