Free Pyros: DarkWorld: Skinwalker 0.5 (Novella) (DarkWorld: Origins Book 1) by T.G. Ayer

on the cool marble; then leaning for-ward, I listened to the frantic thudding of my heart. When my head stopped spinning, I reached for a glass from the wire rack, held it with shaking fingers and filled it, drinking until my thirst was quenched. I shuddered, my body feeling the effects of my journey.
    Looks like it's back to bed for you, Odel.
    Alpha or not, a girl had to know when to admit defeat. I needed rest and the kitchen was as far as I dared go. I filled the glass again and turned when the kitchen, floor, counter and all, began to spin. My stomach churned and the muscles in my abdomen clenched.
    Too light-headed to do anything, I sank to the floor, my knees at last losing the fight to hold me up. The heavy-bottomed drinking glass slipped from my grasp, falling straight to the wood floor, smashing into a million pieces. As the glass hit the ground, water burst from it like a geyser, spraying droplets all over the kitchen. And all over me.
    Good job. Now who's going to clean up this mess?
    Lying where I fell, my face rested close to my poison-wreathed arm. I stared at it as it throbbed and pulsed, as if the poison had taken on a life of its own and was just waiting for the next moment to advance farther into my flesh.
    Who knew a tiny piece of Wraith-sword could be this deadly? It seemed fate had conspired against us all: against me who had found and killed the soul-suckers, against Grandma Ivy who'd given me the armband for protection, and against my mother who'd sacrificed her life to ensure my sister and I would be safe from harm.
     
    ***
     

LOST SOUL - Chapter 2
    The lab was cold and silent as Logan breathed deep, drawing the fire through his body and centering the molten energy within his mind. The mouse shivered in his hand, its sickly green eyes staring up at him, its expression sad and pleading. The little, large-eyed white-furred creature had been shaved to reveal its bare skin, enabling Logan and the lab-techs to assess how well the fire was progressing in killing the poison.
    He felt a twinge of regret at using the innocent creature. He'd needed a suitable test subject to ensure he could find and perfect the safest method of neutralizing the poison. Now the naked mouse wriggled in his hand, its body streaked with the purple and green stains of the insidious venom.
    The colors guided his thoughts to Kailin, and his gut twisted at the pain and agony she continued to endure from the poison.
    Logan wanted to move faster. To hurry. The longer he took the more Kailin suffered, and if there was anything he wanted more, it was to free her from the bindings of the Wraith poison. But he had to keep reminding himself that he needed to be accurate much more than he needed to be fast. What good was rushing if he didn't get it right?
    The mouse squeaked as if he knew his time had come. Logan concentrated, harnessing and building the power in his mind, drawing it into a mental bowstring, pulling it taut but letting it go in a steady, controlled stream.
    He stared at the animal, watching for the slightest change.
    Logan could feel the heat surging throughout his body. He hoped his magic wouldn't be as destructive as the last time he'd tried this. He needed to know there was some hope for Kailin. Two weeks had passed since she'd returned from Wrythiin, two weeks since they'd discovered the poison infecting her system, and two endless weeks of suffering. His visits to Kailin always ended with him returning to the lab and working himself half to death. He hated seeing her suffer.
    The mouse squeaked again and Logan blinked. Now, he stared at his palm and the forgotten rodent struggling within it. He grasped the mouse, thumbed the skin below its eye, and pulled it down to examine the whites. Clear. He turned the mouse over in his hand, examining the skin closely. Only the faintest threads of grays and blues and purples remained, and they were fast disappearing. Seconds later the mouse, re-energized, twisted within his hand,