Veiled Shadows (The Age of Alandria: Book Two) Read Online Free PDF Page B

was there. Then she heard it again, but louder and more defined.
    “Kaeleighnna.” The voice—definitely a woman’s voice—was right behind her. She spun around only to find no one there.
    “Hello?” Kaeleigh responded weakly, but her voice was raw like it had been scorched since the last time she used it. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Hello? Who’s there?” She paused, waiting for an answer. “Where am I? Can you tell me? Please,” she pleaded, desperate to know something.
    Static sizzled off to Kaeleigh’s right, like someone trying to tune a stereo to the right frequency. She gripped her head, expecting the pain to rip through her head like it had before when she heard a similar static sound in the forest, but the pain never came. I really am dead. Her heart sunk at that thought. An image flickered in and out of view where the static was coming from. The image was blurry and seemed to be trying desperately to come into focus but was having trouble. It was the image of a woman. The woman seemed to be trying to tell her something, but something was containing her... or restricting her. Stunned, Kaeleigh watched, trying to figure out if she should be afraid or if she should try to help her, not that she knew how. She didn’t feel afraid, though; instead, she felt calm and enveloped by peace. Suddenly a thought, or a premonition, struck her and she instinctively knew what to do.
    Kaeleigh slowly and tentatively approached the flickering image of the woman. Kaeleigh felt solid enough—more solid than the blurry image of the woman at least—that perhaps she could anchor the woman in this place or wherever it was that Kaeleigh was. Kaeleigh slowly, with hope, reached out her hand toward the woman. The woman watched with anticipation. Almost there, just a bit further, Kaeleigh’s hand began to shake with minute tremors. Reaching tentatively into the thin veil of tangible static, her fingers tingled as they passed through. Kaeleigh’s hand stretched, grasping for something to grab hold of, but to no avail. Her hand fell right through the static barrier. By the look on the woman’s face, she was disappointed it didn’t work.
    “I’m sorry,” Kaeleigh said, saddened at the failed attempt to get some answers. The woman looked at her with a small smile in appreciation. Kaeleigh’s head shot up, her eyes alight with a spark of hope. “Wait. Let me try one more time.”
    Kaeleigh closed her eyes, trying to center herself and focus. She remembered when she had visualized being able to free Chel from the vines in the cave back in the forest and wanted to try to really try and give it all she had. Inhaling and exhaling deep breaths, feeling the rhythm of her heart... wait, my heart is beating, albeit a bit slower than usual, but it’s BEATING! Excited about... well, not being dead, even though she still didn’t know where she was, she was fueled with hope that this could work. That this needed to work. She didn’t know why she felt that strongly, but something in her was reaching out to this woman. To free her, to talk to her.
    Kaeleigh regained her focus... find my center ... breathe in ... she visualized reaching into the fog toward the woman’s hand... breathe out ... Kaeleigh saw her own hand gripping the solid feminine hand... breathe in... then pull her out of the static that encased her... breathe out ...
    Suddenly, Kaeleigh felt the magic’s energy stirring in her core looking for release. Standing up straight, she confidently looked into the woman’s questioning eyes and nodded with a cocky grin that made her instinctively think of Daegan. Which she then immediately lost, replacing it with a sincere, but confident smile. Without too much hesitancy, Kaeleigh reached into the fog, expecting to feel something, and she did! A hand—a solid hand—grabbed hers and squeezed affectionately. Not wanting to jinx it by losing her focus and end up only pulling half of the woman out only to leave her