The Destroyer of Worlds Read Online Free PDF Page A

mind…and I just did it. It seemed like…the right thing to do. I don’t know why I worked, and I don’t know how I did it.” Such a feat of white magic now seemed miles beyond her grasp. 
    Conmager leaned forward, dark eyes keen. “You knew how to cast the spell because Alastarius knew. Some of his memories passed on to you, we know that. What if his knowledge of the white magic came to you as well?” He tapped his temple. “The knowledge of the spell rested within your mind. You were only blocking it, I think. It was your power, your need, that called the spirit of Alastarius.” He looked thoughtful. “It seemed as if he had more to tell us. I suspect you sent him back.”
    Ally stared at him. “Why would I have done that?” 
    “Because you did not want to hear what he had to say.” Conmager hesitated. “It has been difficult for you, I have no doubt of that…”
    “Oh, how perceptive!” She looked back out the window. Arran continued on his patrol, moving with the grace of a stalking cat. She found it both frightening and compelling to watch him. 
    “But you did not want to remember,” said Conmager, folding his arms. “You still don’t. That is why you have blocked the memories…” 
    Ally stood and scowled. “I don’t want to talk about this any more. I’m going back to bed.” She stalked past Conmager, stormed up the stairs, and did not look back. 

    ###

    “Ally.”
    Ally groaned and rolled over, pulling the blankets tighter. “Go away.” She did not want to wake up. 
    Grief and pain filled the waking world. 
    “Ally!” 
    She cracked open and eye. “What?” 
    Lithon stood over her bed. A pale ray of moonlight illuminated his grim face. 
    She sat up. “What is it?” 
    He tugged at her shoulder. “You have to come downstairs.” 
    Her frown widened. “Why? What’s wrong?”
    “You know those gray things we saw,” said Lithon, “you know, with red eyes and skinny arms…”
    Ally felt a chill. “The changelings.” 
    “Yes, them,” said Lithon, twitching with impatience. “One’s in the woods. You have to come downstairs. Conmager and Arran are watching it. If it finds us, we have to run.”
    “Oh God.” Raw fear bit at Ally’s stomach. “I’m…I’m not even dressed. I can’t run, not again.”
    “Then you should hurry up and get dressed. I’ll wait for you in the living room.” Lithon disappeared through the door and shut it behind him. 
    Ally climbed to her feet, shaking. All her clothes had burned with her parents’ house, but Conmager had purchased new ones. She reached into a battered dresser and pulled on a sweaters, jeans, and boots. Something dark passed over the moon, throwing her room into darkness. For a terrible moment Ally thought it was a winged demon, but it was only a cloud.
    Ally shivered and hurried downstairs. 
    The living room was dark. Arran and Conmager kneeled on the couch, staring out the front windows. Allard stood by the front door, an Uzi ready in his arms. Mary sat in the shadows behind him, another gun resting in her lap. Both Arran and Conmager held Glocks, and even Lithon held a gun. 
    “What is it?” said Ally, creeping forward.
    “Hush!” said Conmager. He gestured at the windows. “Watch.” 
    Ally knelt besides Arran, her knees sinking into the cushions. He smelled of gun oil and smoke and sweat. She felt safer besides him, though she could not say why. 
    He leaned close and whispered in her ear. “Here.” He pressed a pair of heavy binoculars into her hands. “Lift them slowly. Look at the driveway, where it wends past the large tree.” 
    Ally nodded and raised the binoculars. A shimmering image of green light danced before her eyes. Arran had given her night-vision binoculars. She turned them, scanning the driveway, and froze. 
    “Yes,” said Conmager, his voice a low rasp. “You see it.”
    A changeling stood a hundred yards away, half-hidden beneath the trees. The creature took a few steps