Rose Petal Graves (The Lost Clan #1) Read Online Free PDF

cheek. “Of course. That’s what happened. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust ,” I said. I’d been present at my fair share of funerals, whether I’d wanted to or not. Even if I closed my bedroom window, I could still hear the eulogies. “But what’s with the rose petals?”
    “They’re said to preserve the bodies of dead faeries.”
    Stunned, I blinked. He had to be pulling my leg.
    He cracked a smile. “You fell for it.”
    “No,” I said, although I had believed him. But just for a second.

CHAPTER 5 – SPARKS
     
    Before getting into bed that night, I collected the leather-bound book my mother had ordered. I read well into the night, absorbing facts and stories. As I was about to nod off, I stumbled on a chapter about rose petal burials.
     
    Throughout the ages, bouquets have been deposited on graves to mask the stench of decaying flesh. This tradition was perpetuated by the fae whose use of flowers—particularly roses—originated from a desire to keep dead bodies from decomposing. Instead of laying flowers on top of the casket, though, they would place them around the dead body. This practice was called rhodonpreservation and was widely used by all the fae. But rhodonpreservation was taken to the next level by the faehunters.
    After Negongwa’s tribe was almost entirely decimated by the woodland faeries, the powerful chief and his surviving relatives filled caskets with rose petals, etched a spell inside the lid, and had humans bury them alive in a circle of rowan trees that no faeries could penetrate. Although being buried alive might sound gruesome to some, to them it was their only means of survival. The longer they lived, the stronger they became. By immobilizing their bodies, they were growing their magic, and when the time came, they would be powerful enough to move the earth and rise again.
     
    My hands shook as I reread the last sentence. And then goose bumps rose over every inch of my skin.
    This was completely insane! This book made no sense and yet too much sense. What was I supposed to do with this information? Accept that Mom might have been right? That magical creatures walked the Earth? I shut the book and tossed it at my feet. And then I just stared at it and replayed the rose petals and Cruz’s “joke,” until my brain throbbed. Massaging my temples to alleviate the ache, I came to the conclusion that Cruz had read this book, and that Mom had researched rhodonpreservation .
    I thought about the last message she’d left on my phone. “Cat, I discovered something…” She’d sounded breathless. “Something unbelievable. And I’m dying to tell you. Call me back. I love you.”
    By the time I’d called her back—because I sucked at checking my voicemail—Mom was dead. Is this what she wanted to tell me about? Had she opened the casket? Had there been a body?
    “Ugh,” I groaned, just as a text message appeared on my phone.
    “You never called me back.” It was from Blake.
    I checked the time: 3:40a.m.“Go to sleep. All’s well,” I texted back, even though all was not well.
    The snow was still falling. Under the light of the moon, it glowed bright. As I went to draw the curtains, something caught my attention. A dark figure with bright skin. The person was circling the rowan trees. I squinted and made out black hair and broad shoulders. What was Cruz doing outside in the middle of the night? I caught the glow of a cell phone, which he raised to his ear. I cracked my window open so that I could hear him. Sure enough, his voice drifted into my room. However, he wasn’t speaking English. He was speaking some foreign tongue that sort of sounded like Latin.
    I was so busy eavesdropping that I didn’t react fast enough when he spun around and looked up. By the time I yanked my curtains shut, I knew I’d been made. I paced my room. The temptation to confront him overwhelmed my desire to hide out. Sliding the thick book underneath my bed, I threw on the red sweater I’d tossed on