Dragons Within by C. D. Lombardi

Author:C. D. Lombardi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Balance of Seven
Published: 2021-11-04T01:17:47+00:00

Queen of the Underworld

Rachael Denessen

It took twenty minutes, an unwanted cruller, and a flower crown for Sef to realize she was being followed.

Sef had just had the worst bad day, and she’d had some doozies. She had come home from learning her dream job had been outsourced, leaving her unemployed, only to find her tiny corner of the world ringing with fire alarms and the hissing spray of overhead sprinklers.

. . . not up to code, uninhabitable, must vacate immediately . . .

The words of her building’s superintendent rang like painful gongs through her head as she entered the park, which didn’t help the tension headache brewing at the base of her skull and blurring her vision. She’d lost everything, and she didn’t even have anyone to fall back on for support.

The first time the man appeared over her shoulder, she ignored him. Like the other slightly amorphous figures clouding her unfocused vision, he probably wasn’t a threat. Or even real. Even the hard pavement beneath her feet didn’t feel like reality anymore. She didn’t have energy to distinguish between blobby shadows.

The scent of fried dough wafted out from a jacaranda tree tunnel, quieting the gong of intrusive memories. Stomach growling, she sped up—purely for the chance of a doughnut. The black-attired dude might still have been a figment of her imagination, but the doughnuts weren’t.

Despite wearing jogging clothes and a fading topknot, Sef was decidedly not a runner. By the time she reached the doughnut cart, she had to brace her hands on her knees, panting, as tendrils of hair clung to her face.

“Cruller?” the cart attendant asked. Sef put up a finger, asking for a second to catch her breath. The attendant, not understanding, bagged the proffered cruller. By the time Sef could speak, the attendant had packaged the cruller in a homespun bag and sealed it with a cute sticker.

Now Sef couldn’t refuse. Wordlessly—and trying not to pant, as she had reached the time limit for acceptable public panting—she handed the attendant money from her armband. As she zipped it back up, she caught sight of the shadowy figure yards away. Frowning, she breathlessly thanked the girl for the unwanted cruller.

He’s not following me. I’m not interesting enough to follow. She sighed and got back on the path, rubbing her temple. Damn this dude. Nah. If he comes at me, I’ll throw this cruller in his face. He’s gonna catch a swift kick to the nuts before I run again.

Feeling better with a plan, Sef raised her head. Perhaps her spine was a bit straighter. A casual sweep of her head kept her rear view in check. The hit of adrenaline did wonders for sharpening her surroundings to better resemble reality. Yet she still couldn’t quite feel the ground beneath her feet or pinch herself hard enough to really feel the pain. She looked at the red pinch mark on her arm and frowned.

By the time she reached the thoroughfare, she’d marked her dark shadow every thirty seconds.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.