Free Mind Games: An Urban Fantasy Novel (The Lillim Callina Chronicles Book 6) by J.A. Cipriano Page A

let out an explosion of breath. “I won’t be able to hold him back for much longer, Lillim. Even I have my limits.”
    “What are you talking about?” I asked, edging backward again. My foot came off the edge of the curb, and I fell. I hit the road hard on my butt, and as pain shot through my tailbone, a screech of tires whistled through my ears.
    I swung my head toward the sound to see a tan station wagon barreling toward me in a squeal of burning rubber. Smoke poured from the tires, but it wouldn’t matter. The vehicle was moving way too fast to stop itself from turning me into roadkill. I tried to get up, tried to get out of the way, but my limbs felt like lead, and my reactions were as slow as molasses.
    The milk white man leapt in front of the car, throwing his shoulder down and out as the station wagon struck him. It broke, actually bent in his shape as darkness exploded out of him, engulfing the vehicle in a heartbeat and flinging it end over end into the car behind it. They collided in a shriek of tortured steel before both vanished into wisps of pale gray smoke.
    The man spun toward me, golden blood dripping from his lips as he staggered a step. His entire side looked punched in, reminding me of a crumpled tin can. “Lillim,” he sputtered, lips spraying golden spittle from his mouth as he spoke. “You must remember the truth.”
    “And what’s the truth?” I called as he faded before my eyes, becoming almost completely transparent before I even finished speaking.
    “That you are Dioscu—” He disappeared, leaving me sitting there in the empty street like an idiot.
    I wasn’t sure how long I remained there, completely immobile, but it must have been awhile because by the time I got to my feet it was nighttime. It was a little weird because no one had even stopped to see if I or the people in the cars were okay. I looked back toward the scene of the accident. The cars were gone, just gone.
    Had I somehow imagined the whole thing? No, that was impossible. Right? I swallowed, my wrists aching as I got myself back onto the sidewalk. Cars continued racing by, completely oblivious to my existence. The streetlight overhead cast some light on the street, but it was still dark enough for a twinge of fear rise up in my gut and threaten to strangle me.
    “What am I going to do?” I asked no one in particular as my mom’s green Honda pulled up in front of me and slid to a stop.
    “Lillim! What the hell are you doing out here in the middle of the night?!” my father called through the passenger window. Both my parents were seated inside the car looking none too pleased. “We’ve been looking for you for hours!”
    “You have?” I asked, not sure how that was possible. I’d just left school minutes ago, but then again, it was nighttime. Had I dazed the whole time and imagined everything? Surely, I had because there were no broken cars. Still, how could I have lost so many hours without remembering?
    “Yes!” my mother snapped, the anger in her voice making me shiver. “We were supposed to have a nice night, but instead.” She gripped the steering wheel so tightly, her knuckles were nearly white. “Instead, we’ve spent the entire night out here driving around looking for you.”
    My father exited the car before I could say a word and grabbed me by the arm. Not hard per se, but enough to show me he was angry, though he did a better job of hiding it than my mother did. “Get in the car,” he said in a voice so low it made my knees weak.
    “I’m sorry,” I whispered as I was pushed into the back seat.
    “You’re sorry?” my mother asked incredulously. “You wander off from school without a word…” She paused, taking a moment to calm herself, and I wondered if she was counting in her head because she shut her eyes and her lips moved, but no sound came out. She opened her eyes and turned in her seat to look at me. The anguish stretched across her face nearly broke my heart. I’d hurt her, but