Son of Sun (Forgotten Gods (Book 2)) by Rosemary Clair Read Free Book Online Page A

side of the bank as if I had planned it all along.
    What?
    I stood slowly, disbelievingly, eyes wide as the moon, and walked to the bank, staring down into the river that I should’ve landed in. Shaking all over, I wrapped my arms around my waist, hugging myself as I tried to comprehend what had just happened.
    Dayne had come back to me. Though his message was the last thing I wanted to hear. My magic was waking up, and in my quest to find Dayne, I had stupidly welcomed it, running way faster than any human possibly could, and leaping over a bank that only an Olympic pole vaulter could traverse.
    I was stuck, incapable of leaping back across the river when I had time to think about it.
    “Faye!” Mattie slid to a stop on the opposite side of the river, rocks sliding down the bank and plunking into the water. “What are you doing over there?”
    “I jumped,” I answered, not able to lie to her, and too confused to come up with a better answer.
    “How?” Her eyes were wide with fear and shock and maybe a touch of admiration.
    I stood dumbly staring at her, shaking my head back and forth.
    “Well, do it again. We aren’t supposed to cross the river,” Mattie was now looking all around, mainly behind her for the rest of the group to catch up to us.
    The forest began to rustle and Thomas popped out of the trees behind Mattie.
    “Faye!” He yelled when he saw me. “You’ve got to get back on this side, right now!” His insistence seemed odd, and I shook my head helplessly. A few more runners popped out of the woods, all stopping in their tracks when they saw me on the far side of the bank.
    “How did she…?” No one could figure out how I had managed to cross the river without getting wet.
    “She was running too fast when she came out of the trees. Her only option was to jump. Luckily she made it,” Mattie offered an answer to the runners who stood gawking at me on her side of the bank. I wasn’t sure if Mattie thought she was lying to cover for me, or if she honestly thought it was normal for me to have leapt the bank like a gazelle.
    “Faye, you have to get back across,” Thomas said again, this time more urgently than before.
    “I can’t!” I yelled over the roar of the rushing water.
    “Climb down the bank. I’ll swim out to meet you.” Thomas offered, taking off his shirt and shoes. I peered down the bank to the river, not seeing an easy way to get to the water. The moon shone against slick grey rocks, their flat faces too smooth to get a toe hold in all the way to the water.
    “Uh-uh,” I shook my head, not trusting my magical body at that moment, fearing I might suddenly fly, or something worse, if I started to fall.
    “Do you have a better idea?” Mattie snapped as she helped Thomas down the bank. When her head popped back up to me, her face blanched ghost white and her eyes went wide as melons. Goosebumps immediately prickled along my body.
    Mattie was no longer staring at me, but into the woods just behind me, utter and total fear washing her features down her face. My eyes filled with tears of fear as I noticed every other face was frozen on the woods behind me as well. Other runners started to back away, fleeing into the safety of the woods behind them.
    Slowly, I turned to face what held their attention.
    I didn’t see it at first, staring deeply into the woods, thinking maybe they were playing a joke on me.
    Only they weren’t.
    A mist began to develop in the woods several yards away. It looked like fog rolling in off the ocean at first, only it was pitch black in the forest, and fog wouldn’t have been visible, even in the full moon. The longer I stared, the stronger the light became, rushing through the woods toward me.
    “Faye, run!” Mattie screamed, all the other runners jumping and yelling behind her.
    I didn’t bother to look for the best way down the bank this time. Instead, I launched my body, feet first down the slope, rolling and falling, scraping and tumbling my way