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.“Come on Bry.We have to keep going.”“Damn it.I hate this,” he whispers.“I know.I’m sure we’ll be out soon.” They had to be getting close to some kind of exit by now.“I can take a room full of Demons.I can take Witches and Warlocks.I can even take your creeper brother, but this freaks me out.I need some kind of light.”“I know,” Keely says again.She understands how terror can take over.But she also knows you can overcome it.At least to a point.She herself has come a long way very recently.“I’m here with you.You’re not alone, Bryon.” He grips her hand so tightly it begins to feel numb.“Wait, did you say there are Witches?”“And Warlocks,” Lila says as she tries to move forward again, but Bryon is holding firmly to his spot.“Come on.You can do this.I just watched you kick a Demon’s ass in less than a minute.Remember, you’re awesome?”“Keely, please.I just need a second.”She releases Lila’s hand and wraps her arms around Bryon.His body is rigid.His clothes soaked in sweat.As she hugs him to her, his heart slams against her ear as if it is pounding out of his chest.She wants to cry, she feels so bad for him.This Watcher who wouldn’t change what he does, even now as terrified as he is.A pale bluish light glows beyond Keely’s closed eyes.She opens them quickly looking for the source of the light.Bryon holds her at arm’s length, eyes large and full of wonder, gazing back at her.Keely glances around again before her eyes settle on Bryon’s.She sees herself reflected there, light radiating warmly around her.Softly glimmering off of her skin everywhere.“What the…?” Lila murmurs.“Well that’s new.”Twenty:“Kiem, this is either the coolest, or the most disturbing thing I have ever seen,” Bryon utters through barely moving lips.He tilts his head to look around Keely, unsure.“You’re luminescent.” His mouth spreads slowly into a smile.A real, Bryon smile.His skin and teeth reflect her light, casting a blue hue.Inhaling shakily, Keely looks down at her hands.She turns them over, examining her palms.The hairs on her arms rise and even they are glowing.It’s such a pretty color, bright in shade like Bryon’s eyes, but pale in illumination.She smiles back hesitantly.In her mind, she seconds Bryon’s earlier statement.She’s freaked out, but totally enthralled simultaneously.The only word she can manage is a nearly inaudible, “Why?”Lila circles her like a vulture before coming to a halt beside Bryon.She places her hands on her hips and inspects Keely from head to toe, then back up again.“It’s pretty,” she finally decides aloud.Bryon nods in wonder.“I say we don’t look a gift horse in her light conjuring face.Or however that saying goes.” Bryon shrugs and Keely squints at him.“Did you just call me a horse?”Once again, Bryon shrugs.Lila is monumentally giddy.Turning Bryon so they can continue on their way, she is almost skipping.“You are just full of surprises, Keely.” Smiling, she adds, “Do you realize that you basically became a flashlight when we needed light the most? It’s amazing.” She shakes her head.Lila’s long pink-blond hair falls over her shoulders as her tiny frame bounces with each step, reminding Keely again of a pixie.“Do you know how you’re doing it?” Bryon hasn’t stopped smiling at her.She mulls it over, constantly looking down at herself.She’s unable to wrap her mind around it.Light is coming from under her clothes so she knows her entire body is alight.“I’m not positive, but I feel a humming throughout my body, and something keeps rolling in my stomach.But not in a bad way.It feels almost normal to me.”“Do you think you could turn it off if you needed to?” Lila gives her a panicked look.Keely shakes her head.“I don’t know.I don’t even know how I turned it on.”“O.k.We’ll just deal with that when we get to it.We may need to hide and darkness is probably our only hope here.”Nodding, Keely bites her lip.She wants to try turning it off just to make sure she’s capable of it, but doesn’t want to take the chance of not being able to turn it back on.As it turns out, she doesn’t need to worry about this any longer.As they round the next corner, there’s a light at the other end.Keely focuses on switching herself off as they jog toward the light.She imagines herself as a lamp and pictures herself flipping a switch.When that doesn’t work, she thinks of a flashlight, like Lila had said.She envisions pressing the button.Keely even thinks about removing the batteries.Still she is glowing.Looking at Bryon, she bites her lip wondering how to stop the light.With several flickers, like the lantern shortly ago, her light abruptly burns out.Lila and Bryon look questioningly at her.She shrugs, unable to offer a theory.They are close enough to discern it is not natural light, but definitely coming from an electrical source.Keely can hear the hum from the wires above their heads, mirroring the feeling that had just been throbbing inside of her.Bryon stares at Lila.She nods, giving the all right.They hover around the open door, listening.There is a sound and Keely can picture feet anxiously shuffling.It’s followed by a long sigh and her heart thumps hard against her rib cage.Everything goes very still around Keely for an excruciatingly long second as it registers in every cell of her being that she knows that sigh.Without any indication she is going to make a movement, Keely rushes through the door, leaving Bryon and Lila in shocked silence.“Mom?”In the half of a heartbeat it takes Keely’s eyes to find her mother sitting restlessly in a dark wooden chair, Lila and Bryon are at her side.Kimberly Kiem stares back at her daughter, her mouth rounding in an O as if bewilderment is the only emotion she is capable of at the moment [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]