BooksBarbecue
Back Reverie Save as PDF
Chapters (53)
  1. Front Cover
  2. Letter from the Author
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright
  5. Contents
  6. • One •
  7. • Two •
  8. • Three •
  9. • Four •
  10. • Five •
  11. • Six •
  12. • Seven •
  13. • Eight •
  14. • Nine •
  15. • Ten •
  16. • Eleven •
  17. • Twelve •
  18. • Thirteen •
  19. • Fourteen •
  20. • Fifteen •
  21. • Sixteen •
  22. • Seventeen •
  23. • Eighteen •
  24. • Nineteen •
  25. • Twenty •
  26. • Twenty-One •
  27. • Twenty-Two •
  28. • Twenty-Three •
  29. • Twenty-Four •
  30. • Twenty-Five •
  31. • Twenty-Six •
  32. • Twenty-Seven •
  33. • Twenty-Eight •
  34. • Twenty-Nine •
  35. • Thirty •
  36. • Thirty-One •
  37. • Thirty-Two •
  38. • Thirty-Three •
  39. • Thirty-Four •
  40. • Thirty-Five •
  41. • Thirty-Six •
  42. • Thirty-Seven •
  43. • Thirty-Eight •
  44. • ∞ •
  45. • Thirty-Nine •
  46. • Forty •
  47. Epilogue
  48. Acknowledgments
  49. Excerpt from Be Dazzled
  50. One
  51. Two
  52. About the Author
  53. Back Cover

Now Kane was sprinting. He rounded the corner at a dangerous speed, sliding on a patch of mud. In a whirl he was on the ground, hands full of muck. He threw a glance back. Ursula rocketed around the corner, closing the distance between them.

His mind screamed for him to get up. To do anything but watch as she bore down on him. And instead of terror, he felt a sensation at once familiar and foreign. An inward reaching, a crystallization of panic, anger, and determination. His body moved against his retreating mind, throwing him onto his feet, toward Ursula. His palm shot out to stop her.

“Leave me alone!”

A needle of pain sliced through Kane’s temples as a dazzling blaze engulfed his fingertips. With a sound like the air itself ripping apart, pure iridescence rocketed from his hand. It struck Ursula directly, surging over her like a thick jet of water, dragging her off her feet and into a brutal backward tumble.

A breathless beat passed. Ursula lay in a small crater, smoke curling off her stilled body, probably dead, and Kane’s hand still crackled with the otherworldly light. The flames were faceted like gemstones but had the fluidity of fog, and they held every color imaginable in their dancing depths.

Kane waved his hand frantically, desperate to get the fire off his skin. He dug his knuckles into the soupy mud, but still the light boiled over his flesh.

“Help!” Kane screamed, though the fire did not burn him. Instead, an electric vibration pulsed through the bones of his hand, in time with the pastel flames, as though Kane clutched not fire but sound.

Then Ursula sat up. “Kane,” she growled with pained restraint. Her uniform was burnt through in places. Bits of rock fell from her hair as she stood and glared at Kane with eyes that now glowed a neon pink.

She stalked toward him.

“We’re friends, Kane, remember? If you’d just listen to me I can help you.”

“Stay away!”

This time when the plume erupted from Kane’s hand it did not sweep Ursula over. Instead it came within a foot of her and collided with… Kane didn’t know what. The beam hit an invisible barrier and burst apart, swarming past Ursula in a million harmless embers.

She was only steps away now. She looked pissed.

And just like that, the fire winked from Kane’s palm. He ran for his life. The locker rooms were his only option and by some maniacal grace the door was propped open. He lunged for it as Ursula lunged for him.

“Don’t!”

But Kane was at the door, swinging himself inside and throwing his whole body into closing it behind him.

Inches away, Ursula screamed, “I’ll find you!”

The door slammed shut. The lock clicked into place with a gratifying THUNK!

And Kane was safe.

• Eight •

Spoilt Blood