The Shadow Games by Alison Ingleby

Author:Alison Ingleby
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: dystopian fantasy, dystopian urban fantasy, books with dragons, urban fantasy
Publisher: Windswept Writing
Published: 2021-05-27T00:00:00+00:00

I LAY IN BED THAT NIGHT listening to the grumbling noises Ty made while sleeping. I’d tossed and turned for hours, but there were too many thoughts spinning around my mind to allow me to sleep. Caesar had made it clear that my friends’ safety was dependent on me learning to use my powers. But what if they’d overestimated my abilities and I wasn’t able to do what they wanted? Even if I could figure it out, did they really expect me to hurt or kill other people for them? Caesar’s soul seemed as cold and dark as his eyes, but Marcus . . . Marcus had only been nice.

You can’t trust anyone down here.

Elan had been right. Trust was a luxury I couldn’t afford anymore.

I sighed and closed my eyes, letting tendrils of sleep wrap around me. But just as I felt myself falling, in that dim moment between consciousness and unconsciousness, a thought hit me. My eyes flew open.

“Elan,” I whispered.

Elan was a mind-talker. And he wasn’t associated with any of the factions, which meant that, technically, he wasn’t the enemy. Marcus had admitted he wasn’t sure how to help me use my power, but Elan would know.

Whether he’d teach me was another matter. But perhaps if there was something in it for him . . .

Sleep fled my body. I rolled onto my back and closed my eyes, going through the breathing exercises Marcus had taught me to calm my mind and focus. Then I reached out.

After our first week sharing a room, Cayden, Marissa and I had each been granted the privacy of a small room in a corridor with some of the other talented members of the faction. I immediately sensed Cayden’s and Marissa’s minds in the rooms on either side of me. Their minds felt uniquely them. It was like recognizing somebody standing behind you from their scent or the way they moved. More intimate than seeing the person or even hearing them speak.

I let my mind wander and picked up traces of other people sleeping in the rooms around us. At one point, I sensed a familiar warmth, which I instantly knew to be Marcus. The farther I pushed outward, the more overwhelming the sheer number of people became. It was like being lost in a crowd. Part of me wanted to pull back so I could be alone again, but I knew I had to persevere.

As I explored further, I realized I could easily tell the difference between the mind of a talented person and that of someone without powers. They felt richer, more complex. Knowing this helped me focus on a much smaller subsection of people and the sense of being overwhelmed lessened.

With no concept of distance, I had no idea if the minds I sensed were still those of Caesar’s people or if I had left the palace. The farther my mind roamed, the more my power felt stretched, like pulling an elastic thread. If I pushed too far, would it snap?

I gritted my teeth against the exhaustion that made my body tremble.

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.