The Midnight Palace by Zafon Carlos Ruiz

Author:Zafon, Carlos Ruiz [Zafon, Carlos Ruiz]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, azw3
Tags: JUV018000
ISBN: 9780316125659
Publisher: Hachette Book Group
Published: 2011-05-30T16:00:00+00:00

The sun dipped behind the broken glass panes on the eastern side of Jheeter’s Gate. A few seconds later Isobel watched, hypnotized, as hundreds of horizontal blades of light sliced through the shadows of the station. The howling voices grew in intensity, and soon Isobel could hear them echoing around the dome. The ground began to shake under her feet, and she noticed shards of glass falling from above. A sudden pain seared along her left forearm. When she touched the spot, warm blood flowed over her fingers. She ran toward one end of the station, covering her face with her hands.

As she took shelter under a staircase that led to the upper levels she noticed a large waiting room in front of her. Burned wooden benches were strewn across the floor and the walls were covered with strange, crudely drawn pictures. They seemed to represent deformed human shapes, demonic figures with long wolfish claws and eyes that popped out of their heads. The shaking beneath her feet was now intense, and Isobel approached the mouth of one of the tunnels. A blast of burning air scorched her face and she rubbed her eyes, unable to believe what she was seeing.

From the very depths of the tunnel emerged a glowing train covered in flames. Isobel flung herself to the ground as the train crossed the station with a deafening roar, metal grating against metal, accompanied by the yells of the hundreds of children who were trapped in the flames. She lay there, her eyes closed, paralyzed with terror, until the sound of the train died away.

Isobel raised her head and looked around her. The station was empty except for a cloud of steam that slowly lifted, tinted dark red by the afterglow of the sun. In front of her, barely half a meter away, was a puddle of some dark, sticky substance. For a moment Isobel thought she could see the reflection of a face on its surface, the luminous, sad face of a woman enveloped in light who was calling to her. She stretched out a hand toward the image and found the tips of her fingers soaked in the thick, warm fluid. Blood. Isobel jerked her hand away and wiped her fingers on her dress as the vision slowly vanished. Gasping for breath, she dragged herself as far as the wall and leaned against it to recover.

After a minute, she stood up again and looked around the station. The evening light was fading fast; soon night would be upon her. A single thought took hold of her: She didn’t want to wait for that moment inside Jheeter’s Gate. She started to walk nervously toward the exit—and only then did she spy a ghostly silhouette, advancing toward her through the mist. The figure raised a hand and Isobel saw its fingers burst into flames to light its path. By then she had realized that she wouldn’t be able to get out of that place as easily as she had entered.

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.