Grasping at Eternity (The Kindrily) Read Online Free PDF Page A

comfortable life in England, technology hadn’t taken over the world, and my soul mate was still by my side.
    “Nathan, come visit. Having you here might trigger something.”
    I shut my eyes so tightly that I saw stars. “The only thing it will trigger is more anguish for me.”
    “But what if—”
    “No. Please understand. I can’t—not yet. I’m still trying to recover from her attack. If she would have died …” The thought made my heart implode.
    “I know, but she’s still with us.”
    If Maryah had died, she would’ve been severed from me and our kindrily for eternity. Between every life, we made our choice: erase or retain. As Elements, my kindrily and I were allotted a different set of rules than average humans. We chose when we’d return to our next life, and to whom we’d be born, allowing us to continuously retain our memories and ensure we stayed connected forever.
    No member had ever erased—until this lifetime.
    If Maryah died not knowing about us, she would have most likely erased her memory again. This time we’d have no way of knowing when or where she’d be reborn. Last go-round she had a plan and she stuck with it—all except the erasure. We had agreed that nothing could ever be so terrible that we would erase, so how and why did it happen? The burden of that unanswered question was mine to carry for at least another lifetime.
    “Nathan, Edgar confirmed our suspicions. The Nefariouns were the ones that attacked Maryah and her family. They’ve been aggressively targeting Elements and building an army.”
    “An army for what? What upstanding Element would ever join their cause?”
    “Edgar hasn’t figured that out yet, but Dedrick is acting as leader.”
    Elements who didn’t follow universal laws and exploited their gifts were outcasted and had their abilities taken away from them. A few continued to perpetually reincarnate, and their desire to regain supernatural abilities strengthened over time. Most of them resorted to sorcery or witchcraft to obtain power, and they had harmed and killed people along the way. Dedrick’s ruthlessness had escalated over the last couple decades.
    “So Dedrick doesn’t know Maryah erased. If he assumes she has her gift, he may still be hunting her.”
    “It’s a possibility. And he might come after more of us. Abilities such as Anthony’s, Edgar’s, or Dylan’s would be extremely valuable to him.”
    My stomach seethed. “Mark my words, if he hurts anyone in our kindrily I will—”
    “Hush.” Louise’s tone changed drastically. Through the phone I heard bamboo wind chimes clanging together. She was in the backyard.
    “Help!” Krista’s faraway scream sent chills through me. My exceptional hearing wasn’t a gift in situations such as this.
    The trickling pond grew louder at an alarming rate. Louise was running through the backyard. My pulse beat double time. “What’s wrong?”
      Her bracelets jingled as her footsteps thudded faster.
    I whipped around and scanned the house. It looked peaceful, but Louise’s panic radiated through the phone. “What’s wrong?”
    In a labored breath, she answered, “Something’s burning.”
    In that instant, I knew Maryah was in danger. And I reacted on instinct.

  FIGHTING FIRE
     
    Maryah
     
    I was dreaming about Mikey in a Technicolor forest. He was happy and laughing and waving me over to him, but then my mind yelled at itself to wake up.
    I felt torn: the warmth, the colors, the peace of watching Mikey exist in such a beautiful world. I wanted to stay there forever, but then a deep voice screamed my name.
    Everything happened so fast.
    I opened my eyes, and for a split second I saw my angel of death standing beside my bed. In the instant he vanished, my waking mind processed what was happening.
    Fire.
    Next to me, above me, crawling all around me. Hissing, whooshing, feeding on the canopy, the bedspread, and soon, me—if I didn’t react. A loud pop exploded above me. I scrambled to