by S. C. Green
Power surged up my arm, pulsing through my body. I sucked in a breath and peeled away the layers in my mind, thrusting myself deeper inside the orb. White light rushed toward me, surrounding me completely. I was no longer aware of Dorien or Alain or the temple or anything else. The light was all that existed, all around me and inside of me.
In the light, the black dots swirled, zipping back and forth in front of my vision. I reached out with my mind and grabbed each one, holding them inside me while I collected them all. As I dragged each dot toward me, a thin strand of black ink trailed out behind it, reaching into the white aether.
Once every black dot had been collected, I held them in my mind, and then, one by one, I peeled them away, opening them wide and pushing the white light toward them. My veins pulsed with energy, the rhythm growing in speed as my whole body thrummed with the light’s intense power.
The rhythm blurred together into one long trill.
My whole body exploded.
The light became me, and I became the light, my veins bursting with a blaze of brightness, my neurons firing into the aether. I kept on stripping and stripping, diving through the layers of the void as nothing and everything sped past me—the vastness of the cosmos, the world blooming to life, the dying sun exploding into supernova, collapsing in upon itself into a hole so dark and deep that the light itself was sucked in.
And then I reached the end. I had stripped away the last possible layer. I was falling, toppling down into that hole, tumbling over myself as I sped toward the void. The black strings followed me—inky trails imprinted across the cosmos. I collected them in my fingers, tugging them after me like a puppeteer. I pulled them all back through the hole, and then the blackness rose up and swallowed me.
And I became nothing.
26
“Sydney?”
A deep voice clawed me back to earth. As soon as my mind emerged from the black cave from which it dwelled, pain shot through my veins. My body was still on fire, the pain red and raw. Brilliant white welts burned in my eyelids.
Strong arms scooped me up, cradling my body. Fingers stroked my cheek, the tender touch searing pain deep inside my skull.
“Shit, Sydney. What have you done?”
It was Alain. Of course it was Alain. I couldn’t see him through the welts, but the strength of his arms around me pulled me through the pain.
I grinned, forcing the corners of my mouth upward, though it likely appeared I was baring my teeth. “I fixed it.”
I blinked and the welts slowly faded. Realisation dawned through my pain-choked mind. I could see him, every feature of his beautiful face stood out in bold technicolour. He was here, next to me. Wherever I was in the cosmos, he was there, too.
His face broke into the most gorgeous smile. He clasped me against him, speaking words that had no meaning to me. Over his shoulder, I glimpsed a rolling hillside dotted with tall gravestones and lined with an avenue of spruce trees. The glaring light had gone. But did that mean—?
I tore myself from his embrace, my body screaming in protest. “What happened? Is the dome still intact?”
“It sure is.” May knelt down beside me, grinning ear-to-ear as she embraced me too. “And the wraith are gone, too.”
“Every one of them?”
“Harriet and her girls are doing a sweep of the cemetery to check, but it certainly looks as if they’ve all disappeared.”
“And Dorien is gone, too,” Alain said. “When you touched that orb, all this bright light flowed out of your skin, as though you were made of crystal. Hundreds of black threads spilled from Dorien’s mouth, and they became lost on the light. Wraith screamed and the souls trapped here rejoiced as they were pulled through as well. The cacophony grew louder and louder, and it became like a wave washing over me. I blacked out. When I woke up here, you were beside me.”
My heart thundered against my chest and almost stole my voice. “Diana?”
Alain shook his head. “I’m so sorry. I couldn’t save her.”
Tears spilled over my eyes. Diana was gone. Grief rose up within me, flowing through my veins, consuming me with a pain more visceral than any physical agony.
“She never had a chance,” I whispered to Alain. “She didn’t get to have a family.”
“That’s not true.” He brushed my tears away with his gentle hands. “In this place, where all of us have been forced to live without joy for so long, you were the one to give Diana the gift of her childhood. You were her family, and I know she will never, ever forget you.”
And I would never forget her, but it didn’t make it hurt any less. I would’ve given anything to have her by my side again.
