URIEL: The Price (The Airel Saga, Book 6) (Young Adult Paranormal Romance) by Aaron Patterson, Chris White Read Free Book Online Page A

hallway of his house, right outside his daughter’s bedroom door, in a cloud of cordite, among fumes that reeked of rotten egg, he crumpled to the floor and began to weep.
    And than the power came back on.
    When his eyes had adjusted to the brightness, he practically leaped out of his skin trying to get away from what he saw. The house was quiet, but he forced himself to go after the other one.
    He had to make sure it was dead. No rest for the wicked.
    * * *
    Elsewhere
    I CAME BACK TO myself in a high meadow surrounded by wildflowers. At first, I didn’t recognize where I was.
    There was a great ring in the wild grass, a path made by walking. That much I recognized from dreams I’d had. But I didn’t recognize what I saw next.
    At the center of the ring stood a beautiful complex of buildings, all of them brand new and gleaming under silvery tiled roofs, the walls made of white stones that were a little translucent, a little luminescent.
    I entered the buildings and explored them for what felt like sometimes, and then I came upon a great big open room. It was an atrium closed in by a dome of crystal glass at least a hundred feet across and three stories tall. The sun poured in through it and ran wild over ferns and shrubs and trees. Hummingbirds flitted from flower to flower, and as I looked up, smiling, I saw it.
    The round window, high above, now not just a naked hole but a beautifully adorned sheet of stained glass, changed my perspective for me. These were the ruins of my life? Now they were whole and new, magnificent in every way.
    As in a dream, I rose up on nothing and stood in the air before the round window and beheld the glowing, colorful image portrayed in it. A flying woman trailing a streak of blue light held a sword in both hands. She was dressed in pure white and darkness fled from her far below, at the bottom of the circle. The sword she carried was adorned with a great shimmering diamond at the hilt.
    The sword was unique, but it wasn’t quite the Sword of Light. I knew that Sword well—it didn’t have a massive diamond studding the hilt like this one did.
    Still, though, I knew who the woman was.
    It was me.

CHAPTER X
    Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho, Present Day
    “YOU CANNOT CRUSH IT, break it, or trick it into going away,” Kreios said. “The Bloodstone is not of this world, Michael—it must be sent back if it is to be overcome.” Kreios paced in front of the fire, unsure if the boy had what it took to go on, to withstand the Bloodstone.
    “What do you suggest?” Michael was tired, frustrated, and it showed on his face. They’d been at it for hours and come up with no better plan than to have Michael surreptitiously take the oath of the Seer and destroy the Brotherhood from within. But that was fraught with problems, one being that Michael had to live as the Seer and somehow keep himself from being overtaken by the most powerful form of evil in creation.
    “What if we . . .” Kreios spoke aloud. It was a passing thought, but it might work.
    “What if what? Kreios, what are you thinking?”
    Kreios rushed into his study and rummaged through his books and scrolls. “Where are you hiding?” he muttered under his breath. Finding the right one, he returned to Michael.
    “Are you going to share or keep all the good stuff to yourself?” Michael seemed to be in better spirits, and Kreios was glad for the distraction.
    “This is a book covering the history of death, the grave, and Hades. It talks of the afterlife of the foulest, of the undead.”
    “And how does that help us? Are you planning on going there?”
    Kreios held up a finger and paused, thinking. “You may be on to something, and if I am right, I think I found a way to get rid of the Bloodstone for good.” Kreios permitted himself a modest half grin, but it disappeared when the earth began to tremble. Like a firebeast of ancient times about to break forth beneath the mountains, he could feel the thin place on which his house had