Free Destine (The Watcher's Trilogy) by Katherine Polillo Page A

kind of crazed stalker who had done his research, looked through her medical records somehow or whatever . All I knew for sure is that when a crazed stalker is your most logical explanation you ’ r e in some deep shit . I h ate d to bust his bubble, but I wa s hardly worth all the effort. O f course , didn’t cults and kidnappers target social outcasts ? Still seemed like a lot of research for just little ole me .
                  When I finally reached my front door I resigned mys elf to not think about this any more tonight . I was exhausted . I t had been a terrible week at school with the whole Cami problem, and the excitement I had felt about me eting Gabriel was replaced by mental exhaustion now that I knew he was a nut . I slipped in the back door , expecting Dad to already be asleep, and hopefully Mom would be , too . I threw my jacket over a chair in the kitchen and was going to slip through the living room to my bedroom when I noticed the television was still on . I went into the living room to turn it off , and that’s when I noticed my m other was still up . She was usually in bed by now . I walked over and switched off the TV and was about to help her to bed when she shot off the couch .
    “He told you!” she shouted . “ It’s starting. The trumpet is sounding, truth is upon us, and the Judgment Day nears! ” She caught me so off guard that I stumbled backwards and almost landed square on my butt . The racket must have w o ke n Dad up because I saw a light come on do wn the hall . “The first seal is broken, the white horse is here . Protect yourself! ”
    “Mom, Mom! Calm down , it’s just me, Michelle . I was going to help you to bed,” I attempted to calm her down .
    Just then Dad appeared at the end of the hall. “What are you still doing up, h on ?” he asked . He put his arm around her shoulders and began to steer her towards the bedroom .
    She jerked out of his grasp and turned back to me. “Wear your necklace, it ’ s protection . Don’t remove it! ” And just like that she turned back around and let my father le a d her to bed without another word . Dad glanced behind her and gave me an apologetic, sad smile . I took several deep breaths to calm my racing heart and turned to head to bed myself . Something told me I wasn’t going to be able to forget about Gabriel or my mother, and I probably wouldn’t be getting much sleep tonight either .
                  I finally fel l into a restless sleep around four a . m . The dream started well enough . I was standing alone on the school football field , t he stadium lights were on the field, but the bleachers and surrounding areas were black with night . I was standing on the fifty-yard line alone, as if I was waiting for someone . I turned towards the sideline and out of the darkness stepped Gabriel . He was dressed entirely in white, and his clear ice colored eyes seemed to pierce my skin . He slowly began w alking towards me with that lop-sided smirk of his . As he stepped onto the field the stadium lights cast a shadow behind him; attached to the shadow of his body was a dark shadow of wings , huge and outstretched . The shadow was clear and unmistakable and the wings spanned several feet on either side of him . He continued to walk towards me as if he didn’t notice the shadow and he began to speak.
    “I’ve been waiting for you,” he whispered in a voice that didn’t quite sound like the voice I knew as Gabriel’s . He was still at least fifteen feet away, but I co u ld hear his whisper as if it directly in my ear . C hills ran up my spine . “I was told to guide you and convince you of your destiny, but I was not told where to find you,” he continued . “I searched the great cities of the past, the religious Mecca’s , and then I came to this new world . I knew not where to go, but with the breaking of the first seal and the release of the white horse I knew that this is where you would be. ”
    I