Soulmates by Mindy Kincade Read Free Book Online

smile as she shook her head.
    “I can hardly believe that!”
    “How far away is this camp, anyway?” Presley asked.
    “It’s just right over the hill,” said Paulette. An eerie feeling came over Presley. She felt, once again, as if someone were watching her.
    Presley turned behind her and gasped, “Paulette! Look!”
    Paulette quickly spun around to see multiple funnel clouds off in the distance. The sky abruptly transformed to dark green. The funnel clouds rapidly became massive tornadoes, heading toward the girls.
    “They’re going to kill us!” screamed Paulette. The girls ran up the hill with the tornadoes quickly approaching. Their hair blew violently in the relentless wind. The tornadoes merged into one huge gray force. The wind grew stronger; ripping trees from their roots and tossing them as if they were toothpicks.
    “We aren’t going to make it!” shouted Presley.
    “We will make it! We are almost there! Please, you must believe that we’ll make it!” Paulette shouted back-the wind drowning her screams.
    They finally made it to the top of the hill where Presley could vaguely see a tall rock wall through the falling rain and debris.
    “Open the gates!” Paulette shouted. The guards that stood on top of the wall jumped from their posts and scrambled to open the massive wooden gates.
    “Open the gates!” Paulette shouted again. The thunderous noise of the ruthless storm swept away Paulette’s voice once again. Finally, the gates were open and the girls collapsed to the ground inside. The men quickly shut the gates, and as they all braced themselves for the impact of the tornado, it hit the compound only to mysteriously disintegrate into the air.
    The girls lay on the ground for awhile unable to catch their breath. One of the guards asked Presley if she was alright. Unable to speak, she just nodded her head to indicate she was okay. Finally, Paulette stood up and said, “Let me guess, you fear tornadoes."
    “Yes. I do. Why?” she asked between breaths.
    “Because that’s what they do. Fiend and the others, they create our worst fears. Mine happens to be fire, yours tornadoes.”
    A growing crowd of people had begun surrounding the girls. Presley was surprised by the strange appearance of the people. Many of the women wore long flowing gowns with gathered sleeves and pinned brooches. Some wore bonnets on their heads. They all looked as if they were from a different time. Presley slowly scanned the crowd realizing that she was indeed far from home.
    “Let me through!” shouted a male voice. Presley watched as a man shoved his way through the crowd.
    “Paulette!” he yelled. “What’s wrong with you? Are you trying to get yourself killed or, worse yet, captured? I’ve stayed up all night worried that you were caught! Do you think of nobody but yourself? Why didn’t you tell someone that you were leaving? If you were so hell bent on leaving then we could have at least tried to protect you. One of us would have gone with you," he shouted.
    Presley listened to him go on with his rampage. She wanted to defend her new acquaintance, but she couldn’t speak. Not only because was she out of breath, but because he was absolutely breathtaking. To her, he was the most beautiful guy she had ever seen.
    He was perfect. His long dirty brown hair was pulled back out of his face. His piercing dark intense brown eyes were captivating. He had golden skin due to the hot sun, and he was muscular and strong. He wore overalls with a white handkerchief in his back right pocket, boots and no shirt. He had dirt under his fingernails and a little dirt smudge on his face.
    “Oh, relax, Jesse. Nobody was hurt,” Paulette shouted back.
    “Nobody was hurt? By sheer luck nobody was hurt," he said firmly.
    “If she hadn’t been there, I surely would have died," Presley finally interjected.
    Jesse looked at Presley who was still lying on the ground. He stared, strangely, at her for a few moments, seemingly frozen by