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Back The Ever After
Chapters (92)
  1. Cover
  2. TheEVERAFTER
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4
  7. 5
  8. 6
  9. 7
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  11. 9
  12. 10
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  85. 83
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  87. 85
  88. 86
  89. Epilogue
  90. GLOSSARY
  91. TheEVERAFTER
  92. By Amanda Hocking

A woman was standing on the stairs, a few steps up from the bottom, and she smiled serenely. Her long dark hair floated ethereally around her, and her pale gown adorned with flowers of goldenrod and poppy red seemed to be one with her luminous bronze skin.

“You need to hurry,” she said in a voice that was deeper than I would’ve thought. It was throaty and almost seductive.

“Why?” I asked as I walked toward her, and she started running up the stairs, so her floral train billowed out behind her.

“Hrudda, binrassi.” Her sultry baritone was urgent but her lyrical drawl made it sound almost playful.

She ran faster, and I didn’t want to lose her when she went through the doors at the top of the stairs, so I chased after her.

I followed her outside, where the air felt crisp but strangely warm. I found myself in a beautiful city built into the side of the mountain. Tall stone buildings straight out of the fairy-tale picture books I read to the children, with vine-covered turrets. Around me were houses, a stable, a garden with wilted flowers.

Despite all the buildings, all the carts unattended in the dirt roads, all these signs of life, even a fire crackling in a pit, I didn’t see a single living thing. The eerie stillness was broken when the wind picked up, bringing with it a rustling and a rattling of metal, like broken bells.

I spun around slowly, but I couldn’t see the woman I’d been following. Dark clouds were rolling in, blocking out the sun. A dense fog was sweeping over the town.

The harsh air burned my throat, making me cough, and I realized it wasn’t fog but smoke.

I couldn’t see through it, but I heard the rumble of stones collapsing into each other. The ground was shaking, and I started running, as if I could outrun the smoke and stone avalanche.

“Help!” I shouted. “Help me!”

“Hurry, hurry, binrassi,” she said, her voice booming through me even though I couldn’t see her.

I tried to run faster, but I tripped on the unstable ground. There was a flash of bright green, cutting through the billowing smoke. And then the building behind me began to collapse, and I had no time to react as the heavy stones tumbled down on me.

I opened my eyes, gasping for air as I stared up at the clouds painted on the ceiling. Lissa babbled softly beside me, quiet toddler ramblings of comfort.

“Thanks, Lissa,” I said, but my voice was hoarse, and my throat still burned the way it had in the dream.

I put Lissa back in the crib, and then I went down the hall to get a drink of water and clear my head of the intense, vivid nightmare.

8

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Familiarity