Born in the Shadows (In the Shadows Series Book 1) by Courtney McPhail Read Free Book Online Page B

reflection?”
                  “Yes, good thing too. We get to see how different we look after the change.”
                  “I look different?”
                  Mary nodded her head in the direction of the bathroom. “See for yourself.”
                  Cordelia’s stomach flip-flopped as she headed to the bathroom. She had never been very fond of her plain Jane self, what had becoming a Shadow Walker done to her? Sure, Mary was gorgeous but she had probably been perfect to begin with. Cordelia was all lumps and bumps and frizz. Plus she had been pasty white as a human, she probably looked see-through as a Shadow Walker.
                  When she stood before the large mirror in the opulent bathroom, she was shocked at what she saw there. The no reflection theory was definitely a myth but the face that stared back at her was foreign yet familiar. The last time she checked, her hair had been a dull orange that was inconveniently in that middle space between curly and wavy. Now it looked like spun copper and fell across her shoulders in large curls. She ran a hand cautiously over the curls, not quite believing that they were hers. Oh yeah, they were definitely hers and they were silky soft.
                  She smiled at her reflection and saw that her canines were now sharp points. She reached up and poked at them with her finger, wincing as the needle sharp tip pierced her skin. She put the wounded digit in her mouth on instinct and the taste of her own blood bloomed on her tongue. She felt a shifting in her gums and she watched mesmerized as her teeth lengthened, the tips poking from beneath her lips.
                  She continued her assessment of her reflection, noticing the change in her eyes. They were still blue but now they shone with an iridescent light that made her irises seem like they were rings of blue diamond. Her freckles had faded away and the pimple that she had discovered that morning was gone. She raised a hand to stroke her cheeks and the skin was baby smooth. All the imperfections that she had always seen were erased, as if she had been given back the skin she had been born with. 
                  “Like I said, the change heals the entire breakdown your body has gone through during your human life.”
                  She glanced over to see Mary leaning against the doorjamb. “The superficial things like scars and freckles heal during the first twenty four hours. Any damage to your heart and lungs from bad eating or smoking will be repaired over the next month. The only imperfection left will be your clan mark.”
                  Mary raised her hand to her neck and traced her fingertips over a pink scar there. Cordelia glanced to the mirror and spotted the same mark on her own neck.
                  “The mark is used by our kind to identify which clan we belong to,” Mary said.
                  “What do you mean by clan? Like a family?”
                  “In a way, yes we are a family. There are twelve clans within the Shadow Walker race, each one descended from one of the Old Ones. They were the beings that created the first Shadow Walkers.”
                  She knew she should probably ask Mary to expand on that whole creation of Shadow Walkers thing but she couldn’t keep her eyes off her reflection. It was as if she was hypnotized by her own face, a sweet calm coming over her as she gazed at herself. It was strange, for most of her life, she had avoided mirrors, always disappointed in what she saw there but now she couldn’t tear herself away from her reflected image. 
                  “Why do I look so different?” The words came out unbidden, whispered in wonderment.
                  “The ethereal beauty thing is a trait of our race. Anne thinks it is part of making us efficient