Shadowstorm (Sorcery and Science Book 6) Read Online Free PDF Page B

fractured canopy of building husks. The house behind the two soldiers’ hiding spot was considerably more intact than its neighbors. Some of the roof was even still standing. Using the surviving beams and patches of balconies, Terra leapt from floor to floor, scaling the house all the way to the roof. She crouched into her knees and stared down upon the two soldiers. She refilled her dart blowers and fired them off in quick succession. The scrape of unconscious bodies hitting gravel was accompanied by a sudden silence in the rapid beat of gunfire.
    Terra climbed down to the second floor and hopped to the ground. As she dropped, adrenaline pumping, her skin buzzed and popped. Her boots hit the ground, and she sighed, her heart still racing from the free fall. Of course, Jason would have jumped off all the way from the roof.
    Sometimes, Terra wished she were a Phantom. They got to have all the fun. As it was, she was a Prophet with Triad tendencies, which meant she could also wield some abilities of the Prior and the Phantom. Unfortunately, her control of those abilities was tenuous at best. She could improve this with serums, but considering the fact that she was already teetering on the edge of madness, it probably wasn’t the best idea to mess around too much with mind-altering drugs.
    Terra caught a hint of movement from a building across the street. She drew her swords and settled into her knees, ready to move.
    “It’s just me,” Everett said, crawling out of a rectangular hole in the house. He jogged over to her. “But you do look as imposing as a girl with pink pigtails could possibly be.”
    Haha. “Just one braid,” she told him. “And my hair’s not that pink.”
    “It’s getting pinker by the day. Silver’s doing?”
    Silver was Eclipse’s Elition healer. For many years, Terra had taken an Inhibiting Serum to subdue her gift of Prophecy—or as many Prophets called it, gift of madness. It had kept her mind relatively tranquil, but just a few months ago, she’d begun to develop an immunity to it. That probably had something to do with her being the Elite Prophet.
    Since then, Silver had been helping her acclimate to her abilities again. He had made her a Balancing Serum, mixing in smaller and smaller amounts of her old Inhibiting Serum in the hopes that a gradual withdrawal would spare her from a sudden shock that could catapult her into madness. So far, it was working, and as she consumed fewer and fewer of the inhibiting drugs, her appearance grew more Elition. Her eyes sparkled sapphire blue, and her blonde hair had taken on a pink undertone. Her previously pale skin now glowed with a lively warmth. And Terra had to admit she really enjoyed her gift—at least those times when it wasn’t making her go mad. Perhaps this really could work. Perhaps she could learn to control it.
    “Yes, Silver has made me Elition again,” she said to Everett.
    “You know how much certain Elitions completely creep me out, but I do think the look suits you,” he told her.
    She inclined her head. “Thanks.”
    His eyes twinkled with amusement. “And I’m not the only one who thinks so.”
    A sigh rocked Terra’s chest. Jason. She was just thinking up a clever retort when she noticed shifting shadows atop a nearby building. She looked up onto the roof and honed in on three crouching figures.
    “There are people on top of that building,” she told Everett.
    “Which one?”
    “The grey one.”
    Everett rolled his eyes. “All the buildings are grey. At least they are now.”
    “The one with a cast iron rail along the roof. Three people are ducked behind it, their faces pressed to the bars.”
    “Soldiers?” he asked, squinting up.
    “I don’t think so. They’re not dressed like soldiers. They’re wearing tan clothes and dark brown boots. They have leather straps across the hips—a gun on one side, a short sword at the other. One is wearing a black bandanna around his neck… Why are you