Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 123779 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 619(@200wpm)___ 495(@250wpm)___ 413(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123779 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 619(@200wpm)___ 495(@250wpm)___ 413(@300wpm)
“Be patient,” he mutters. “It gets better. After her vigorous training she becomes the best of all the trainees. Then, the whole village throws a huge celebration for her return. Happy now, you little story killer?”
“Yeah, that’s much better.” I smile as I snuggle against him, feeling much better after the incident with Robert.
Chapter 6
Jane / Alchera
Standing in a foreign city, people are screaming all around me in a language I don’t understand. Everyone is panicking, running with no real direction, rushing to find a safe place.
I can feel their hopelessness, their utter dread.
As I glance around me in total shock, I see dead faces, some burned beyond recognition, while a cloud of ash hangs thick in the air.
Intense panic spreads through me as I take in the destroyed buildings and the gaping holes in the roads. It looks like a bomb hit the area.
Is it a terrorist attack?
I suck in a breath of ash and start to cough, my lungs burning from the heat in the air.
A stench of rotten eggs fills the air, and above me, dark, threatening clouds gather – a mass of swirling blackness, where the edges are tainted dark red, blending into the brightest yellow.
The heavens seem to be on fire.
A horrifying fear floods my body when I realize I’m standing in the middle of a volcanic eruption.
Tears burn in my eyes as the ground shakes beneath my feet.
Suddenly, something slams hard into my chest. I fly backward from the force of whatever hits me, and I drop to the ground.
My chest feels as if it’s being ripped open.
“Alchera! No!” I hear a man shout, and then someone falls over me. I’m just about to make out his face…
“Jane!” I’m shaken so hard by Ryan that it rips me out of the dream.
I shoot upright in bed while coughing as if I’m still inhaling ash, the ache in my chest lessening by the second.
Loud music is blaring through the house from the party, and I blink a couple of times to get rid of the haziness of the nightmare.
Ryan’s face starts to come into focus, and then I register the worried expression in his eyes.
“It was only a dream,” I say to put him at ease.
I rub my eyes, my head spinning from the intense nightmare that felt way too real.
“What did you dream?” he asks.
When I duck my head low, resting my forehead against his chest, his fingers brush over my cheek before slipping behind my neck.
Not wanting to talk about it, I mutter, “It was nothing.”
“It wasn’t nothing. You stopped breathing,” he snaps, actually sounding angry because I won’t tell him.
When I climb off the bed to put some space between us, another dizzy spell hits. I breathe through it and once it passes, I grab my jacket and shrug it on.
“Let’s get out of the room,” I say while pushing my feet into the nearest pair of sneakers. “I need some fresh air.”
Ryan gets up and quickly puts on his boots.
We stay quiet as we walk out of the bedroom and through the house. A headache starts to pulse behind my eyes, and when we finally leave through the front door, I suck in a deep breath of the cold air.
The moment we’re sitting in Ryan’s truck, he says, “Talk to me. What did you dream about?”
“It was just a nightmare,” I mutter while he starts the engine and steers the truck away from the curb.
“It’s important that you tell me,” he insists, and it has me frowning at him.
Important, my ass.
Shaking my head at him, I lift my hand and rub my chest where it’s still aching from whatever slammed into me in the dream.
Did someone shoot me?
“Jane, talk to me,” Ryan sounds impatient, his eyes flicking between the road and me. “Now.”
“Dammit, can you just chill,” I snap at him. “God. I just woke up from one hell of a nightmare. Give me some time to process it.”
When Ryan pulls over to the side of the road, I realize we’re close to the waterfall.
I don’t mind. The peace and quiet out here will do me a world of good.
We get out of the truck, and as we walk toward the waterfall, I can feel tension coming off Ryan in waves.
I pull my jacket tighter around me, glad for the full moon giving us some light so we can see where we’re going.
God, it’s cold.
The moment we reach the waterfall, Ryan lets out a sigh and says, “What I’m about to tell you might sound crazy, but just bear with me.” Lifting a hand to my face, he tucks a few strands of my hair behind my ear. “To really hear me, you need to listen with that part within you that feels like you never belonged here. Listen with that piece of your soul that tells you you’re different from others.”