Unnatural Souls Read Online Free PDF Page A

was better than being dead.
There was no way I’d be able to save my brother if I was gone, and
in just a few short months, he would suffer the same fate. My
parents couldn’t recover from both their children dying.
    No. I couldn’t let that happen. My
life—his sacrifice—would literally have meant nothing. No. Somehow
I had to live. I had to get away.
    As the demon inched
closer, though, I wanted to laugh. I couldn’t help but remember the
time I’d appeared in the bathroom stall before class, the time I
was having a bad day and blinked only to find myself at Disneyland,
and the hundreds of other times I had ended up somewhere I hadn’t
ever meant to go. The one time the power of teleportation would help, and I
couldn’t use it. I squeezed my eyes shut and sent out a little
prayer … but to my dismay, nothing happened.
    When I opened my eyes again, the
demon’s eyes had brightened to a glittering ruby red and it was
reaching its clawed hands toward me. It was smiling, looking
forward to what it was about to do, its eyes like those of a wild
beast about to devour its meal.
    Surely there was something
I could do to get away. I glanced furiously around, looking for
anything I could use as a weapon, and saw a rock about ten feet to
my left. Maybe I could bash its head and run. At least that would
give me some time. The demon was so close I could see the drool
between its pointy teeth, and I wasn’t going to get more than three
steps in before it caught me, but I had to do something .
    Sitting on my butt was simply not an
option.
    I turned and jumped to my feet, moving
as quickly as I could, but I didn’t make it the three feet before
the demon’s hand wrapped around my ankle and yanked me
backwards.
    I twisted in its grip, turning my body
toward it. “Let go!” I screamed, throwing my hand up in a knee-jerk
reaction when I hit the ground. Even the demon laughed at that, and
then…
    I heard something groan and snap
behind me.
    I kept my eyes on the monster standing
over me, my heart hammering in my chest. What had that been? Who
else was here? Was someone watching? Were they going to just stand
there while this demon ripped me to shreds?
    A second later, a light pole shot
forward, bits of cement falling from it as it flew through the air.
I threw my hand upward toward the demon … and the pole swung into
its abdomen like a baseball bat. I saw a brief look of shock on the
monster’s face, and then it was flying twenty feet backward, where
it landed in a bush.
    The pole fell to the ground with a
crash, but the light continued to glow, flickering slightly and
casting light on the bush the demon had landed in. One foot stuck
out, unmoving.
    I yanked my hand back to my chest,
clenching it into a fist, and feeling dizzy from the blood rushing
through my body, the adrenaline pumping through my veins.
Everything on the street was still and quiet.
    Holy crap, did I do
that? I couldn’t seem to close my mouth,
the shock of what happened freezing my entire body. If I had, it
was the first time the powers that had been cursing me had actually
acted in my favor. It’d certainly have been the first time they
saved my life . I
would have preferred teleportation, but yeah … this worked, too. I
pried my hand open and examined it. And suddenly I was filled with
optimism, because on some level I had controlled the power inside
me. Even if I had no idea how, this meant there was truly a
possibility that I could learn . Hope flooded me, and a tiny
bit of weight lifted off my shoulders.
    Then I heard rustling in
the bushes where the demon had landed. Crap. Time to put hope on hold and run for my life.
    I leapt to my feet and took off
running toward my house, forcing my legs to move me past house
after house, everything blurring in my vision as I pushed myself
faster and tears built in my eyes. But the slapping sound of my
feet on the pavement was soon followed by a hissing noise not too
far behind me. Angry demon—not good. And