Amethyst Rapture by Fey Suarez Read Free Book Online

swimmers around them. It was breathtaking to swim along the surface with the whale sharks. Brandy got close to the animal and touched its fin. She smiled up at Ryan and Miranda as she grabbed it and hung on tight. The shark pulled her below the surface.
Brandy was floating through a surreal bliss. The shark disappeared as something pulled her deeper into the sea. Brandy looked at her hands and saw someone holding her wrists. Brandy tried to pull away but couldn’t. Someone was drowning her! Brandy pulled and pulled again. She began thrashing but the person still wouldn’t release her. Brandy opened her eyes and saw a skull staring back at her. In the eye sockets were two amethysts glowing purple.
Sheila… thought Brandy. She wants it back.
* * *
     
Brandy opened her eyes and saw the sky. Wispy clouds twisted and curled through the sky far above her.
“Brandy. Brandy.” Someone slapped her face. Brandy’s eyes focused. Miranda was holding her hand and Ryan was slapping her face and repeating her name. He smiled when her eyes focused on his.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“You tell us. You were swimming and the next thing we knew you were holding on to the shark and he was taking you for a dive.”
“Sheila!” Brandy quickly sat up. The oxygen mask that was covering her mouth and nose was pulled askew.
“That’s Miranda,” Ryan said.
“No. The amethyst. It’s hers. Sheila wants it back.”
“Sheila?” Ryan repeated.
“How is she?” Bill asked, walking up.
“She seems okay.”
“You gave us a scare,” Bill told her. “We’ll be into Cienfuegos shortly. They can check you out at the clinic.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’m just glad you’re okay. If it hadn’t been for Ryan’s quick thinking I don’t know what would have happened,” he said. “Rest up.”
Brandy refused to go to the clinic. She wanted to find Jones. Ryan and Miranda stayed with her while the rest of the dive club went back out. They had their gear and were going to dive at a popular site with half a dozen sunken ships. They didn’t want to waste the rest of their day because Brandy had almost drowned, and she didn’t blame them.
“We have to find him,” Brandy said. “I need that amethyst. Don’t ask me how I know, but I do. Sheila wants it back.”
“Sheila wants it back?” Ryan shook his head.
“I can’t expect you to understand. I don’t even understand what I’m talking about. Still, you can’t deny that stone has mystical powers. Something must have linked us. Maybe my blood when I cut myself on it. I’ve bled on that stone and maybe miniscule pieces of it have gotten into me. We’ve been bonded. I’ve been having dreams, too.”
“Dreams, visions. I think you’re nuts!” Ryan insisted.
“I believe you. I’ll help,” Miranda told her friend.
“And we don’t need your help, Ryan,” Brandy insisted.
“Like hell you don’t. You’re both off your rockers. Besides, if either of you touch that stone around Jones you’ll be hornier than a bitch in heat.”
“So you’ll help us?”
Ryan sighed and looked steadily at Brandy and then Miranda. “I’ll help,” he finally agreed.
* * *
     
“Your friend, Jones, is in prison,” Armando said when the trio arrived back at the hotel. “The police called. He was detained for indecent exposure.”
“Indecent exposure?” Miranda asked.
“He was having sex on a bench in the Plaza Marti,” Armando informed her.
“Oh.”
“Way to go, Jones,” Ryan said.
“Jones had something of mine,” Brandy said. “An amethyst.”
“If he had it with him then it’s at the police station.”
“Will they give it to me?”
“You can try.” Armando shrugged. “You never know with the Cuban police.”
“Great,” Brandy said, exasperated.
“My uncle works at the police station. If you want I can talk to him.”
Brandy’s eyes lit up. “That would be great, thanks!”
Ryan, Brandy and Miranda didn’t move. They stood staring at Armando behind the desk.
“What?