The Relentless Warrior by Rachel Higginson

Author:Rachel Higginson [Higginson, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2001-01-01T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Olivia

I stared up at the giant insect-like man and felt death creep around the edges of my body. His exaggerated bug eyes seemed to see every part of me, everything in my past and in my future. It didn’t matter if I tried to run, it didn’t matter if I stayed put. He would kill me no matter what.

And after me, my sister.

Ophelia lay in an unconscious heap on the cracked, dry ground behind me. Her body was limp like usual and her eyes moving rapidly behind her sickly transparent eyelids.

Did it even matter if I sacrificed myself for her?

If the evil creature in front of me didn’t kill her, would she just die anyway?

Those thoughts flitted through my brain as fast as hummingbird wings, mixed with opposing thoughts that gave me courage, mingled with confusing flashes that gave me hope, and intertwined with the core-deep feeling that someone I knew would save us both.

I tilted my chin and met the monster’s cold, black stare. I silently dared him to attack, challenged him with everything that I was. He gazed back, hungry and salivating with greed. He didn’t care how much resolve I’d found; he would destroy me no matter what.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Our world was shaken up by the loud sound. The ground quaked, debris fell from some unknown place and the half-human, half-super-sized-preying-mantis stumbled.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

And then the hideous creature said my name, “Olivia.”

But it wasn’t his voice.

I sat up in bed, clutching the soft, silky sheets in order to ground myself.

Dream. It was just a dream.

My heart pounded against my ribs and blood rushed in my ears. I sucked in gulping breaths of air and mentally willed my new Magic to relax. The energy sizzled out from my body, burning the room in hazy light that looked like a deep purple in the dark room.

Someone knocked on the door again and this time I yelled out for them to enter.

“Come in,” I croaked in a voice raspy with sleep.

The door slowly opened and light from the hallway spilled in so that I had to cover my eyes against the brightness.

“Liv?” Jericho asked with a voice that he had to force to be gentle. “Hey, sorry.” He walked all the way in the room and closed the door behind him.

My nerve endings electrified with awareness. We had shared the most intimate kiss of my life earlier, but why was he here now?

Finishing his kiss?

Or apologizing for the mistake?

“Is everything alright?” I asked because I was a big chicken and I didn’t want to hear about how he never meant to kiss me or spend so much time with me.

“No,” he answered and my heart leapt from my chest to my throat where I nearly choked on it. But then he went on. “We learned some pretty disturbing information tonight. One of our high ranking officials is in some pretty serious danger.”

“What kind of danger?”

“The kind that ends in death.” Jericho sounded flippant, but I could feel his pain as if it were my own.

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