The Torrent (The New Agenda Series Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page B

an answer. It had been a while since she had participated in a vision circle, but she was ready to see again. Ready to find her way out of the hole in which she’d fallen.
    The natives held their rituals at the gathering place, located in the middle of the village. She handed Christian to one of the women and joined the group around the fire pit. The pipe came her way and she took a long drag, coughing it back out. The puff of smoke lingered around her head like a cloud. After a couple minutes, she relaxed, sitting cross-legged on the cold dirt ground, imbibing the rhythm of the drums. The fluidity of the beats soaked into her bloodstream and danced in her heart. Each beat thumped stronger and louder until her bones vibrated. Boom. Booooom. Boooooom. A wave of heat blistered through her body, catching her cells on fire. Boom. Booooom. Boooooom. Above the village, a shadow of storm clouds thickened in the sky. The drumming rolled like thunder, pushing her to the place she needed to see––the truth.
    The woman holding Christian strolled away from the fire pit and Grace ran after her. “Don’t take him. Please don’t take him.”
    “He is fine. You stay here till you get right.”
    One of the men held Grace’s arm. “Stay,” he instructed.
    “I want Christian.” She tried to pull away.
    “No more fighting. It’s time to listen.”
    “Listen to what?”
    “Listen to what the drums are telling you.” He squeezed her hands.
    She sat back down and waited as the drums beat on.
    “Let it out,” he whispered, placing his hand over her heart.
    The sadness was too powerful to contain anymore. She closed her eyes and let the drumming take over her thoughts and emotions. Her spirit began riding the rhythmic patterns into another dimension. Deeper and deeper each beat took her, until she found herself at the bottom of the darkness. She stood alone, not wanting to be there. A howl came up from her depths and she opened her mouth, releasing everything into the atmosphere. Her cries parted the clouds hanging overhead. Streaks of gleaming light sprinkled from the sky. Out of the light, her mother’s face appeared and her voice whispered: There’s nothing, absolutely nothing that can separate you from my love. Her mother’s presence whirled all around, embracing her. The heavy weight Grace had been lugging lifted, and peace settled through every hair on her head.
    The drumming ceased.
    Grace opened her eyes and looked at the natives sitting around the fire; their wide smiles connected in one harmonious line.
    “I heard,” she told the man.
    “We all did.”
    The vision had provided her the truth she had been avoiding for a long time. She thought she had failed her mother and lost her forever. But Ava had always been with her––in her heart––through the darkness and the light.
    *
    Later that night, Grace fell asleep to the faint sound of drums echoing in her head. In her dream, she stood by the lake––the one next to her cottage inside the Seattle City Center. She heard a baby’s soft cries in the distance. On the water, a small boat drifted farther and farther away. The crying grew more insistent. She had to get to that boat. Running toward the water, something gripped her ankles and held her back. Stuck and helpless, she tried to scream, but no noise came out.
    A gust of wind drifted across her sweat-damp body, waking her from the dream. Grace sat upright, wrapping her arms around herself. In the dark, she spotted a figure. Cari stood by the open door, letting in the cold, wet air.
    “It’s raining. What are you doing?” Grace asked.
    “Somethin’s wrong.” Cari turned around, holding Christian in her arms.
    Grace bolted across the cabin and grabbed him. “Why are you holding him in the cold?”
    “He’s hot. Too hot.”
    Red blotches covered Christian’s sweaty face. He was burning up, yet shivering. “It’s a fever. Let’s go see Adyar. She’ll know what to do.”
    They trudged across the