Ruin, The Turning by Lucian Bane Read Free Book Online

his cigarette out. “I do confess every day though,” he assured, “but… the hatred keeps coming back, like a boomerang, I throw it away and it returns to me and I have to catch it.” He grabbed in the air with a fist that shook. “Then I throw it back out,” he demonstrated. “What else can I do, it’s like inhaling goodness then exhaling funky air.”
    “So… you’re a Ninja?” Isadore asked.
    He shot out a laugh. “God no. I have a little self-defense training but no, not a Ninja. That takes a lifetime to learn. But I’m proficient in a few of the arts. Nothing to save a little girl from the handicap hellhounds of the underworld. But I can see them, though.”
    Again a tinge of irony came through. Like he considered the gift useless. “How long have you had the gift?”
    “From in the womb. And I can’t tell you how nice it is to say without worrying about being called a freak.” He eyed the rearview mirror with a happy little smile, seeming glad that there was finally a bigger freak on the block and was really hoping they could pal around. “I saw my mother and father before I was born. Along with the other side. While in the womb, I was privy to seeing more of the other side than I do now. Now, I get only glimpses of what’s coming instead of a live feed.”
    “Wow,” Isadore said, feeling calmer.
    “What’s coming, Sam?”
    Isadore couldn’t resist the frail weak sound coming from Ruin and turned to see him. She glimpsed his head resting on the door, sweat making his face shine. He looked normal and she let out a silent breath of relief. Isadore eyed his arm that extended to the front seat. She followed it and realized his hand must be touching Sam.
    “You both are draining me,” Sam suddenly said, amazed. “It’s making me dizzy.”
    “I have to touch you,” Ruin gasped. “Or I’ll be lost.”
    Sam pulled his hand out of Isadore’s and groaned in relief. “That’s better.”
    Isadore nodded, worried about Ruin while warring with jealousy. She wanted to be the one he needed. She thought about praying but what if she wasn’t allowed? Worthy. Or…whatever you needed to be to qualify. She was to be executed. Surely that meant she wasn’t worthy or qualified. Prayers were for people with hope. Not doomed. What had she done? Was it…all the premarital sex? The lies? Had they finally added up and caught up with her? Was it her interfering with those judgments? Was she too being punished, not just Ruin? They were one, that’s what they’d said. Punishment would fall on her too?
    They finally came to the end of the road as Ruin had predicted.
    “Ah, damn,” Sam whispered, turning off the car. “I’ve seen this place.”
    “What did you see,” Ruin barely managed.
    Sam undid his seat belt. “Not good things. I don’t understand why here.”
    Ruin leaned forward and put his entire forearm across Sam’s upper chest, near his neck. “What’s here?”
    Sam held Ruin’s forearm, seeming a bit alarmed. “Uhh. Just…it doesn’t end well here.”
    “I thought you said it ended good,” Isadore cried.
    “What doesn’t end well? Tell me Sam, I need to know.”
    “I…I never get to the end of the vision, I just know that I don’t want to see it. I’m always too scared.” Sam’s words were whispered now. “There’s…a boy here. I’m always here trying to help him, reach him. He’s trapped here.”
    “Is he real?” Isadore asked.
    “I think so. He’s like me, he sees things. I think he’s been calling me here but I never knew how to find him.”
    “Maybe we’re just here t-to help him?” Isadore suggested.
    Ruin groaned and slid his hand off of Sam then got out of the car. Sam hurried out and caught Ruin before he could fall to the ground. “He’s fighting it,” Sam said when Isadore ran to help only to be warded away by Ruin. “Being close to you is painful, I’m sorry. He can touch me because somehow I’m a buffer between him and you. He can feel you but