I found the door to the bathroom and turned the knob, silently praying no one was in there. It opened easily and I ran my hand along the wall just inside the room. I flicked the light switch up, but again, nothing happened.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
I wasn’t about to go back downstairs. I shut the door behind me, shutting out all light, and finally, happily, got rid of the pressure on my bladder. I giggled, thinking that Lark was probably still downstairs waiting in that line. All because she was afraid of a little darkness.
I washed my hands and stepped out into the large master suite.
A chill slid down my spine like an icy fingertip. Someone was in there with me. I could feel their energy. Their anger.
The hairs on my arms stood up and my breath caught in my throat. I felt instantly sober, all giddiness gone.
“Hello?” My voice came out a whisper.
A match struck and caught fire, lighting up a small area in the center of the room. Agnes sat on the carpet, holding a bright red candle. A pentagram was drawn around her with black sand.
“Agnes? What are you doing up here?” A knot formed in the pit of my stomach.
She didn’t say a word. She sat the candle on the floor in front of her, and I stepped forward, thinking it would fall over on the carpet. Instead, the candle stayed upright. I wasn’t even sure it was actually touching the floor at all.
I glanced toward the stairs, my legs tensing in case I needed to make a run for it.
“Congelo.” Agnes’ voice was commanding and deep. Not at all like her usual girly tone.
My legs felt suddenly stiff. I tried to step toward the stairs, but I couldn’t move.
“You’re not going anywhere,” she said. The corners of her mouth raised up in a sinister smile that made my heart stop.
“What’s going on?”
She threw back her head and laughed. “I’m making sure there’s an extra opening on the cheerleading squad.”
I felt sick.
“What have you done, Agnes?”
“I think you already know,” she said, standing.
“It was you,” I whispered. The image of Tori’s half-burned body on the ground flashed through my memory. Oh, dear God, I was going to be sick. I begged my legs to work, but I was frozen to the spot.
“I had the perfect plan,” she said. “Get rid of one of the cheerleaders, then slip into her spot on the team. I knew they would hold auditions. Mrs. King isn’t the type to miss out on an entire year of competitions and without a full team, the Demons would be disqualified.”
“Why Tori?”
“Because I knew that when the police went searching for her killer, they would find several people who might want to get rid of her.”
My mind struggled to understand what was going on. Agnes had killed Tori! And she had framed me for it. My hand went up to my sapphire pendant and Agnes laughed.
“Believe it or not, I picked Tori before you even moved to Peachville. Let’s just say she had a secret relationship that provided a pretty clear motive for murder if the police needed someone to take the fall.”
“Coach King,” I whispered.
She raised one eyebrow and cocked her head to the side. “Wow, you knew about that too? Maybe you’re smarter than I thought you were. Too bad that won’t help you now.”
I swallowed but my mouth had gone dry.
“Anyway, that was a tricky one because if Mrs. King ever found out I set her husband up, she might never let me on the squad.” Agnes looked at me and smiled. “Then you moved in and gave me another idea.”
“How could you do it?”
“What? Frame you? Or kill that blonde bitch who was never nice to anyone? It wasn’t hard.” Her hands rested by her side, and my eyes were drawn to them. Short crackles of light were coming from her fingertips like tiny sparks of electricity. “All I had to do was set you up to piss her off once or twice.”
I remembered my first day of school when I had tripped and splattered ketchup all over Tori’s shirt. I’d thought I tripped over a backpack or something, but when I had looked, there was nothing there. “You tripped me,” I said.
“Very good,” she said with a laugh. “Once everyone had seen you arguing with Tori, I just needed one more thing to seal your fate.” She pointed toward my throat. “I saw that drawing you did of your mother. She was wearing the same necklace, so I knew it was important to you. Important enough that you would report it missing.”
“All this just to be on the cheerleading squad? Are you crazy?”
Agnes drew in an angry breath. She lifted a finger toward me. Her hands were covered with a bright light of electric current. “You and I both know it’s more than just a cheerleading squad. You don’t even appreciate it half as much as I will,” she said. Her voice was high and wild. “I don’t understand why they picked you. After all the work I’ve done to learn how to control my power. I thought they would recognize my talents and reward me, but you…”
She raised both of her hands into the air. They were balls of light now, crackling with energy. I recognized that energy. For me, it manifested itself differently. I had no real control over the way objects moved when I got angry. Agnes, though, had learned to use and control her power.
“You are nothing,” she said. Her feet rose off the ground and I gasped.
Outside, the music thumped. It was too loud. Even if I screamed, I knew no one would hear me.
“Being a Demons cheerleader is not just about competitions and dance routines and stupid football games,” she said. “It’s about being recruited. It’s about being special enough that they are willing to hand you the keys that will help you unlock all of the magic inside. And instead of choosing me, the one with obvious power and potential, they choose you. An insignificant girl who has no idea how to cast a single spell.”
