The Elder Blood Chronicles Bk 1 In Shades of Grey Read Online Free PDF Page B

and
stretched until she felt her fingers brush the branch. With a
dexterity that would make a monkey jealous, she pulled herself into
the tree and began climbing her way to the upper branches where the
thickest of the fruit hung. She glanced back down the tree to see
Blackjack daintily nibbling on the grass below the tree, exactly
where she had left him. She smiled and began checking the fruit for
ripened ones. It would be a simple matter to drop back down into
her saddle once she was done and then she could surprise Father
with the treat. She looked up toward the north field to see Father
riding Buck up the hill, while the boys led the draft horses and
plow behind him at a much slower pace. That gave her about twenty
minutes to find the fruit and be back down in the saddle before
anyone even noticed she was in the tree. There was plenty of time
as far as she figured.
    She had found three ripened enough to pick
when she heard Cap give a sharp bark below the tree. It was
followed by another, more urgent bark. She looked down to see her
dog staring toward the south. Blackjack gave a snort and his small
ears pinned back. She nearly dropped the fruit in shock as the
horse gave another snort and bolted running hard toward the north.
In utter bewilderment, she watched him run and looked back down at
Cap who was whining pitifully. She followed his stare toward the
south and watched in complete confusion as a black cloud covered
the entire southern horizon. It billowed and ebbed almost seeming
to pulse with life. She heard a cry of alarm from behind her and
turned her gaze back to see her mother staring after the quickly
disappearing form of Blackjack.
    “Jala!” Her mother cried out frantically. Her
hands were clenched in her apron tightly while her eyes searched
the yard.
    “I’m here, Mother,” she called back. Her
mother’s confusion quickly turned to fear. Cap gave another sharp
bark and her mother’s searching eyes found her. Instead of the
anger she had expected, she saw relief and fear written on her
mother’s features. If anything, that scared her more. She looked
frantically toward the north field, and saw her father racing back
toward the house. Buck was stretched out in a full run, the fastest
she had ever seen the horse move. The sky above her began to
darken, and she heard herself cry out in fear.
    The entire world began to slow. Jala saw her
mother running toward her with outstretched arms, beckoning Jala
down from the tree. Behind her, she could see Becka rushing back
into the house with the wailing baby clutched tightly in her arms.
Her dog was barking frantically below. She heard the thundering
hoof beats of her father’s racing horse. It all faded a bit. The
air about her seemed alive and grasping, and the sky continued to
darken. She felt a sharp pain on her chest, and looked down to see
the amulet glowing brightly as the entire world crashed back into
full speed.
    The sky gave a deafening roar louder than any
thunder she had ever heard and then a bright flash blinded her to
the surrounding world. She felt a moment of vertigo and realized
she was falling, with a cry of alarm as she twisted to land on her
back. The ground seized her roughly, and she felt the wind knocked
out of her. She was still blinded from the flash her eyes refusing
to focus. The area around her was as silent as death.
    She blinked, willing her eyes to work and
felt tears welling up. She wasn’t hurt from the fall; perhaps a few
bruises but nothing more. It wasn’t pain that brought the tears; it
was fear. Her mother should have reached her by now. She should
hear her father’s horse. There shouldn’t be this silence. The world
should be chaos right now, not still and utterly silent. A sob
burst from her throat and the noise filled the void as loudly as
the thunderclap had a moment before. There was no answer to her
cry. Her mother didn’t gather her up as she was supposed to. Her
father wasn’t there as he should have been.
    The