The Touch Of Twilight Read Online Free PDF Page B

felt like inside me as best I could, adding, “The Shadows will make it impossible to clean up if we wait much longer.”
    There was a grace period before the mortal world recognized paranormal influence, almost like the interference had time sliding off its tracks so that it needed to stop, back up, and redirect. This period was less than twelve hours, and we could usually clear up whatever mess the Shadows had made before then. After that, time stitched the veil between our two worlds into a new tapestry, and the best we could do was cover it up with excuses and reasonable explanations, and make sure as few humans were affected as possible.
    “I’ll go,” I said quickly. “If you guys cover the perimeter I can make it to the center.”
    I took a testing step backward into the curtained mire, and Warren’s eyes widened. I dodged even before he reached for me, because if I waited until I saw him move, it’d be too late.
    “Dammit, Olivia! There’s too many of them.”
    “Warren, listen to me.” I was only a few feet away, but utterly alone in the heavy air. My voice sounded leaden, and I knew the rest of the troop was hearing it seconds after I actually spoke. “Micah’s right. It is toxic, but not for me. I promise I won’t take any unnecessary risks, and if there’s even a chance of being ganged up on, I’ll turn tail immediately.”
    There was silence in the lag time, and then I could hear Micah reasoning it out. “It’s a power that shouldn’t be denied.”
    What he meant was that it was all right for me to use the power of the Shadow side as long as it benefited us. Tricky argument…and one that’d been a sticking point within the troop ever since my emergence.
    “Listen to my voice,” I added, knowing a part of what was motivating me was a need to prove myself. Still. “I can be up and back with our guy before they even know I’m there.”
    Because if
we
hadn’t known I could do this, they wouldn’t either. I was that unpredictable, that new. More silence, this time a full minute passing before I heard a resigned sigh. I’d begun feeling cut off in a rich web of oil, and was surprised to find the weight heavy and comfortable, almost peaceful.
    “You retreat if even one of them spots you,” came Warren’s reluctant orders. “Use your intuition—don’t wait for your glyph to begin glowing before heading back.”
    “I swear it,” I said, not reminding him that my glyph—drawn in comic books as a large letter or symbol on a character’s chest—might start smoking instead. Yes, I was both Shadow and Light. My troop, even my leader, could often ignore the implications of that. I was finding more and more that I could not.
    “And if I pick up a manual next week to find you’ve done any different, I’ll save the Tulpa the trouble and kill you myself.”
    Surely that was hyperbole, so I nodded as I silently headed back into the swirling fog. Besides, manuals—and the activity they reported in such bright and meticulous detail—were the least of my worries.
    I lowered into a crouch, preparing to charge the base of the tower crane. The lack of air was blunting my senses. I could see as I vaulted off the concrete pad and onto the crane’s mast, but it was with a mortal’s gaze, and tasting the air was impossible with a leaden tongue. Sound was stamped out under the heavy black boot of this particular mushroom cloud, but so was scent. My pace on the crane’s mast faltered when I realized how vulnerable all this made me.
    But the Shadows were laboring under the same circumstances, right? I hit the top of the mast and began to make my way across the crane’s long arm. I couldn’t help but wonder if my Light side would make me slower or less able than them. Yet it hadn’t so far. Indeed, my dual sides seemed to fuel each other, and why not? I was the Kairos, the only one who’d ever been
both,
and could draw on powers no one else could. So then why were nerves winging themselves around