Sparks shot out from her body in quick bursts. The sheriff had said Tori was burned, as if she’d been cooked from the inside. She had looked to me because of my history with fire, but it wasn’t fire that killed Tori.
It was lightning.
A Part of Me
Fear ripped through my chest. I didn’t want to die. For the first time in my life, I actually had something to live for. Something worth fighting for.
I stared down at the floating red candle and concentrated all of my anger onto it. At first, nothing happened. I felt helpless. Weak.
“When you’re gone, Mrs. King will have to let me onto the squad,” she said. “You heard her say that I was her second choice. Well, once everyone is finished mourning your death, I’ll be her first choice. I figure it will take about a day for everyone to forget you. Or haven’t you noticed that memory works a bit different here?”
Anger flared up inside me. In the center of the room, the red candle rose up higher, then with a flick of my hand, flew toward the curtains, lighting them on fire.
Agnes went into a rage. She turned her back to me and stepped out of the pentagram, desperately trying to put out the fire. Whatever spell she had cast that held my feet in place was released and I ran toward the stairs.
A stream of bright electric energy shot through the room and only missed me by inches as I jumped out of the way. Agnes moved quickly to block my exit. She’d been unable to put out the fire and flames engulfed that side of the room. Smoke filled the bedroom and I squinted to see. There had to be another way out.
Outside, the music stopped. Voices shouted from below, screams of fear.
“Not exactly the way I planned it,” Agnes said. “But one way or another, you’re not leaving this house alive.”
She rose high into the air. Bright blue current ran up and down her body. Even her eyes glowed blue. I stepped back. She was too powerful for me. I didn’t know the first thing about how to control my own power.
Her hand shot out and a bolt of energy flew at me. I didn’t have time to jump out of the way. I lifted my hands to protect my face, bracing myself for the jolt of electricity. But
it never came.
Agnes’ eyes grew wide. She threw both hands out in front of her body. An arc of blue lightning shot out at me, but it dissipated before it connected. As though I were protected by an invisible force-field.
“What did you do?” she screamed.
I shook my head. I had no idea what was protecting me, but I didn’t have a moment to waste. The fire was spreading rapidly. Smoke filled my lungs and I coughed, then crouched lower, searching for better air.
“We need to get out of here,” I said.
Apparently, Agnes had no intention of letting me go. She roared and sent another bright shock of light across the room. This time, I felt a small jolt run through my body. It reminded me of the way it felt when you touched someone’s hand and got shocked with static. Mild, but surprising. I jerked back, fear making my limbs weak.
I fell to my knees, the smoke becoming almost unbearable now. I heard a cackling, high-pitched laughter and looked up to see Agnes gathering a ball of light between her two hands.
“Goodbye Harper,” she said.
My heartbeat roared in my ears. A memory came back to me in that instant. A drawing of a room full of flames. Jackson’s voice.
This time the picture was different. This time you were wearing your necklace. Promise me you won’t take it off, okay? No matter what.
I brought my hand up to my mother’s necklace, then looked back at Agnes.
Just as she leaned back to throw her final bolt of lightning, a dark figure moved through the room. A figure bigger than a man, but partially transparent, like a shadow. It had the body of a gargoyle. A demon’s face. I knew that whatever it was, it had come to protect me. I couldn’t explain it, but when I saw the black shadow, I knew that it was a part of me.
The darkness circled around Agnes, and she screamed. It pulled her from the room. The glass of the sliding doors crashed as she broke through. Then, she disappeared behind a blanket of red flames.
A Beautiful Demon
As soon as Agnes disappeared into the fire, I ran for the stairs. My lungs burned from inhaling so much smoke, but I pushed my body to its limit. The flames consumed most of the top floor, and the two lower floors were lost in a sea of thick smoke. In the distance, I heard sirens wailing.
“Harper! Harper, where are you?” Drake’s voice rose above the noise.
“Here,” I tried to shout. Instead, my voice came out cracked and dry. I coughed and fell to my knees on the second floor landing.
I forced myself up again, grabbing the banister and pulling myself down the stairs. The overhead lights on the first floor cut through some of the smoke. I saw Drake’s tall form rushing back and forth, and I reached out to him.
“Harper?”
My hands circled up around his neck just as my legs gave out again. Drake lifted me into his arms and carried me from the house. Outside, the bonfire was going strong, but no one was dancing or cheering. Everyone was backed up across the street from the cabin, their horror-stricken faces watching as Foster’s house burned to the ground.
“Agnes,” I said. “Where’s Agnes? We have to make sure-”
Drake put a hand over my mouth. “It’s going to be okay, Harper. Don’t talk. Be still.”
