Praefatio: A Novel by Georgia McBride Read Free Book Online Page A

before one dies.
    Remi paced back and forth, mumbling and shaking his head in defiance as if having a conversation with someone I couldn’t see. What I did see were flashes of light from outside through the cracks in between the wooden planks of the barn walls. It was like before, at the house. Heavy legs crawled up the sides of the barn, shaking the structure as they went. Scraping, panting, and loud thumping filled my ears. It was over. This was it. We had nowhere to run.
    And then there was Remi. Where exactly had he come from? He just sort of showed up one day. Mom never mentioned how she came to acquire him or why he’d suddenly become a part of our family.
    Even as I got older, I never doubted the bond we’d shared. He was my brother plain and simple. I never once thought about what the lack of biological connection could mean until right then—when the differences between us became clear.
    In face of evil, Remi had led me away from the house and healed me when I became injured. What the hell was he? There, in a barn in the middle of nowhere, Remi was all I had. Now Remi’s secrets were going to cost me, going to cost us both our lives.
    I turned to Remi, now crouched on the floor opposite me, thumping his head against the barn wall as if trying to shake the answers loose from his brain. It was past time for him to tell me what was going on.
    He leaned forward and said in a voice slightly above a whisper, “Sleep.” It wasn’t a noun; it was an order.
    “What?” I asked in a sluggish drawl, already feeling the effects of his words on my body. My eyes grew heavy, the present slipping away. I wanted to will my mind to reject all I had seen, to sleep and wake in my bed at home with the Larsons.
    Remi stood and crossed the room to the barn entrance in what seemed like one long, floating stride. Just then something big and angry burst through the doors and cast a giant shadow on the floor. There was a near-blinding light behind Remi—or maybe coming from him. He raised his hands and I struggled to keep my eyes open.
    My mind went on overload. Oh my God, are those … Fangs? But the girl … has … w … w … what in the world? I am either dead, crazy, or both, was all I could think. Two more crashed through the door in a ball of wings and fire and then unrolled into people. My eyes, so heavy … Dark … Eyes now slits.
    Remi, suddenly clothed in golden armor, held two huge axes in either hand. On his back, affixed in the shape of an X were two long swords. He took a deep breath, then simultaneously leveled the axes at the Fireball Boys.
    Nice one, Remi … Kick his … Sleepy … Remi, memento mori . Respice post te ! … Remi. Oh my God, Remi. Your back. Is. On. Fire!
    Then Black.
    Nothing.
    What’s that beeping? Remi? Remi, where are you?

PART TWO
    Was It a Dream?

When I Get Outta Here, I’m Gonna Write a Book!
    I woke in a white room, head pounding. My semi-lifeless body pressed down like a one-ton weight into the slab of collective fibers they called a “bed.” It was a sad attempt to support what was left of a badly broken girl. I didn’t know then that a ruptured mind and tattered body made me an easier target, and that it was only a matter of time before they’d try to kill me again.
    I wasn’t certain, but the beeping and oddly familiar smell of sickness and industrial-strength cleaners indicated I was likely in a hospital. How I had arrived at said hospital, I didn’t know. My thoughts drifted to Him as I let my mind wander.
    “Is she still out?” I heard a familiar voice ask. It was almost like she was singing, but off-key.
    Mom?
    “Will she remember what happened?” It was Dad that time.
    I was sure the meds were responsible. The last time I’d seen Dad was on the news when they announced his death from a head-on collision. The concern in his voice was easy to discern, and the secrecy of his tone was the same as ever. Definitely Dad. But how ?
    I wasn’t sure what they were hoping I