Shades of Avalon Read Online Free PDF Page B

paused to close her eyes and suck in a breath.
    I imagined her playing out the scene like a movie in her mind.
    “We were deep in conversation and suddenly Caleb’s arm reached out across my chest. I didn’t know why.” She cringed at the memory and stopped to gather herself, breathing hard as we sat silently.
    “A truck came straight at us out of nowhere. Caleb’s foot stamped down on the brake. I heard the floor crack, but something else hit from behind. The force flung us back in our seats, but the truck in front was still coming, and it seemed to be growing monstrous. I was convinced it would flatten us.”
    For some reason I became intensely aware of every heartbeat, every breath, every crackle of wood in the fire. It was like some sort of vortex with our entire universe existing in this room. The world outside had simply stopped turning.
    “Without thinking, I unlatched my seatbelt and hurled myself over the back of my seat. I think I planned to pull Caleb over, but I landed on my arm. The bone broke right through my skin. I must have blacked out for a second. Everything was so confusing. Caleb screamed something, and I reached for him. I had to get us out of there, but there was nowhere to go.”
    The twisting of her hands intensified. Amanda attempted to still them. Triona’s eyes opened and flickered to her as if she hadn’t noticed Amanda had been beside her at all. Her body stiffened to the point I feared her bones might snap again from sheer tension. Triona allowed Amanda to take one hand, and the other moved in a repetitive motion up and down the outside of her thigh. This was an old habit of Triona’s, but she’d mentioned she was working on it—she reasoned a leader shouldn’t display such a nervous habit if they wanted to instill confidence in others. It flew in direct contradiction to her desire not to lead at all.
    “Caleb swerved away from the oncoming truck,” Triona went on, stopping to swallow thickly. “I smashed the back of my head against the door. Suddenly there was a howling roar inside my brain. I still don’t know if it was a real sound. All I saw was red. It was like the entire world turned scarlet, and I tried to reach him…I did, I tried—” Pleading crept into her tone. Triona’s eyes widened, and her shoulders went up and down rapidly with each stilted breath.
    “Hush.” Annice cut her off, her expression a serene mask. “No one in this room doubts you did everything you could.”
    I didn’t miss how she paused a beat after “hush.” I’d seen Annice do this before. Unlike everyone else, she seemed to possess some control over Eila’s presence. Not that she prevented the truth from escaping her lips. It seemed she controlled how the truth came out, as though she had an ability to take a moment of stillness in herself to choose her words. At this point it seemed an instinctual response when Eila was in the room.
    Triona nodded and continued. “He shouted for me to stay down, and all I kept thinking was he can’t die .”
    Annice blinked rapidly. I noticed her first because I was still looking at her. She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and bit down hard in a clear attempt to not lose it. I stole a quick glance in Samuel’s direction—the fingers of his right hand were rigid, although his expression remained impassive. Yeah, they suspected he was dead too.
    Most likely they were reluctant to stick a pin in that particular balloon. I didn’t want to think about it at the hospital, so I had managed to force it from my mind until Triona said she couldn’t sense Caleb.
    Magic had been used in Tír na nÓg to extend Amanda and Caleb’s lifelines. Amanda was human and Caleb already had well over a century on his clock—we would have naturally outlived them both. My memories of being there were vague, shrouded in a mist so thick it was impossible to tell how much was real. I didn’t know if they could be killed just like any other Guardian. If someone