Snapdragon Book II: In the Land of the Dragon by Brandon Berntson

Author:Brandon Berntson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2014-04-25T22:00:00+00:00

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It was the way in which it all began that troubled him most of all: the same wind blowing cold, the papers blowing across his desk. That deep, perpetual darkness was here again. It had been a nice little town, which had run into some unfortunate circumstance was all. Yet, you couldn’t really call this unfortunate, could you? Because it was nothing of the kind. This was more than misfortune. This was condemnation. It was darkness supernal, and it was moving in across the streets now.

Frank Allen Bimsley had no idea about that darkness until it began to show itself. He had no idea about the extent, or the omniscient presence of that darkness. He had read somewhere that evil was banal…even stupid. But he didn’t see anything banal or stupid about any of this. This was like something lying to waste everything in its path. It was that kind of darkness, that kind of entity. It had been teasing him perhaps, giving him just a little taste of what to expect before…

When? Frank thought. Now? Before now?

Yes, he could see that easily.

Night had fallen, and outside the streets teemed with debris. The wind was making a mockery of the streets. Plastic bags blew in a whirlwind like directionless souls turned into balloons. The stars were out, and there was a sense of cold to these October streets he’d never felt before. Where did cold like that come from, he wondered? Who was to say? The stars seemed a part of it as well, like pinprick icicles in the night sky. The land itself, the darkness beyond, even the mountains…this was a different sort of cold, a blistering, digging cold that went straight to the bones. It made a home here. It wheedled its way into your marrow and just lied there getting colder.

All that, and you haven’t even stepped outside, Frank thought.

The funny thing was, he didn’t want to step outside. He didn’t want to have anything to do with it. Because he knew…if he did…

Bud Jackson was staring up into the sky, transfixed. Cedar Johanson, as well, stood dumfounded, looking on. Margaret Tudor…brothers James and Oliver Peachtree. He was looking at them through the window in his office, wondering if he should go down, but not sure how that would help. To put it simply, he was scared. He was terrified

What had turned into a simple night out had become a revelation of sorts.

Frank walked out of his office and downstairs, stopping for just a second before the double-glass doors. He could see out over the street, the residents of Ellishome looking into the night sky, and he took a deep breath. He opened the door and stepped outside.

Yes. Cold. Instantly, the wind cut deep beneath his flesh. He looked at the people gaping into the night sky. He thought about the death toll rising. He thought about people moving out, and when he’d taken that step outside, he wondered why he, himself, hadn’t followed suit. It was just another night in another small town, another condemned small town.

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