The Crossing (Immortals) Read Online Free PDF Page B

spider. At irregular intervals, green dots appeared. Faerie villages. The ones she'd stolen from, at least.
    Beside each village she'd scribbled notes-dates, times,
energy. The life essence calculations were fantastically
high-and those were conservative estimates of what she'd
skimmed. Highland faeries were exceedingly vibrant and
long-lived, more so the farther north they lived. Some
witches believed this was due to their proximity to the gates
of Annwyn, which were said to be located somewhere on
the north coast of Scotland east of Inverness. Artemis
didn't know if that was true, but she did know there was
nowhere else in the world where life essence was so concentrated. Which was why she'd come to Scotland. With just the right balance of life and death magic, she'd been
able to siphon the faeries' excess energy into the moonstone.

    In four months, she managed to lift energy from twentyseven communities. Twenty-six, she amended. The last
one didn't count. She had to find another settlement, and
quickly. She bent her head, searching. She had four likely
locations already marked. One was close by, less than a
half hour's drive west. She'd head there first, and hope for
the best.
    She made a note of the roads leading to the village, then
sighed and rubbed a kink in her shoulder. Releasing the
spell on the map, she watched the bright lines fade, leaving
only an ordinary-looking mesh of red and blue human
roads. She'd have to burn the document once she had
what she needed. Goddess only knew what havoc a vampire or demon could wreak with the information she'd
gathered.
    Folding the map, she slid it back into her pack and cut
the dome light. The eastern sky was still dark, and weighted
by the threat of rain. Emerging from the backseat, she
confronted the cold, damp gloom that passed for an autumn morning in the Highlands. Drizzle spat tentatively
from leaden clouds, as if trying to decide whether an honest downpour was worth the effort.
    As she reached for the driver's door handle, a wave of
light-headedness caused a momentary blankness in her vision. When had she last eaten? Yesterday morning, the
chocolate bar. Since then, nothing.
    Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. No sleep, no food-there was
no faster way to lose her balance. She couldn't afford that.
Balance came first, before everything. Balance was the key
to her power. Abandon it, and she might as well slink
home, defeated.
    She climbed into the car and pulled out onto the road,
her knuckles white on the steering wheel as she fought her American instinct to hug the right shoulder. Even after
four months in Scotland, she hadn't made peace with driving on the left side of the road. Depressing the accelerator
firmly nonetheless, she sped through one completely dark
village.

    She slowed at the second town, a bit bigger, and showing signs of early morning life. Stomach cramping, she
pulled up in front of a shabby grocery store, where the
proprietor was just rolling up a metal security door. A garish plastic jack-o'-lantern hanging in the window grinned
hideously.
    She bought coffee, with lots of cream and sugar, along
with a package of Walker's shortbread rounds and an apple. She ate several cookies and drank half the coffee before leaving the store. Juggling her purchases, she shoved
open the grocery door and bent her head against a sudden
spatter of rain as she hurried to her car. Which was probably why she didn't realize anyone was near until a man's
voice startled her so badly she dropped her cup.
    Dark liquid spread over the pavement; the man stepped
from the shadows.
    "So, love. On our way, are we? Where to next?"
    Her pulse accelerated like a jackrabbit. He was tall, lean,
and blond, and had materialized from the alley running
alongside the grocery. She could just make out the shape
of a low-ride motorcycle tucked into the shadows. Hands
sunk deep in the pockets of his battered leather jacket, he
strolled into the weak light cast