Daughter of Gods and Shadows by Jayde Brooks Read Free Book Online Page A

found it difficult to be too far away from her, even now, after The Fall had changed so much of her life. She had grown to love this world, almost as much as she’d loved Theia. But it was one thing to rule a world, and another to actually live in it like everyone else. Behind that door, though, was a part of her, a part of her past that she held close to her heart, unable to let it go, no matter how much she knew she should.
    Katie looked at the doorknob and watched it turn to open at her will. The door creaked open, and slowly she walked into what had been a small apartment but now was a portal to a vast wasteland, a prison in limbo between time and space. The hot desert wind whipped against the side of her face, nearly blowing off her large framed glasses and toppling over her petite frame. Sand gave way to each step she took toward the moaning and wailing coming from the distance miles away from where she entered. Katie peeled out of her sweater and let it fall to the ground behind her. The oppressive heat weighed down on her like bricks, and thirst scratched the back of her throat. In the apartment, she’d only walked a few feet before finally seeing her. But in this arid land, she’d walked for many miles to get to her Beloved daughter, Mkombozi, or what was left of her.
    This place wasn’t real, but it was a reflection of a world and of a time far removed from the one she lived in now. The place had been made at Khale’s request, using a collection of spells from the Pixies. For reasons even she didn’t understand, Khale had needed this, a painful reminder of her love, loss, and sacrifice.
    Khale-Katie stood far enough away to see her, but to still be safe from the rage spewing from her body in a poisonous gas that would kill anyone who stood too close, even an Ancient as old as she was. Ara had not been like this before Khale had exiled her to this place. Ara had been to Ancients what humans imagined heaven to be: beautiful, serene, and peaceful. It had been a place to rest.
    The merciless heat instantly dried her eyes of any tears threatening to form in them at the sight before her—Mkombozi, with shackles around her wrists and ankles anchored deep into the ground. Her skin, dry and cracked, made her unrecognizable as the beautiful young female she’d once been. Her hair was a mass of thorns and twigs. This creature was a hull of the Mkombozi she’d known. She was what was left after Katie Smith—Khale—came to accept that her Beloved child was overrun with rage to the point that there was no getting her back.
    Khale had waited and hoped that the essence of Mkombozi would somehow break through the destruction and rage of the Omens to become herself again. Theia had fallen because of Mkombozi. She had succumbed to the Omens. Omens, that at one time had been the salvation of their world, had led to the devastation of it. The Omens had destroyed Mkombozi until there was nothing left of her except everything that had been evil in them.
    Mkombozi had been a warrior, and she had been Khale’s heart and soul. And Mkombozi had been the keeper of the Theian Omens that would have destroyed Sakarabru once and for all.
    Mkombozi wailed like a banshee in the distance, breaking Khale’s heart. She’d have stayed here forever with her if she could. But Katie Smith had to go back to her apartment and take a shower. She had to watch the American Idol finale and get ready for work in the morning. She blew a kiss to her Beloved, then turned and started the long trek back toward the front door to that apartment. The time had come. It was here now. Eden would finally finish what the Redeemer had been called to do, and Eden would succeed where Mkombozi had failed. She had no choice.

 
    SILLY GIRL
    The beginning is always followed by the end.… When did I become a ghost?
    Kid Cudi had a surprising way of keeping things in perspective. Maybe he was like her, a shadow of who he