Unnatural Occurrence (An Anna Morgan Novella (Part 1)) by Peggy Martinez Read Free Book Online Page B

throats of the girls she threatened. I could feel Amy’s power flow across my skin, but I could tell it was being amplified, and I was sure the book she was holding had something to do with that. I tamped down my fear and indecisiveness.
    I leapt from my spot against the wall toward Amy. She was only half facing me, but she was busy threatening her friends, so I had a slight advantage. But the three-against-one odds were not in my favor. I rammed into the side of the robed girl with all my body weight, trying to dislodge the book from her grasp as I did. Unfortunately, she had a death grip on it and it didn’t even budge. Amy cried out in pain and anger and turned to me to push me back away from her, but I latched onto her arm, still trying to get ahold of the book. In the back of my mind I had the idea that if I could just remove the book from her grasp, then she’d be more understanding. More reasonable.
    Amy bellowed out her rage and the two girls who, at first, were standing idly by in shock and uncertainty, jumped to their leader’s defense. I felt a shock of pure power, thick and wrong, when all three of them had their arms around me, their hands tearing at me, trying to remove me from Amy and my goal of getting the book away from them. My head was throbbing and I was pretty sure it had begun bleeding again. I realized quickly that I wasn’t going to win this. There was no way I was going to be able to take down all three girls, not with one of them engorged on dark magic. In desperation, I made a final reach for the book. My fingers curled around the spine and before I could even try to yank it free, the book latched onto me. I say latched, because that’s the only word I can think of to describe what happened. No, it didn’t grow arms and make a grab for me, but whatever evil the book contained knew me and it liked me.
    Everything happening in the room faded to the furthest part of my consciousness . I could feel scratches and punches, could here screaming and crying, but nothing was as vivid as the place where my hand touched the book. Nothing else mattered in that moment. I would have gladly stood there and let them beat me to death with a heavy blanket of rightness cloaked about me if not for what happened next. 
    Julie Reese was not like other wraiths.
    Julie Reese was pissed off, in pain, and she felt betrayed.
    The wraith of Julie Reese pushed itself inside my body.
     
    *~*
     
    I was standing in the same room, but I wasn’t me . Not really. I couldn’t see the swirling darkness in the room anymore. Everyone was standing in a circle around me and holding a small, black candle with their heads bowed. They were all wearing black robes with hoods to hide their faces. I was wearing a robe, but I was the only one who wasn’t wearing a hood. There was a small bench made of stone at the head of the circle behind me. I shivered despite myself. I didn’t like the bench or the marking on the wall above it. A figure approached me from the circle. I was scared, but I wanted to be in this sorority more than anything. My mother had once been its leader and everything was riding on this initiation. I wanted to prove that I was a Reese through and through, despite how different I felt from everyone since I was a little girl. I wanted to make my mom proud for once. I’d do whatever I had to do to get in.
    “ Julie Reese, are you ready to pledge your loyalty to this sorority?” It was Amy. She approached me a few days before and told me I’d been chosen. I was elated, but now I was a bit terrified. Terrified and exhilarated .
    “I am.” Amy nodded and turned away. She walked around the circle of girls counter-clockwise and lit each of their candles from her own. A thrill shot up my spine. This was it. I was going to become a member. When she finished , she sat her own candle on the ground near the stone bench and pulled a small book out of her robes with her left hand. She pulled a long, wicked-looking dagger