Harbinger (The Bleeding Worlds) Read Online Free PDF

in the house all along. He’d been counting on it. Someone, maybe the two or three members of the football team who were missing from the coffee shop gathering, had come ahead and prepared to scare Gwynn. But Sophia had come in first. Did one of the football team’s pranks scare her? Maybe they were keeping her quiet, hoping to get a shot at their intended target.
    Above him, something sighed and a floorboard creaked. At the second floor landing, a dark mass darted to the left—fluid and fast. Gwynn blinked several times, trying to focus on what he’d seen. From the direction where it fled floorboards groaned. He tried to convince himself it was one of the football team.
    He started up the stairs. They gave a loud moan with each step. The third gave way, his leg crashing through the wood. Gwynn eased it free. Bloody scrapes covered his leg and his pants were garbage. The dim light made it difficult to see any embedded slivers in his leg. It stung like hell. He grit his teeth and moved up the remaining steps—a slow and tedious endeavor as he tested each step before putting his weight on it. Above, the sound of something heavy dragging across the floor joined the noises of complaining floorboards.
    Gasping, Gwynn reached the top of the stairs. His feet slipped. A dark liquid covered the ground. He bent down and dipped a finger into it. It was tacky and smelled metallic. His stomach lurched and acid burned his throat. His right arm screamed. Gwynn crept left where the shadow had disappeared. In one of the rooms, a set of steps led upward into the attic. The dark liquid that he tried to convince himself wasn’t blood, trailed upward.
    From the bottom of the steps, the attic lay in complete darkness. Gwynn couldn’t see any movement and the noises had ceased.
    If he turned around now, he could go wait outside with the others for the police. They would be able to help Sophia. The police would punish the football team for the prank. It made sense. If the football team didn’t have Sophia, wouldn’t it be dangerous? Why should he throw away his life? Would anyone have risked themselves for him? If no one cared or respected him, why should he do it for them? What about Jaimie? She had no one else.
    Sophia might not even be alive.
    Gwynn shook his head. No, that couldn’t be true. Not because he still nursed a nine year old crush, but because she had protected him. No matter how this had started, she had stepped in to take his place. Even if this was foolish, even dangerous, he had to see it through. He refused to live everyday seeing a coward in the mirror.
    And as much as he tried, he couldn’t deny something up there wanted him .
    Taking a hesitant step at a time, Gwynn ascended the steps and let his head breach the attic. The musty gloom made it almost impossible to see. He inched the rest of the way until he put his feet on the floor. He reached up, testing the height of the ceiling. To his left, the thing that had been tugging him called. One hesitant footstep after another took him deeper. The smell of rot assaulted him. His nose recoiled and he swallowed down a ball of sick. But he couldn’t stop. The presence in the far corner of the room beckoned.
    Approaching the source, he noticed a faint glow. He faced a tall, floor length mirror. The glass showed not his reflection, but instead a swirling maelstrom thrashing beneath the surface of the glass. Gwynn reached out to touch it.
    Something smashed into his mid section, sending him sprawling 20 feet in the opposite direction. Gwynn hit the ground hard and gasped as something snapped in his chest. Every inhalation stabbed his chest, and the ragged breaths filled with sloppy wet. Something stood in front of the mirror, obscuring the hazy glow.
    The thing stood at the height of a man and had a similar build. Its eyes revealed the creature’s inhuman nature; yellow eyes, glowing, feline and starved. The thing growled low, and then stuttered in what seemed a