Minutes Before Sunset Read Online Free PDF

shade, she was a part of the community. If she didn’t know the information she needed to, she wouldn’t understand the difference between the Light and the Dark, the lights and the shades. She would be easily influenced. She had no idea what kind of trouble she could be in.
    “Who’s your mentor?” I asked.
    “I don’t have one—”
    “You have to,” I said, shaking my head. “Somebody—anybody must know you’re a shade.”
    “I doubt my parents even know.”
    “It runs in blood,” I said. “They’re shades.”
    “No,” she said, her purple eyes burning into me. “They’re not.”
    “They have to be—”
    “They’re not like me,” she screamed, and I stepped backward, lifting my hands in front of me. I didn’t need her shouting at me; my ears were sensitive enough.
    “It’s okay,” I said. “We’ll figure this out.”
    She raised her thin brow. “But this is normal?” she asked, staring at her foggy hands again. “These powers?”
    I nodded. “They’re normal for shades, not humans.”
    Her eyes widened, and her powers rose around her. “I’m not human?”
    “Yes, you are,” I lied swiftly, calming her down. She couldn’t control her powers or emotions. I had to watch what I told her. “Shades are human, just in different forms.”
    “And you?” she asked, her eyes fluttering over me. “You’re one of these shades?”
    I nodded again, my black hair brushing against my forehead. “I’m Shoman.”
    What the hell? My entire body froze. I never gave out my name. The prophecy already did—telling the naming of the first and second descendant: Shoman and Darthon. I can’t believe I just told her that. I wasn’t supposed to give it away so easily. Actually, I wasn’t supposed to give it away at all.
    She smiled, completely unfazed by my information, and spoke, “My name is—”
    “Don’t tell me,” I interrupted. “I can’t know your real name. Your identity is everything.”
    She frowned. “Shoman isn’t your real name?”
    “Of course not,” I said, bewildered by her reaction. She knew nothing of the prophecy. “I was Named—and you should’ve been too.”
    She smirked. “By a prophecy?” she asked, fighting a fit of giggles. “This has to be a dream.”
    I touched her arm, and she whipped around automatically, latching her nails into my wrist. I winced, and she glared, her powers vibrating through my blood. “I wasn’t trying to hurt you,” I said, cringing, and she threw my arm away.
    “Then don’t touch me,” she said, stepping backward, and I glared back at her.
    “I was trying to make a point,” I said, laying my hand out. She stared at my palm. “Go ahead; touch it.”
    “Why?” she asked, and I groaned.
    “Just do it.”
    She bit her lip, stepped forward, and, slowly, she laid her shaky hand on mine. I exhaled, concentrating. Soon, my power flowed through her veins. I could feel it—her—and all her fear, panic, and rage. She truly was oblivious. In turn, I exposed myself to her—showing the serious honesty I felt. If she was an abandoned shade, she was in danger, and she needed my protection.
    She yanked her hand back and hugged herself, shaking her head. “What was that?”
    “Proof you’re not dreaming,” I said. “You can’t deny touch.”
    “I can deny anything I want,” she said, and I shook my head.
    “Not this.” I leaned over and caught her gaze. “You need to trust me, or you could end up dead; do you understand that?”
    Her face twisted. “No one’s going to kill me for hanging out by a river at night.”
    “A light will,” I said, knowing how dangerous it was to be a shade, let alone an abandoned one. Her kind was in the middle of war, and she had no idea she was a target.
    She paled. “There are more of us?”
    “Lights are nothing like us. They’re our enemies.” I strained through the conversation. “But, yes, there is a whole community of shades—”
    She lit up. “Can I meet them?”
    “No.”