Splintered Energy (The Colors Book 1) by Arlene Webb Read Free Book Online Page A

straightened. He flicked the light off, and stepped into the shower where he continued to cry. After two minutes, he quieted. He stayed immobile, water cascading over his shivering body for four hours, four minutes, four seconds.
    Shortly before dawn, he turned the shower off. Droplets glistened, reflected off his flesh and abandoned him. The blanket wrapped around his waist, he strode to the computer.
    Increments of time counted down, as he broke security codes and entered the Cleveland police system. File numbers changed, he deleted and rewrote James’s sedan as an abandoned vehicle while another section of his brain sizzled.
    How did I come to be in this body? A disabled vehicle, the timing was such James had pulled off the road. I killed him, and then my memories began . He couldn’t assess a single memory of the deceased man. He had no recall of anything prior to finding himself trapped, except absolute purity. The beauty of the past he yearned for.
    In the now, he must accept he was not only an individual, he also owned many things, including six credit cards. He, a.k.a. dead human Malcolm James, adjusted the name, address, and car license number.
    His exit without trace from the police computer grid took sixteen minutes, forty-two seconds. An email with credit card information, authorization to replace the tire, took care of the garage connected with the impound lot. He sent a final message to the manager at the downtown branch, Bank of America, stating he’d miss meetings for at least a week.
    He left the comforting hum of the computer for the bedroom and threw himself face down on the blue bedspread.
    Dawn of day two tapped on the windows. Malcolm James the imposter didn’t need sleep, and he seethed with anxiety. He was an individual, alone, but he didn’t feel solid . No weight against him, no one to shoulder, he had no substance.
    Malcolm James shouldn’t be alone. Where was… his …what?
    A dilemma. He didn’t yet know what he lacked.

 
     
    Chapter Five
     
     
    Aaron stood back and watched. Evening of day one since this creature lit up his world, but he remained as befuddled as sunrise had found him.
    Waves of long hair tumbled past her waist, giving the strange woman an ethereal fairy-like quality. She absorbed information like a sponge. Another reason to assume she wasn’t human, as if sparkling laser eyes weren’t enough.
    “You know my name’s Aaron.” He pointed at himself, then at her. “What’s your name?”
    She flowed to his bed and folded thin legs under her with feline agility. “Don’t know. Aaron find name?”
    Wow. Communication established. Major hurdle overcome. Did he dare explore unknown territories regarding chromophobia without the starship Enterprise? In his bedroom?
    A deep breath and he “made it so.” He removed his sunglasses, placed them on his nightstand and—yippee—she didn’t dissolve in a heap of terror. It appeared her acceptance of human eyes, specifically the white sclera, now extended to him. With an apprehensive shiver, she faced his calm smile, and dropped her timid, alien eyes.
    Unbelievable. It certainly didn’t help, considering he gawked as if she had an emerald halo and was about to sprout wings.
    “I don’t know your name or what you are.” He leaned with his elbows against the back of the chair. Maybe if he lost a few inches of height, she’d lower that trepidation a notch or so. “You don’t have to be afraid. We won’t hurt you. But until we understand you better, you shouldn’t touch David.”
    David flipped his eyes up at the ceiling and then frowned at his father. “Why don’t we give her a name? I don’t think Green Goddess is accepted in San Diego social circles.”
    Sure it is. Specifically, the strip clubs, along with Candy and Cinnamon . “Emerald or Jade comes to mind. Lady Greensleeves? Venus? She rose from the sea.”
    “Jade,” David said.
    Aaron smiled at the beauty twisting her fingers in her dress. “That okay