Soul Blaze Read Online Free PDF Page A

pulled my hair from my
ponytail. I shook the waves loose, grimacing as they fell
almost to my waist. It was getting too long; definitely
needed a hair appointment soon. I started unclipping the
ribbon from my shirt, planning on leaving it in my room.
As I took it off, I saw writing hidden on the underside of
it. I read it quickly, and then flung it away from me,
covering my mouth with my hands. My heart beat rapidly
as the ribbon slipped into the sink, its message clear to me
even on the other side of the room.
They’re coming for you. Watch your back.
    I stood pressed against the shower for an age. The urge
to call my mother had died in my throat long ago, and
though I could hear her yelling for me up the stairs, I
didn’t move.
    Who was coming for me? The man pretending to be the
teacher at Ar Cena High, or was he warning me of
someone else?
I shoved the ribbon into my pocket and then scrubbed
my hands until they were red.
    Dinner was a quiet affair. Mum talked about my
unexpected glory on the oval, and I nodded and mhm-ed
along with everything. Her chatter died away as dinner
continued though, and I took it as an opportunity to leave
the table and skitter upstairs.
    As soon as I was in my room, I locked the door behind
me. I grabbed up an umbrella as I turned on every
available light source, checking all of the corners with my
chosen weapon at the ready.
    Eventually I crawled into bed, the umbrella at my side.
As I switched my lamp off, my heart pounding, every
shadow became someone standing quietly, watching me.
At some time around midnight, I gave way to exhaustion.
I didn’t hear the window open.
    I awoke to someone standing over me. There was a
second of silence as I took in what was happening, and
then drew in all of the air I could to scream.
    Rough hands covered my mouth. I bit down hard on
one of their fingers, and though they swore, they held on.
I kicked and struggled, my scream muffled.
“No!”
    The man covering my mouth suddenly flew backwards
into my dresser. I screamed as I saw three more figures
entering my room, long dark robes making them look
more like shadows.
My mother. What about her? Had they found her yet?
    Another man was standing in front of me, his arms
spread. As I watched, disbelieving, dark flames gathered
above his hand, and he hurled fireball after fireball at the
other men.
    “Come on, Sky,” his hand gripped my wrist, and I
struggled harder than ever. “Now! You have to come with
me!”
    “No!” I fought his grasp, simultaneously hitting him
with the umbrella. “My mum! I can’t leave her! Not
again!”
For now I realised this was all to do with my past. My
missing year.
    “There’s no time,” the man said, stretching for my
mirror on my cupboard. In the dim light, I saw the surface
flex. His fingers touched it, and cold terror gripped me as I
saw them disappear into the mirror. The other men were
beginning to recover and I reflexively threw the umbrella
at them. It hit one with a satisfying thud, but the others
kept coming.
“Now!” The man holding my wrist roared, and I
screamed as I was pulled into the mirror with him.
~Chapter Five~
“Don’t you dare!”
“Let her go, Jettais.”
“They were going to kill her.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. They weren’t going to kill her
immediately.”
    There was a dull thud, skin on skin. Someone had
punched someone else. There was an outraged squawk,
and pressure I hadn’t noticed on my wrist lessened.
“You’ve made a grave mistake,” someone else said, a
woman. An old woman at that.
    “I don’t doubt it,” I now recognised the voice of the
man who’d pulled me through the mirror. “What you’re
going to do to her is worse than death.”
    Terror ripped through me. I struggled to open my eyes,
but they were too heavy. My body lay immobile on the
cold floor.
    “We need her to regain consciousness before we can
begin,” it was the woman’s voice again. The other male
voice