Woman King Read Online Free PDF

message:
     
    Olivia, where R U?
    Client has asked me 2 B project manager.
    I’m up three to nothing, and we’re only in
the second inning.
     
    I threw the phone across the room, feeling
sick to my stomach. I managed to make it to my bathroom before I
began to vomit. Why, why was this happening to me? In all my life I
had never harmed a soul. My only weakness, if you could call it
one, was that I had refused to accept my Gift. I had forsaken my
emotions for logic, relying on the power of reason to solve my
problems. Now though, it seemed that logic could be easily
overpowered by magic, for no reason at all.
    I leaned against the edge of my toilet wiping
a cold cloth across my lips. I hadn’t given Halbert my phone
number. I had to suppose my ex-client had turned it over. I felt
trapped inside my house like a mouse in a cage. Would I find him
waiting for me outside one day? Elsa was right. For once, I
couldn’t fix a problem on my own. I needed help. I knew she would
come again if I called her.
    “Come back,” I said, more quietly than I
intended as I walked to my bed to lie down. “Please come back.”
    I awoke several hours later from a dreamless
sleep. I climbed out of bed slowly and grabbed a robe from a chair
nearby. I walked into the bathroom to look in the mirror. The face
staring back, while worn and puffy, didn’t seem any different. I
had no marks on my body, no bumps, no bruises or scars.
    Whatever Halbert was doing to me, it was all
in my mind. I shook my head ruefully. He would drive me crazy if
things continued this way. Normally, I was the queen of calm, never
showing the world if I had a problem. But this much upheaval was
bad for business. I would never be able to keep a poker face in
public now.
    I began to panic again, thinking about
Halbert. I sat down on the edge of the tub to calm myself. It was
at that moment, that I heard the sound of the television coming
from the living room downstairs. I hoped it was Elsa, or maybe Lily
had let herself in. I walked downstairs and found Elsa sitting on
the couch, her shoes and socks off, watching a reality TV program
that appeared to center on second marriages and Botox.
    “You know, that stuff will kill you,” I said,
relieved that she had returned.
    “It’s fascinating,” Elsa said, looking away
from the television screen. “Do people really spend their time
watching this stuff?”
    “Yes. Quite a few people; these programs are
very popular.”
    Elsa shook her head and clicked off the
program. “It’s no wonder the Council is worried.”
    “The Council?”
    “Later. It’s too complicated. How are you
feeling?”
    “Better, but I have been thinking about what
you said to me. I want to know what’s happening to me and I want
your help.”
    “It’s the demon,” Elsa said rising from the
couch. “He is a minor demon of the lowest order. Halbert is not
skilled enough yet in the dark arts to conjure a major demon, but
this one is still a demon. Their job is to harm their caller’s
adversaries.”
    “How?” I asked. “Do they use physical
pain?”
    Elsa shook her head. “Not this demon. He’s
not designed to cause physical pain; he’s subtler. Have you been
acting odd lately? Acting in ways that are unusual for you?”
    I nodded. “When I visited my mother recently,
I told her I didn’t feel like myself.”
    “What did she say?”
    I was about to admit my mother had been right
about something and it made me uncomfortable. “She said that as
long as I ignored my gift, I wasn’t really myself.”
    “She was right. You have cut yourself off
from your true nature and the source of your power. When you do
that, it is very easy for an Other to knock you off balance.”
    “What is an ‘Other?’ ”
    “An Other is someone like me, or a vampire or
a demon. There are humans, and there are the Others .”
    “What do you mean knock me off balance?”
    “You said it… you don’t feel like yourself . Have you been more argumentative? Have