Free Follow the Bloodshed (The Executioner Trilogy Book 3) by Kindra Sowder

run until it was warm and splashed water on my face. The sweat running down my forehead had drenched my hairline and began to sting my eyes. I rubbed the water into my eyes and the sting began to subside. With my eyes shut I turned off the water and reached up to the small towel bar by the sink, grabbing the hand towel and dabbing my face with it. My body felt stiff as if I had slept in one position the whole time. I had been exhausted by the time we had fallen asleep. Gordon pushing images into my mind didn’t help either. It was a tiring experience and it hadn’t even taken five minutes.
    I opened my eyes and could see the reflection of a dark figure standing in the bedroom, at the bottom of the bed watching him sleep. I couldn’t make out much as I watched the figure in the mirror. Only that it was female with extremely long hair and she was swaying back and forth ever so slightly and watching silently. I froze. It wasn’t Beth. Beth’s hair was shorter.  I heard a soft drip. The silent figure in the room was watching the man I love sleep, but why?
    I turned slowly, not letting my feet make a sound as they slid across the tiled floor. I had finally stopped shaking, but now fear was creeping into my bones, causing the beast inside of me to wake. It was completely interested with the figure and I had to swallow down the growls. I crossed the threshold, but the figure began to turn away from Gordon and towards me. I should’ve known as soon as I saw the dark hair that mirrored my own and met those same green eyes I saw in the mirror every day. My mother, whose presence had terrified me once, was now here again and in the same place she had been before. What the Hell did it mean?
    “Mom?” The word came out in a whisper. I pushed myself away from the doorway and walked to her, wanting to touch her to see if she was real but I couldn’t. Gordon was still fast asleep and I was praying that he would remain that way until I could make sense of it all. My mother was drenched from head to toe and that was when I had realized it was raining outside again. Just like the night I had returned from Hell. She reached out to me, water dripping from the same white peasant dress she had been buried in. It was her favorite when she was alive. Was she really here? I let my arm drift, palm facing up so she could easily place her hand in mine. Her skin was ashen and as pale as the moonlight filtering in and drifting across the hardwood floor. Her hand was almost touching mine when a loud noise startled me. Gordon awoke with a start and as I turned from him and back to where my mother had stood I realized she was gone. Again. She wasn’t back like I had hoped . The noise came again, drawing our attention outside.
    We crossed the cool floor to the window, Gordon barely making it there first. A shimmer was spreading from the bottom of the barrier and spreading up throughout and passed into the sky. It was towards the road so I couldn’t see what was happening or who was doing it. We would have to go outside, something my mother was possibly trying to warn me against. She had a tendency to pop up when something bad was about to happen.
    Gordon took my hand in his and we headed towards the bedroom door. His palm was warm and sweaty, and I was sure mine was the same. The blows to the barrier were rhythmic and caused small vibrations through the floor. However Beth had concocted this thing, I was going to need her to teach me.
    My heart was pounding and the beast was stirring and I was trying to control it, but that didn’t stop the slight glow at the center of my chest where my heart rested. It was beating along with the hits to the barrier. Gordon’s hand was squeezing mine so tight that I would’ve told him to let go except I was doing the same. The terror running through us both was palpable as Gordon opened the bedroom door. We were greeted by the sight of Beth and Chase frozen at the top of the stairs. I had a feeling this wasn’t