Summer Read Online Free PDF Page B

stronger than I remembered, his eyes were deeper set, his mouth a hard, thin line, and there was still the death mark on his forehead – the angel-wing tattoo where the bullet had entered his brain. He came towards me, shaking his head.
    Then I don’t know what happened. I saw anger in the overlord’s eyes. It overpowered me and made me fall to my knees, though he didn’t lay a finger on me. I was down and hurting, feeling sharp pains run through my body as my head spun and my vision went weird – like Summer’s mind-zap but a hundred times stronger. Instead of Hunter’s figure I saw fiery red patterns floating in the dark air,flickering to orange then fading and leaving me in a pitch-black space, unable to see. I remember reaching out for anything solid to grab hold of before the stabbing pain in my head took over and I heard the sound of beating wings fill my ears.
    Waves of airy sound swept through my head, a million invisible wings, a coldness against my face. I was blind and falling. I was crying out for help but I was alone.
    And then everything stopped except the echoing sound of Hunter’s footsteps walking away. And then that stopped too and there was blackness.

3
    I don’t know how long I was out. When I came around, it was dark and I was alone.
    I had no idea where I was or how I got there.
    I closed my eyes and opened them again. I was in a place that smelled of dust and damp. It was very cold.
    After a while of lying on the floor, testing out which bits of me hurt, I raised my head and rolled on to my side, then on to my knees, where I stayed and groaned a while, arms still supporting me, my head hanging. I felt like it was filled with heavy mush.
    A door blew open, then banged shut, awakening a spark of memory about where I might be. It made me haul myself upright and try to walk.
    When I made it to the big wooden door, I pulled hard, met resistance, and so began to push. The door gave way and I stepped outside into the moonlight.
    Did you ever have a dream where you recognize a scene – maybe somewhere where you once went on vacation but you can’t quite place it, and anyway it’s the wrong situation but you can’t get to where you really need to be? That’s the closest I can get to explaining what it was like – yes, I’d seen the old truck in the yard before, but I didn’t recall where or when. Sure, I recognized the old ranch house, the porch and the log pile stacked neatly at one end, but how had I got here and why? Then I saw two guys – strangers – on the porch drinking beer. Maybe they could explain.
    Ouch – my head hurt and felt weirdly hollow as I walked unsteadily towards them. The older one was facing me, the younger one wore a black ski jacket. Grey-haired, ponytail guy looked like he was angry at me. Black jacket guy must have heard me coming because he glanced over his shoulder then looked back at his companion as if waiting to be told what to do.
    ‘Stay right where you are, Darina.’ The boss man stopped me in my tracks.
    I stood there shivering and hurting.
    ‘Hunter, what did you do to her?’ the younger guy asked. He was definitely worried. ‘Did you wipe her memory clean?’
    ‘And if I did?’ The one called Hunter didn’t blink, hejust looked at me with a stone-cold stare.
    ‘What about Summer?’ young guy asked.
    He shrugged. ‘If Darina doesn’t follow orders, what good is she to us?’
    ‘Does Phoenix know what you’ve done?’
    This time Hunter’s eyelids flickered shut. Released from his staring eyes, I risked another look around the snow-covered yard with a racing heart. Why were they talking about Phoenix as if he was still alive? Phoenix was dead – how loud did people have to announce it? How many times? What planet were these two guys living on?
    ‘Phoenix is in the house with Summer,’ Hunter said. ‘I told Donna to take Dean up to Angel Rock and show him the territory. Dean is top of my list of priorities right now.’
    ‘So Phoenix