Graced by Sophia Sharp Read Free Book Online

she saw the division in the trees marking the clearing surrounding the other tower up ahead. She smiled to herself. Gray had found it, whereas if she kept going in her original direction south, she would have walked right by it.
    She saw the clearing, but something… felt wrong . A sense of urgency gripped her as she increased her pace. The clearing was right there, up ahead, but – she realized with a start – she could not see the black tower. The forest before the opening was stil thick, so maybe there were branches or leaves obstructed her view… but for some reason, that uneasy feeling stil gripped her in the pit of her stomach. She burst into the clearing, and gasped. It was just as she remembered – the perfect circular edge around the space, the completely clean grass fending off the wild reaches of the forest – with just one major difference. The tower that had once stood in the middle of the earth had been reduced to a pile of rubble on the ground.

Chapter Seven
    ~The Broken Tower~
    She ran up to it, a thousand thoughts flying through her mind. Who would do such a thing? Why? The whole thing was smashed to pieces, completely broken. She didn’t even think, the first time she saw the tower, that it could be broken! It had stood there for hundreds upon hundreds of years – maybe even thousands – completely untouched by the passage of time. And now, al that was left of it was a pile of black dust.
    Suddenly she became very alert of her surroundings. Whoever had done it – some of the Vassiz , most likely – could stil be around. She strained her ears, trying to hear any unnatural noise from her surroundings. But al she could hear was the faint rustle of the wind through the tal trees, and the occasional far-off bird cal . Everything else was serene. She looked at the ground around her, but couldn’t decipher any footsteps. She looked behind her, the way she had come, and saw that she had made noticeable impressions in the grass. She sighed with relief. That meant that whoever had done this was likely long gone.
    Stil , just to be safe, she crept back to the edge of the forest. She whistled quietly through her teeth, and Gray came over. Forming the connection with him for a brief moment, she told him to keep watch over the clearing while she went to find the others. She felt affirmation come back again, showing that he understood, and settled down in his spot.
    Laura set back towards the other tower, making as little noise as possible, and at the same time watching her path so she could back-trace her way to it. She knew that if she shouted for the others, they would come, but she did not want to risk alerting anybody not in her party who could stil be around. She ran back to the first tower, letting her instincts guide her. She had no trouble avoiding the shrubs and trees that stood in her way, and moved as expertly and as silently as her vampire form let her. When she came out of the woods and into the clearing around the white tower, she found that Alexander and Logan were already there. They hailed her as she came over.
    “No luck?” Alexander asked.
    Laura shook her head. “Worse. I found it, but… it has been destroyed.”
    “What?” Logan exclaimed. “I knew I shouldn’t have let you go on your own! Was there anybody else there? Did you see anyone?”
    Laura shook her head again. “Don’t worry, I was careful the whole time. And no, there was nobody else around. And as best as I could tel , whoever did it is long gone.” She glanced at Alexander. “Where’s Madison?”
    “We were waiting for her, and you,” Alexander replied somewhat passively. He looked to be thinking.
    “What I want to know, however, is how somebody could have destroyed such a thing. I take it, from your descriptions, that it was a similar structure to this one?” Laura nodded. “That’s interesting. Because I think that this tower is not made of simple stone. It has lasted generations, and withstood the