Free Anathema by Maria Rachel Hooley Page A

many stones I run into or how
easily I could trip. I have to put some distance between me and
this place where even the dead don’t seem to rest in peace.
    The blackness blurs together, and I peer up
at the starless canopy of midnight blue overhead, lamenting the
absence of starlight. My teeth chatter, and I rub my good hand over
my arm, trying to add to the warmth. The wind picks up and flips my
hair into my eyes, making them sting.
    The world is so strange around me, and I
don’t know where I’m going; I just know that anywhere has to be
better than here.

Chapter Six
    One moment I’m running through the cemetery
in a blind panic, my vision smeared with tears, and the next I feel
hands gripping my arms, stopping me.
    “Elizabeth? What’s going on?” The voice is
distorted, and I can see a figure in front of me, but the moonlight
isn’t bright enough for me to distinguish much else, which only
leads to me trying to pull away harder and crying. I have to get
out of here. Jayzee is dead back there.
    “Are you hurt?” Hands wrap around tightly my
arms as I try to bolt again. His grasp is strong and sure. Faint
moonlight washes over his grey sweatshirt. “Stop trying to run.” He
slips his hand under my chin and forces my gaze to his.
    It is then I see the moonlight trickle
through his blond hair, and I realize Lev has found me, but it is
too late to take things back—too late to stop the monster I am
becoming.
    “Say something, Elizabeth!” he demands in a
frantic voice, and his gaze sweeps over me as though looking for a
physical reason I have become mute.
    “You have to get away from me!” I snap,
wondering if that power will suddenly resurface. While Lev is pure
and Jayzee wasn’t, I don’t know that there is much else that is
different about them.
    “Calm down. I’m not in any danger, okay? If I
were, I’d be gone. Now tell me what happened.”
    “Jayzee.” I don’t have the strength to say
more and I start to pull away, bent on running until I get the hell
out of this place, but Lev isn’t releasing me.
    “Where is Jayzee?” he asks, frowning as he
takes in the lay of the cemetery. “I don’t see her.”
    I swallow hard and force myself to look back
so I can find the crypt and point it out. “On the side.” I try to
hedge away. No go. He isn’t easing his grip one bit.
    “Okay. You need to calm down and tell me what
happened.” His jaw clenches, and I can tell this is so not what he
wants to talk about.
    “How did you find me?” I ask, wishing my
heart would slow and let me breathe normally.
    “It took a while. Now back to Jayzee….” he
prompts, his gaze lingering on the crypt.
    “I must have sleep-walked out here because I
woke up from a nightmare and found myself on the ground. I’ve never
been here at night so I was disoriented. I thought I saw a figure
by the crypt and expected it to be you. When I got there, I
realized my mistake—that it was Jayzee. I tried to get out of
there, but she attacked me. I was afraid of the power coming out,
so I tried to stay calm and not react. I did pretty well until my
hand got hurt again. Then….” My voice trails off and it’s just as
well because I know I’m going to start crying again if I keep
talking about this.
    “Let me see your hand,” he demands, reaching
for it.
    “It’ll be okay,” I lie, not wanting him to
freak out about the blood seeping through the bandage.
    “Let me be the judge of that.” He quickly
grabs my hand and flips my palm up to the sky so the growing stain
which is now about the size of a tennis ball faces him.
    “It’ll be fine!” I insist and try to jerk my
hand away.
    “No, it won’t. When Jayzee attacked you, she
pulled the stitches loose. Evan is going to have to redo them to
get the bleeding to stop.”
    The thought of a needle going into my skin
forces a convulsive shudder, and I whisper, “No.”
    “This isn’t a debate, Elizabeth. We have to
get the bleeding to stop.” He grabs my free