The Violet Awakening (The Elementum Trinity Book 2) by Styna Lane Read Free Book Online Page A

older, disheveled-looking man asked from the house across the walkway. I didn’t recognize him from the gathering.
    “Earthquake?” another man, whom I did recognize, but whose name I could not remember, responded from two houses down the path.
    “Didn’t feel like an earthquake to me,” the unfamiliar man said grumpily.
    Lily’s generation came running up the pathway, stopping just inches in front of us. Lakin and I nervously backed up against the house, noticing other groups gathering around in the same manner. Lily stepped out from the safety of the doorway, her eyes emitting a ghostly white light. Soon, beams of light connected one person from each group, in a scene that looked not unlike an alien abduction. I quickly concluded that these people, the ones with light shooting out of their eyeballs, were the Oracles of each generation… which did not make the experience any less weird.
    “Nixon, take Cora into town with you. Get some answers,” she said sternly, after the light had finally subsided.
    Nixon nodded, taking Cora’s hand. Al’s eyes followed after them with concern, as they headed toward the tunnel that would lead them into civilization.
    Al led us back into the house after the crowds had finally dispersed. Silence weighed down the air as we helped clean up the spilt tea and broken glass. Lily sighed as she emptied a skillet of burnt bacon into the trashcan. I wondered how common it was for food to be wasted in the Eden, and then suddenly realized why the trashcan looked so familiar. But Al spoke up before I could say anything.
    “Did you have to send Cora?”
    Lakin and I stopped picking up shards of glass, halted by the abrupt tenseness of the room.
    “You know the decision was not only up to me,” she said quietly, her tone a sort of disturbingly calm rage.
    Al let his broom fall against a wall, locking eyes with Lily. Judging by their facial expressions, the words they were exchanging inside their heads were not about dandelions and rainbows. They seemed to have such a peaceful relationship, it felt unnatural to see them argue. It probably would have felt unnatural to watch anyone argue without actually speaking, but especially so for them. Since I couldn’t hear where they were at in their fight, it took me by surprise when Al hastily made his way for the door.
    “Angie, Lakin... come with me,” he ordered, not stopping to look back as he left the house.
    Lily didn’t try to stop us, but I glanced cautiously at Lakin, who was already halfway to the door. I felt an undeniable loyalty to Al, having spent so much time with him in The Facility, and feeling that I owed him so much for my escape… but I sensed that Lily was one of those people whose bad side you would not want to get on. And, well… the bacon smelled really good.
    “But,” I griped, looking mournfully at the stove as Lakin dragged me by the hand from the house, “bacon...”

Chapter Eight
Tiny Evil Devil
     
     
     
     
    Lakin and I followed silently behind Al, passing cottage after cottage. The underwater town reminded me of something from a fairytale that Eddie had read to me when I was younger, something that couldn’t have possibly existed in real life. Now and then, a familiar face would pop up in one of the windows, grinning as we passed. Finally, Al came to a stop at a house that looked fairly similar to all the others.
    “Do you have your gems?” he asked, face still hard with anger.
    I nodded, retrieving the cool stones from deep within my pocket. I had forgotten how beautiful they were, turning them over in my fingers as the light danced from their blue and orange facets.
    He knocked on the old wooden door of the house in front of us. The disgruntled-looking man, whom I hadn’t recognized earlier, propped open the door just enough to peak through with one dull, gray eye. Up close, he looked much more frail and elderly than he had before, and there was something different about him from the rest of the