I struggled, my mind racing. She would come for me. Agnes wasn’t going to stop until I was dead. Drake carried me across to the other side of the road and laid me down in the grass. I tried to stand, looking back toward the burning house to see if I could find her.
That’s when I noticed a flash of bright red on the ground in front of the house. My mouth fell open. Agnes lay in a crumpled heap beneath the third floor balcony, her body broken and still. When the fire department arrived, the paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene. Later, authorities theorized that she must have gone into a panic when flames trapped her up on the third floor. She broke through the locked balcony door and jumped to her death to avoid burning alive.
It would be a long time before I told anyone the truth about what really happened to Agnes that night.
I was in the back of the ambulance breathing in oxygen from a face mask when Mrs. King came rushing around the corner to see if I was alright. A blanket was wrapped around my body to shield me from the night air.
“Thank goodness,” she said, placing her hand over her heart. There were tears in her eyes. “I don’t know what we would have done if we’d lost you.”
Her emotion touched my heart. I tried to smile, but my entire body ached from exhaustion. She climbed into the back of the ambulance with me and asked the paramedic if she could have a moment alone with me.
“You have no idea just how special you are to us.” She stroked my hair gently and put her arm around me.
“Agnes-” I said, then began to cough again.
Mrs. King pulled the oxygen mask from my hand. Confused, I took in a shallow breath. She placed her palm flat against my chest and closed her eyes. My body began to hum and tingle, and I felt a warm energy flow through me.
“Breathe,” she said.
I took a deep, cleansing breath and felt no urge to cough. “How…?”
She smiled and brushed a strand of hair off my face. “Shhh,” she whispered. “All of your questions will be answered, I promise. But you need to be patient.”
Patience is a hard thing when there are so many unanswered questions. I opened my mouth to ask just one, but she placed her palm against my forehead.
“Rest,” she said. “I need you at a hundred percent, okay?”
I nodded, feeling suddenly very sleepy. My lungs no longer hurt, though, and that was very good.
Mrs. King pulled the blanket up to my chin and smiled.
“You’re going to make a beautiful Demon.”
Continue Harper’s story with Book 2, INNER DEMONS,
or purchase the Box Set of Books 1-3 for just 99 cents!
http://sarracannon.com/books/
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Table of Contents
GUARDIANS: THE GIRL
BOOK ONE: EMMY
CHAPTER ONE: THE BOY
CHAPTER TWO: ALONE
CHAPTER THREE: LUCKY NUMBER FIFTY-SIX
CHAPTER FOUR: PICTURE SHOW
BOOK TWO: MARCUS
CHAPTER FIVE: THE FIRST GUARDIAN
CHAPTER SIX: MARCUS
CHAPTER SEVEN: THE GIRL
CHAPTER EIGHT: A QUESTION OF DUTY
CHAPTER NINE: THREESOME
CHAPTER TEN: ADDICTION
CHAPTER ELEVEN: CONDITIONS
CHAPTER TWELVE: TONY-TONE
BOOK THREE: EMMY
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: DECEPTION
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: INTRODUCTIONS
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: RAHELL
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: CONCESSIONS
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: PUNISHMENT
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: REVERSAL OF FORTUNE
CHAPTER NINETEEN: FAR FROM THE TREE
CHAPTER TWENTY: ON THE RUN
EPILOGUE
Whispers in Autumn
Also by Trisha Leigh
CHAPTER 1.
CHAPTER 2.
CHAPTER 3.
CHAPTER 4.
CHAPTER 5.
CHAPTER 6.
CHAPTER 7.
CHAPTER 8.
CHAPTER 9.
CHAPTER 10.
CHAPTER 11.
CHAPTER 12.
CHAPTER 13.
CHAPTER 14.
CHAPTER 15.
CHAPTER 16.
CHAPTER 17.
CHAPTER 18.
CHAPTER 19.
CHAPTER 20.
CHAPTER 21.
CHAPTER 22.
CHAPTER 23.
CHAPTER 24.
CHAPTER 25.
CHAPTER 26.
CHAPTER 27.
CHAPTER 28.
CHAPTER 29.
CHAPTER 30.
EPILOGUE
Excerpt - Winter
Omens
Acknowledgements
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brightest Kind of Darkness
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
LUCID Book 2 Excerpt
P.T. Michelle Books
Other works by P.T. Michelle writing as Patrice Michelle
To contact P.T. Michelle and stay up-to-date on her latest releases:
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Lark
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Acknowledgements:
About the Author:
The Lark Trilogy:
Excerpt: In the Shadows
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Feyland: The Dark Realm
DEDICATION
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
Dark Roses: Eight Paranormal Romance Novels Page 169