Dead and Dusted by Lily Webb (reader novel .TXT) 📕

below. “She will see. She must,” I muttered, and paced through the whipping snow — until a piercing squeal froze me in my tracks.

“Morea!” I called, but still got no answer. The storm spinning around me fell away as my heart lurched at the realization that I was in danger, and that I wasn’t alone. Like a wild animal driven by instinct, I crouched and bared my teeth, ready to lunge, but a light flared, blinding me.

Hissing and snarling in my blindness, I stumbled forward and swiped at the empty air around me, but never connected with anything. Another shriek from my companion drew my attention further down the mountain, and I hurried toward its source.

“Sister!” the creature screamed.

“Sister!” I bellowed back, but when all I could see was white, I had no way to help her. I blinked furiously, willing away the whiteness, and slowly my vision returned in scattered spots.

Down the slope, I spotted a group of men surrounding my sister, who flailed and snarled at her captors from inside a glowing magical net. One man spotted me, and before I had the chance to do anything, he jabbed a wand at me and a ball of light hurled through the air to collide with my chest, lifting me off the ground and slamming me into the mountain’s rock-hard exterior. The impact knocked the air from my lungs, and I fell onto my back in the snow, gasping for breath as agonizing pain coursed through my nervous like I’d swallowed fire.

Stunned and unable to move, I watched through the growing blackness in my vision as the men flashed devices in my sister’s face, despite her shrieking and slashing.

“Make sure you get some photos of the other one, Kade,” the man who’d attacked me said to a younger man. “But be careful; it seems much feistier.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean, it isn’t even restrained,” the younger man said with a grimace in my direction.

“Oh, for Lilith’s sake, I hit it with a killing spell. Now quit being a baby and get some pictures of the cursed thing before it dies! We’ve gotta hurry and get the other one back to Starforce.”

Dazed, I watched the young man cautiously approach me with a square device in his hands. He wore so much clothing to fight the elements that he looked twice his actual size, and he fumbled with the device in his gloved hands as he crouched down in front of me. “Please don’t kill me. Please don’t kill me. Please don’t kill me,” he muttered as he aimed the device at my face.

“Morea… You must maintain balance,” I croaked, and the young human who hovered over me looked horrified. Of course, he couldn’t understand me, but my message wasn’t for him. Something clicked, and another blinding flash washed over me, but it barely registered as the pain overwhelmed my senses, the blackness crowding my vision fully consumed it, and I slipped into unconsciousness.

When my eyes fluttered open again, I found myself back in Leland’s room, but spots and sparks danced across my vision. I heard Agent Gemwood dash across the room, and a moment later she shouted, “What do you think you’re doing? This is a crime scene; you can’t take photos here! Get out!”

I blinked several more times, and the room slowly swam back into view — until another flash coursed through the room, blinding me all over again — and I realized what was happening. It had to be Kade!

“Let him in!” I shouted, and the surrounding commotion stopped.

“What? Are you sure?” Gemwood asked.

“You should listen to Selena,” another voice said, and I recognized it instantly as Kade’s.

“I’m sure. He was in my vision; I want to talk to him.”

“See? She knows what she’s talking about,” Kade said, and I heard him take several steps across the room toward me. A moment later, Leland’s bed bounced as Kade plopped down on it beside me.

“So, what have you two found in—” he started but cut off abruptly. The rustling of paper met my ears as Kade picked up the photo that Agent Gemwood must’ve dropped on the bed in her rush to stop him from coming inside the room.

“Look familiar?” I asked as I blinked my sight back and found Kade sitting open-mouthed beside me with his camera in one hand and the photo only he could’ve taken in the other.

“Where did you get this?”

“Selena, what’s going on here?” Agent Gemwood asked, completely lost and no doubt concerned about Kade being there, but I didn’t have time to catch her up.

“You took that photo, didn’t you, Kade?”

“What? No. I mean, maybe, I—”

“Just admit it,” I interrupted. “I know you took it because I watched it happen,” I continued, and as I spoke, everything fell into place. I’d always wondered why Kade wanted to accompany Leland and the rest for a weekend at Kindred Spirits, and while I’d assumed the answer was because he’d hoped to land a major exclusive story for his newspaper, now I knew the truth: Whatever had happened up on Mount Starcrest directly involved him, and he was probably trying to cover for himself — which also explained why he’d forced his way into a crime scene. For all I knew, he could’ve been following Agent Gemwood and I all along.

“What do you mean you watched it happen?”

“Your powers,” Agent Gemwood said with a little laugh as she pieced everything together. “You saw something, didn’t you?”

I nodded without taking my eyes off Kade. “I saw him taking pictures of those creatures,” I said, pointing at the photo in Kade’s hand. He flung it back on the bed like it was poisonous and jumped to his feet.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but you’re freaking me out.”

“What are those creatures, Kade? And who were you taking their pictures for?” I asked, thinking back to the other men I’d seen in my vision. They were all unfamiliar, but I hadn’t gotten the sense