Alain thumbed the tears from my cheeks. “Whatever you did to the Mimir destroyed it completely, but I don’t think it matters any longer.”
“What do you mean?” There were no Reapers left who could open the gateway to the underworld. What would happen to all the souls of those who died within the dome now?
“I can’t explain it. I think, maybe because we were on the other side … when you destroyed the Mimir, it somehow pushed the energy into us, into our bodies. My power is no longer restricted. I can float between this world and the next kind of like a butterfly moving between flowers. May, too.”
“You mean, you don’t need the Mimir anymore?”
“No. Maybe …” Alain paused, considering his theory. “Maybe the Reapers were guilty of doing exactly what the wraith tried to do. We’ve spent so long relying on the Mimir, perhaps we poured too much power into it, instead of keeping that power inside ourselves.” He gazed down at me with more love than I probably deserved and chuckled. “Cory seems to agree with that. And so does Diana. They’re talking a mile a minute.”
“You can hear them?” I asked, my voice pitching higher. “What else does she say?”
“That she loves you. She’s safe and happy. Cory is taking good care of her. He says he might even take her on a date once she’s old enough.”
I laughed through my tears, the idea of it absurd. “Can he take her for pizza? I always had a feeling she’d like pizza.”
“He promises that he will,” Alain said. “And he says he’s even going to find a way to show her Jurassic Park.”
“And she hopes you’ll name the baby after her,” May piped up.
Seemingly in slow motion, I turned my head and blinked at her. “What did you say?”
“You’re pregnant, Syd,” May said, biting back a smile. “This new power you’ve given us … it’s like a laser sight for souls. I can see a tiny soul forming inside your belly right now. I’m surprised you didn’t realise it.”
Her words blared across my ruined mind, so foreign and unreal. I can’t be pregnant. I couldn’t have children. The doctors had told me so definitively. And yet … the odd mood changes I’d been experiencing, the intense emotions, the strange reactions to food, the sickness in the mornings. It made sense.
“I’m … pregnant?” I gazed at Alain in surprise.
He nodded, his whole face breaking into a heart-melting smile.
“But how?”
“I don’t know, Syd,” he said. “Maybe … wait.” He screwed up his face. “Your mother is saying something.”
“What?”
“She says, ‘enjoy this gift, daughter, the only gift I’ve ever given you. I know you will be a wonderful mother.’”
I clung to Alain, laughing and sobbing in unison. May wrapped her arms around us both, and we rolled in the fresh grass, relief and joy and sorrow and hurt washing over us, the entire spectrum of human emotion playing out in a single moment.
We were a family—Alain and me and May and even Harriet, and Cory and Diana and even my mother back in the underworld. All of us fighters, all of us battle-scarred and nursing our own wounds. It might not have been a family in the traditional sense of the word, but nothing inside the dome was traditional. And now that the wraith were gone forever, we had a chance for a real life. Now we could find a way to de
stroy the dome, and find our way back to the outside world. And my child could have the life that Diana had been deprived of.
We may be stuck inside this dome until there was nothing left of this city but dust and bone. But that didn’t mean we had to roll over and wait for death.
We wouldn’t go down without a fight.
THE END
Find out what happens in the next book, Ossified State, coming early 2017.
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
S. C. Green lives in an off-grid home in rural New Zealand with her husband, a menagerie of animals, and their medieval sword collection. She's the author of the Engine Ward series, and she also writes paranormal romance under the name Steffanie Holmes. Find out more about her work on her website: www.steffmetal.com or join her newsletter: http://www.steffmetal.com/subscribe/
Lindsey R. Loucks is a former school librarian from rural Kansas. When she's not discussing books with anyone who will listen, she's dreaming up her own stories. Eventually her brain gives out, and she'll play hide and seek with her cat, put herself in a chocolate induced coma, or watch scary movies alone in the dark to reenergize.
