The Hierophant (Book 1 in The Arcana Series) by Madeline Claire Franklin Read Free Book Online Page B

playing field. My heart trembles with expansive freedom, with a kind of ecstasy I’m certain I’ve never known. I half expect lightning to shoot from my fingertips when I raise my arms to the sky.
    I want to lie down in the cold and the mud, and let the rain and earth cover me. I want to let it bury me, let myself climb out of its murky depths, like a golem freshly born. Is that what I need? Do I need some kind of ceremony to recognize the changes I’ve felt coming?
    I shake my head, long, wet hair slapping my shoulders, and force the thought from my mind. No changes. No thinking. Just running, and jumping, and reveling, and feeling .
    I cut across the field, across the parking lot behind the retirement towers, run fast up to the main road and unabashedly down Main Street. What do I care if people see me? They won’t recognize me in the dark, sopping wet. I run and run, and decide that when I get home I’m going to climb out the attic window, onto the roof, stand on top of my house and scream as beautifully as I possibly can—
    “ Anastasia ,” a voice slithers out from the dark and the rain, like a bar dropping down in the middle of my path.
    I stop short and turn, spinning on the ball of my bare foot, pavement grinding under my skin. It’s hard to see through the rain, but I can make out a silhouette beneath the streetlamp. That’s all it seems to be: just shape and shadow, and the white embers of its eyes, and then the gleaming, pointed teeth, too large for its grin.
    A demon. One of the Sura. Watching me.
    Speaking to me.
    Saying my name .
    My heart knocks at the back of my throat, rising on a wave of adrenaline, and I remember my mother saying once, If you ever come across a demon lurking in the dark, just tell it to leave, and it will. It has to obey you, because without you, it isn’t real .
    “Go away,” I mutter and close my eyes. My insides shiver, suddenly hyper-aware of the damp cold. “Go away, go away, go away…” When I open my eyes, it’s gone.
    My heart races, horrified and excited. What does this mean? They know who I am, that I can see them—they know my name. Is this what I’ve felt coming? And if it is, what do I—
    “ Anastasia! ”
    I yelp involuntarily and spin around to see the thing that has hissed in my ear. The shadow creature is there, inches from me, impossibly tall and endlessly dark, an outline of horns curving away from its head and up to the sky. It’s eyes burn bright with laughter.
    “Go away!” I shout. When it does not, I bolt in the direction of home.
    My feet are suddenly leaden, like in a bad dream. Home is only a block away, but it feels like it might as well be miles. All down the street I think I see the creature’s face among the shadows, lurching towards me from the darkness, laughing, grinning as it watches me flee.
    I’m not afraid , I think. I can out run them, I can use the protection spell. They can’t touch me.
    “Shama Irin, ” I whisper, voice shaking with each step pounding against pavement. “ Shama Iritz. Shama Naghim. Shama Irin. Shama Iritz. Shama Naghim… ” The words fill me, their ancient magic fighting against my fear.
    Finally, my driveway in sight, I turn to see if the demon has followed me—
    “Oomph!”
    I impact, full force, with something hard and broad, but with the warm, natural give of flesh—a body—and bounce backwards. A dark figure catches my arms and holds fast, hauling me upright.
    Lightning splinters the sky overhead, and in the shadows of the hooded face before me, eyes flash golden, like a cat’s.
    My heart hammers into my throat, and I open my mouth to scream.

— 12 —
     
    “Ana, it’s me!” Trebor throws back his hood, letting the rain pelt him.
    I freeze, holding my breath. Is this for real?
    “Are you okay?” He asks. He realizes he’s still holding my arm, and drops it.
    I surprise myself by laughing a full-body laugh, some kind of hysterical catharsis moving through me from my face to my feet.