Free Dreams (Sarah Midnight Trilogy 1) by Daniela Sacerdoti Page B

her parents’ files the night before.

             Michael Sheridan
             Sheila Douglas
             John Burton
             Katy McHarg
             Simon Knowles
             Mary Brennan
             Catherine Hollow

    Sarah took her head in her hands. I’ve never hurt a human being before. I don’t want to, I can’t …
    A knock on the door.
    “Sarah, are you awake?” It was Harry.
    “Yes, come in.”
    He looked terrible, with purple shadows under his eyes, a faded T-shirt and the same jeans as the day before.
    “Did you sleep OK?” he asked.
    “Not much, but OK. How did you … not sleep?”
    Harry smiled. “Exactly. Would you like some coffee?”
    “I’ll make it.” Even in the most dramatic of circumstances, Sarah wasn’t going to relinquish her perfect cappuccino.
    On her way downstairs, she stood at the mirror and looked at herself. She couldn’t help a warm feeling spreading through her veins, somehow, even in the midst of all that fear, all that grief. Because Harry was there, and she wasn’t alone.
    Sitting at the breakfast table, Harry and Sarah were sipping their cappuccinos in silence. Suddenly the phone rang. They both jumped, as if they’d received an electric shock.
    “It’s just the phone,” laughed Harry. “Talk about nerves!”
    No wonder.
    Sarah went to answer it, and in a few minutes, she was back.
    “It was Aunt Juliet. They wanted me to spend the day with them. I managed to convince her I’m too busy.”
    “You are. Today we begin.”
    Sarah felt a knot of fear in her stomach. What do we begin?
    “What’s the first name on the list?” Harry’s clear eyes were shining. Sarah could see how excited he was. He loves hunting, just like my parents did .
    The realization came at once: I’m not like them. I hate all this. It’s my duty, but I’d never choose it .
    “Michael Sheridan,” Sarah read. “Harry …”
    “Great. Let’s go get the daggers.”
    “How do you know where to find him?”
    Harry lifted his iPhone. “I’ve got … people. Friends who find out things for me.”
    “Right.” Dodgy . “Harry, I can’t …”
    “You can’t what? You don’t want to just sit here waiting for the next attack, do you?”
    “No. But I can’t hunt human beings.”
    “We won’t be hunting them , the people on the list. We’re after the Surari they called to their service. It took the Valaya years to gain enough knowledge to summon them. They’d need years to summon others. In the meantime, they’ll be helpless, or as good as.”
    Sarah closed her eyes. So many things to learn, so much knowledge to make hers. A whole new world, a new life. A terrifying one, worse than the one she had before. And that one was bad enough.
    How much I hate all this , she thought, and immediately she felt breathless, anxiety weighing on her lungs and stopping them from filling up with air.
    “Harry, if we go around looking for demons in the middle of the day, someone will see us and there’ll be panic!”
    “Let’s say that today we go for a lookaround. Just to see how the land lies. Let’s go get the daggers. By the way, do you mind if I use your father’s? I have a dagger of my own, but his feels great in the hand. So light. A real treat.”
    “The sgian-dubh ? Of course. You can have it. But if it’s just a lookaround , why the daggers?”
    “You can’t go wrong with a dagger. I learnt that in Japan … The hard way.” Harry raised his left arm. There was a deep, white scar from his elbow to his wrist. He smiled, that arrogant smile again. With a dimple on his left cheek, she noticed. “Also, there’s quite a few things I can do with a blade.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “You’ll see.”
    “You take the dagger, then. I’ve got the blackwater,” said Sarah stubbornly.
    “Take the dagger. Trust me.”
    “I don’t.” Her expression was so mutinous, so childish, that he couldn’t help smiling. “OK then. Let’s say you