Struck: (Phoebe Meadows Book 1) by Amanda Carlson Read Free Book Online

swirl of light started to lessen. “No! No!” I took more of my blood and frantically rubbed it on the bark in circular motions. “Open! Please, open! I give to you, oh, blessed tree, I give you my blood. I’m paying my toll! Please take me back to where I came from!”
    The glowing started to increase once again, but the bark beneath it stayed firm and hard. I rocked my hand into it, trying to force myself inside.
    A wicked snarl erupted from behind me. “You think to escape me! There is no escape unless I deem it so. Nobody gets away from here, human .”
    I turned around slowly, pressing my back against the bark, my fist still clutched around Gram.
    Verdandi could obviously see me now, so the cloak stone must’ve worn off. She was livid. Her haunting, skeletal face contorted in some serious angry rage.
    To her right and slightly behind her was the ettin who had ripped his arm open to get us through the portal. Bragnon, she’d called him. The giant lurked just outside the room, its head ducked so it could see inside, its pointy tusk curling into the space above the door.
    “I’m…I’m not trying to escape,” I tried. “See, there’s been some kind of mistake. I’m not supposed to be here. You have the wrong girl, and I just want to go home.” I glanced down, and I suddenly knew why Verdandi could see me.
    I was glowing.
    Glowing!
    I brought my arm up in front of my face and turned it from side to side. It was shining all the way through. The gash in my palm was still bloody, but instead of red, my blood was pure light, like the inside of a white glow stick.
    “You cannot pass through the tree of life without permission!” Verdandi snarled, tearing me out of my shock and awe. “This is my domain, bastard child. My sisters and I make the rules here, and you may not pass.” She stalked forward, her dirty gray skirts kicking up the earth around her, bringing me back to the crushing reality of my current situation. A situation I had no idea how to get out of, much less think I could survive. The pit of hell would’ve likely been a better place to land.
    “I’d really love to get…um…permission to leave,” I answered meekly. “If you could grant it, that would be extremely helpful. Honestly, this has all been a mistake. I’m not the girl you’re looking for. I grew up in a small town. I don’t have anything to offer. I just want to go home.”
    Verdandi stopped midstride and let out a mirth-filled cackle, flashing a mouthful of broken, horrible teeth. “Oh, human, that is so endearing , really. You think to ask me permission to leave and think I’ll have mercy on you?” She started for me again, still chortling. It sounded like one of those kids toys at a birthday party that unrolled as you blew through it, wheezy and high-pitched. “There is no mercy for you here. We have much better plans…and there is no going home .”
    I let out a small squeak and tried to scoot farther into the tree, willing it to open up and suck me in. Anything to get out of here. Warm energy radiated against my back. That was it, but it was the only thing keeping me from losing my mind. “I don’t know why you’re so interested in me,” I said, trying to stall. “I’m a nobody. I work in the shoe department at Macy’s. I’ve never done anything exceptional in my life, except move to New York City, which I’m actually in the process of regretting. I promise you, the moment I get home I’m going to forget all of this ever happened. I won’t tell a soul. Your secret…world…is safe with me.”
    Verdandi reached me, a snarl on her flaccid face.
    She leaned in, her fetid breath reeking as it wafted up my nostrils. I tried to shoo the bile back down my throat as it rose rapidly from my stomach. From this close, I could see her grotesque skin hanging like loose wallpaper. Her irises were a dead, flat black, but worse were the muddy lines radiating out from them, permeating the whites—or, in her case, the