The Rise Read Online Free PDF Page B

crushed it between my teeth. My monster felt it, too.
     

 
     
     
     
    Nelly
     
    My knees went slack. I stumbled. The foyer of the Council building seemed to swim before my eyes; the blood-red carpet atop the marble floors smearing like wet paint, the walls losing their solidity and congealing like melted candy. Vertigo swept over me. My legs gave out completely.
     
    I felt no pain when my knees struck the hard floor, no pain as I knelt there gasping for air. My mental being was separated completely from my physical being, and it was a strange thing, to say the least. I could sense every soul in the Council building, could see their existences, – kaleidoscopes of color and indistinguishable, ever-changing shapes. I knew the distance and proximity of each. I knew that the tendrils of light that only I could see, tinged with that shadowy dark around the edges, were my soul’s extremities, beaming from me like scattered rays of sun, touching everything in its path. I knew all .
     
    And I couldn’t move. And time was ticking.
     
    Queen Camillia knelt down and gripped my shoulders, hauling me to my feet. When our skin met, I felt a jolt of energy and was able to lock my legs straight. I watched as the light of her soul mingled with my own, and then was sort of swallowed up by it, my being taking hers in like a small child out the rain, as if she now belonged to me, was my… responsibility. Queen Camillia’s eyes widened in wonder, and I saw through her soul the reasons why. She felt as though I had removed a thick blindfold from her eyes, one that she never known existed, and only now could see the world as it truly was. I also saw that my fangs were bared, my eyes orbs of glimmering onyx. But Queen Camillia was not afraid. She could feel my soul, as surely as I was holding hers, and she would be content to stay here forever, seeing all as only I could see it, being part of the ungodly power that dwelled within me. 
     
    Go, I commanded, and Queen Camillia tossed my right arm over her shoulder, wrapped her left arm around my waist. She would not leave me here, even if that meant we both be caught and killed. Agonized thoughts about her unconscious niece, Bethany, lying crumbled on the floor of her office, radiated from Queen Camillia to me. She was willing to leave her own kin behind to get me out of here, and neither she nor I was completely sure why this was. I knew then that we were going to need help, and it was up to me to obtain it. We began stumbling toward the exit. Around us, the souls in the building continued their silent dance.
     
    Behind me, shut in the Queen’s office, I could still feel King William’s soul. His body was in a state of sleep, but his mind was fighting ferociously to break out of it. If we expected to get out of Two Rivers alive, I was going to have to keep the King sedated, keep my mental grasp on him firm. It was sort of like holding someone’s head under water; he kept trying to swim up, I kept pushing him back down. Angry bursts of energy, red and ugly, emanated from him, sweeping over me in nauseous waves, growing only slightly fainter with each slow step I took in the opposite direction.
     
    And we weren’t moving fast enough.
     
    Simon, one of the Queen’s Warriors, emerged from a hallway off the foyer. I’d known he was coming. I’d known it before he did. When he saw me and the Queen, he came to a stop.
     
    His allegiance is to King William. Every Warrior here is bound to him. If he goes into my office and sees who’s there, he will sound the alarm.
     
    This thought came from Queen Camillia, and I knew she was right. But I had plans for Simon. We needed help. But, in hindsight, I think it was more so just that I had gotten a taste of power, and there was no turning back now. It was as though by freeing my mind and soul so completely I had awakened that dark side of me that I had always known existed, had always felt waiting and watching from within, like a prisoner