Haunted by Hazel Hunter Read Free Book Online Page B

and ran. Down the steps she bolted, to the previous level, so fast she couldn’t stop herself. She flew across the hallway and hit the opposite wall. Trying to get her breath, it was all she could do just to lean against it. Awful things had happened in the tower. She was sure of it. She glanced at the stairs, and jumped so badly with fright that she nearly fell.
    Mina was watching her.
    “Where is Shayne?” Gillian gasped, straightening up. “Where is he?”
    “I can’t say.” She was in some sort of pensive mood today.
    Gillian advanced on her angrily. She felt pity for the woman, but her patience was at an end.
    “You can’t say or you won’t say?” Gillian demanded. “Which is it, Mina?”
    “Can’t,” the dead woman replied. “Much as you might want to blame me for the predicament that you are in, none of this is my doing. This is something only you can fix.”
    “What do you mean fix?”
    Mina’s smile seemed so genuine.
    “You’ve always been able to fix things––until you couldn’t. Frankly, in some ways, you might actually be best at fixing things by breaking them first.”
    Gillian clenched her jaw. “All I need is to find Shayne, so we can get out of here.”
    “I know. I can’t help you, though I wish I could. All I can do is protect you.”
    “ Protect me? ”
    “The city hungers. Can’t you feel it? I can protect you, but only to a certain point. Oh my love, you should never have come.”
    With that, Mina faded like wisps of smoke on a breeze.
    “No!” Gillian screamed, but it was to an empty hall. Her hands balled into fists, and she stood there quaking. “No!”
    Gods, how was she going to find Shayne? The palace was huge. Then she had a crushing realization. What if he wasn’t in the palace? The city outside was enormous. She’d already been at this all day. Her seething anger began to fade, and along with it a fraction of hope.
    “Shayne,” she muttered, leaning against the wall.
    She remembered how she’d felt when she’d been without him in the Midnight Market. But at that thought, another memory came flooding back. Without realizing it, she reached into her tunic pocket, and found the pouch of dragon’s eye seeds. They were meant to show her what she needed to see, to reveal what was hidden. There was nothing that she needed more than to see Shayne. If he had been hidden from her, she needed to know.
    But the risk of poison was real. Although Mathias had seemed cavalier about it, she knew that too much could end her life. But what would that life be if she lost Shayne?
    Pouch in hand, she made her way back to the bottom floor and found the library. She sat down on the blankets where they’d slept and touched the flattened depression where he’d lain.
    “Shayne,” she said softly.
    She poured out three seeds instead of two. She wondered how much more potent the dosage would be. But before she could wonder about it much, she popped the seeds into her mouth, swallowing them whole. She closed her eyes, feeling the heat immediately, like the burn of good whiskey. For some reason, the heat concentrated on her mouth and lips, as well as in her belly.
    Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked around. There was the same faint glow. She got to her feet, aware of a feeling of euphoria. But when she exited into the hallway, she froze.
    Two ghostly girls carrying enormous trays of meat and cheese came towards her. They giggled at some shared joke. Though she dodged them, they never looked at her. Behind them a serious man wearing a sword strode past. Gillian took a deep breath. Though he glanced at her, he followed the two girls.
    They can see me, Gillian thought. But as she looked down at herself, she was grateful for the clothes that Mathias had purchased. Nondescript, they helped her blend in.
    As she made her way down the hallway, she paid attention to the glow that limned the edges of the rooms and halls. All around her, people were talking. The more she noticed them, the