Join Lindsey's Insider Newsletter: http://bit.ly/lrlinsider
THE SUNKEN
A DARK STEAMPUNK DINOSAUR TALE BY S C GREEN
In the heart of London lies the Engine Ward, a district forged in coal and steam, where the great Engineering Sects vie for ultimate control of the country. For many, the Ward is a forbidding, desolate place, but for Nicholas Thorne, the Ward is a refuge. He has returned to London under a cloud of shadow to work for his childhood friend, the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Deep in the Ward's bowels, Nicholas can finally escape his strange affliction – the thoughts of animals that crowd his head. But seeing Brunel interact with his mechanical creations, Nicholas is increasingly concerned that his friend may be succumbing to the allure of his growing power. That power isn't easily cast aside, and the people of London need Brunel to protect the streets from the prehistoric monsters that roam the city.
King George III has approved Brunel's ambitious plan to erect a Wall that would shut out the swamp dragons and protect the city. But in secret, the King cultivates an army of Sunken: men twisted into flesh-eating monsters by a thirst for blood and lead. Only Nicholas and Brunel suspect that something is wrong, that the Wall might play into a more sinister purpose--to keep the people of London trapped inside.
Read The Sunken now
SAIL
A NEW SCIENCE FICTION ADVENTURE FROM LINDSEY R LOUCKS
Nineteen-year-old Absidy Jones is a ghost magnet, a sensitive person spirits flock to when they can’t cross over.
After her brutal past escaping the hordes of ghosts vying for her attention, she spends her reclusive existence melting down iron into bite-sized pieces. Whether alloy or wrought, ancient paper clips or nails, consuming iron is the only thing that keeps the ghosts away.
But when Absidy’s sister goes missing in deep space, a dangerous place brimming with rogue planets, ship-eating nebulas, and vicious aliens, Absidy vows to find her. She leaves her safe haven and boards the first ship she can that’s on a direct route to deep space—a ship that turns out to be haunted.
To keep the malicious ghosts from killing her, the alluring bad boy pilot gifts her a small bundle of all the iron on the ship. But their growing relationship is tested with the crew’s prying eyes and hidden secrets.
While the ship sails into deep space, it’s not just her sister’s life that Absidy fears for. It’s her own, as well. Especially since her stash of iron has shrunk to zero.
Read Sail now
l
THE MAN IN BLACK
A GOTHIC ROMANCE BY STEFFANIE HOLMES
Love so fierce it transcends even death.
When Elinor Baxtor arrives at the dilapidated Marshell House to settle the estate of her law firm's oldest client, she can't help but feel a little spooked. The creaking gothic mansion is a far cry from her life as an adventurous party girl back in London.
Then she meets Eric Marshell, a man dressed entirely in black with a wicked smile and the ability to float through walls. Eric was the violinist in popular rock band Ghost Symphony until a hit-and-run accident claimed his life. Now he's trapped inside his mother's house for all eternity, and the only one who can see or hear him is Elinor.
Eric and Elinor fight their attraction for each other as they dig into the mystery of Eric's death. But when they uncover a dark and sinister plot that threatens Elinor's life, their bond draws them into a world neither of them understands. Can their love transcend the boundary between life and death?
Read The Man in Black now
THE GRAVE WINNER
LINDSEY R LOUCKS
Leigh Baxton is terrified her mom will come back from the dead -- just like the prom queen did.
While the town goes beehive over the news, Leigh bikes to the local cemetery and buries some of her mom's things in her grave to keep her there. When the hot and mysterious caretaker warns her not to give gifts to the dead, Leigh cranks up her punk music and keeps digging.
She should have listened.
Two dead sorceresses evicted the prom queen from her grave to bury someone who offered certain gifts. Bury them alive, that is, then resurrect them to create a trio of undead powerful enough to free the darkest sorceress ever from her prison inside the earth.
With help from the caretaker and the dead prom queen, Leigh must find out what's so special about the gifts she gave, and why the sorceresses are stalking her and her little sister. If she doesn't, she'll either lose another loved one or have to give the ultimate gift to the dead - herself.
Read The Grave Winner now
Table of Contents
Petrified City
Copyright
Epigraph
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
About the Authors
The Sunken
Sail
The Man in Black
The Grave Winner