Silver Blood (Series of Blood Book 1) by Emma Hamm (bill gates book recommendations .TXT) 📕

The sound of running water eased her troubled mind. Her vast storage of herbs were handy as she plucked out a few sprigs of lavender and a box of epsom salts. Maybe a little bit of Relaxation in a warm bath were what she needed right now.

Of course, there was also the temptation of her own making. Wren looked at the vials that she had yet to put out on the shelves.

“I wouldn’t.”

“Why not?” she murmured as she ran her fingers over the smooth surface of glass.

Her fingers skipped over each of the vials before she lingered upon one with a dark gray fog inside it. Sparks of other colors were hidden deep within the smoke if one looked close enough. The Juice wasn’t dangerous in the slightest. It might actually be the only Juice that didn’t need to come with a warning label.

Comfort was just a warm, happy feeling. Wren usually considered it to be a rather boring emotion. She liked her vibrant thoughts and chaotic ups and downs. But the more she thought about it, the more she thought a bath of nothing but good scents and warm thoughts wouldn’t be all that bad.

“Juice should never be taken lightly.”

“Yes, I know,” she murmured. “I remember everything that you taught me.”

“You don’t need Juice to feel, Wren.”

“That’s not why I’m taking it. I’m just too tired to force it tonight. Be happy I’m not taking Oblivion.”

She wouldn’t take a lot anyways. Just a little bit of a sniff and she would relax enough to sit back in the bath and not worry about everything that was happening. If she was exceeding lucky, she would simply remember the comforting memory that was housed inside the bottle. She hoped it was something that involved a fireplace and snow.

The gray smoke swirled as she shook the bottle. The movement was nearly hypnotizing as she pulled on the strands of her worn pink robe. Her graceful fingers uncorked the bottle and inhaled half of the smoke. It spun towards her nose like cotton candy being pulled out of a machine.

“Hey, E? This would be easier if you were a woman right now.”

“I’m neither woman nor man.” It grumbled. But she was pleased to hear that the indecipherable muttering in her head had switched to a much higher pitch.

Pink fabric fluttered to the floor instantly. She dipped her toes into the water before sliding underneath the warm blanket of liquid. Wren sighed as the water splashed up to her neck and settled at the base of her collarbone. One of her hands raised to sprinkle some of the lavender and salt into the water.

The buds of the lavender danced in the water around her, and her curls floated around her head like strands of ink. Comfort burst into her bloodstream as she sunk deeper into the water. The relaxation she had been hoping for was within her reach now.

All the worries that had bunched the muscles in her shoulders disappeared. It didn’t matter that there was a strange man wandering around or that Pitch was going to put her out of business. It didn’t matter that her house was falling apart or that some mystery person was trying to hire her. She could ignore that she was messing up her Juice and that customers weren’t likely to trust her completely.

All that mattered was the warm feeling of the water around her and that she was safe.

Taking a deep breath, she dunked her head underneath the surface and opened her eyes. The light reflected differently when she was underwater. Everything rippled around her in a way that was effortlessly beautiful.

One of these days, she was going to spend the time to figure out her life. She had never had a lot of things in her life. Material objects were always hand-me-downs and absolutely never new. She didn’t need things that were in perfect shape. But now that she was older, Wren was realizing that she should probably own at least a few things that weren’t falling apart.

She could worry about that later though. The Comfort that was running through her veins pushed those thoughts aside and replaced them with memories of rolling hills and a horse underneath her. It was so incredibly easy to get lost in memories that weren’t hers.

It was easy until a shadow bent over her tub and started reaching for her. She found it curious that her mind would play tricks like that. There wasn’t a clear reason for a shadow to be in some kind of hallucination, but she was always interested to see how something like this would play out. Comfort had her ignoring the danger until the shadow’s fingers closed around her arms.

Wren jackknifed forward and sucked in air. Her forehead connected with what must have been the figure’s nose as she felt a satisfying crunch when she struck it. She was a small thing, but fear made her stronger than usual. She wrapped her arms around the neck of whoever it was and tugged hard into the bath.

She wouldn’t have usually been capable of tossing her weight around, but whoever was touching her had been leaning over the tub. The person lost their balance and fell directly into the tub with her.

She could hear whoever it was swearing something that sounded like, “Again?”

Wren didn’t know if she wanted to hold them underneath the water or if she wanted to get out and run. She was naked and there weren’t precisely a lot of places she could go in such a state of undress. Drowning the person seemed like the best idea.

Until she heard the laughter that rang loudly in her head.

“Let go of him, Wren.” She managed to make out between E’s snorts of laughter.

“Him?” She was out of breath as she held the person against her chest. They were flailing so hard that water was splashing onto her floor, and she had to squeeze her eyes shut.

The laughter in her head