Free Inception (The Marked Book 1) by Bianca Scardoni Page B

above us, its voice echoing through the red sky before diving down to the ground beside me.
    “Did you see that?” I asked Trace, but he was still staring forward, talking to himself in voiceless riddles.
    I turned back to the raven and found Dominic kneeling in its place, the strange sky illuminating him in all the right ways. He stood up and reached out to me, stroking my cheek with the back of his fingers, letting me know everything was going to be okay. But I knew it was a lie.
    “What’s going on?” I asked them, but neither one responded. “Why won’t anyone answer me?”
    “This isn’t their time,” said a small voice from behind.
    I turned towards the sound; a little boy no more than eight or nine years old. His dark hair was parted to the side and his eyes were a familiar shade of gray.
    “What does that mean?” I asked him, bending down to meet him where he stood. “Whose time is it?”
    “Yours.”
    I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”
    “You have to go back. You have to make it right.”
    “Go back where? Make what right?”
    “The answers you seek are right where you are,” he said, pointing over my shoulder into the horizon.
    I followed his gaze down the abandoned street. “There’s nothing out there,” I said, looking back at him. But he was already gone.
    I turned back to Trace, easy as breathing. Something was always drawing me to him, magnetizing me in his direction. I wanted to be by his side, even in this strange dreamlike world. He reached for my hand and pulled me in close to him. His eyes speaking to me, telling me secrets I needed to know, but I couldn’t make out any of their words.
    “I don’t like it here,” I told him. “I want to go home.”
    He leaned in to me; to kiss me; to comfort me; and in my dream, I waited with bated breath for it, though our lips never connected. Instead, his lips moved down the base of my neck, caressing me as they glided over my hungry skin.
    I closed my eyes briefly, indulging in his touch. When I opened them again, short blond curls filled my vision.
    “This will only hurt a lifetime,” said Dominic and then bit down into my neck.
    The pain shot through my veins, burning as his poison consumed my being. He drank from me in unquenchable heaps, over and over again under the strange red sky.
    And I didn’t move a muscle to stop him.
     
    It took me several minutes to steady my heart rate and breathe once I realized it was only a dream. I climbed out of my bed and tiptoed my way down the hall, intent on getting myself a glass of water to wash away the dream’s bitter taste from my mouth. I wasn’t sure what time my uncle woke up at so I was extra quiet when I rounded the corner, careful not to accidentally wake him up. I relaxed as soon as I neared his office and heard his voice looming from within.
    “Jemma is my responsibility. I will decide what’s best for her,” I heard him say, and froze mid-step.
    After a brief pause, he continued. “The problem is she’s neither here nor there at this point. She’s somewhere in-between. We can’t go on this way, it’s much too dangerous. The spell has to be broken.”
    The spell? What spell? What’s too dangerous? What in the HELL was he talking about?
    I took a step forward, greedily wanting a better view, better sound. The wood creaked monstrously beneath my foot giving me away as though the house were alive and openly playing for the other team.
    Crap.
    “Listen, we’ll discuss this later at the meeting. Something’s come up.”
    I took a series of track-star steps backwards towards my room and nearly somersaulted myself back into bed, pulling the covers up over my head and squeezing my eyes shut.
    Several moments later, I heard my door creak open, followed by a brief stint of silence, before it closed shut again.
    There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that my uncle had just come in to see if I was awake. If I had been the culprit eavesdropping on his conversation, probably