Free Nightwish (An Echoes of Eternity Novel Book 1) by Sydney Bristow Page B

as a feather and moved quicker than I thought possible until panic set in, and I somehow returned to my room. I stood on the floor near my bedroom door…watching my body resting peacefully on my bed.
    Unable to comprehend what had happened, I waved my right hand towards my left, only to watch it pass through my left forearm without the least bit of resistance. Confused, I turned around and reached for the doorknob, only to have my hand go right through the knob. What the hell?
    I reached for it again, but once more, my hand passed right through the doorknob and the door itself without the least bit of pain. Had I died? I spun around, ready to run over to the bed. But I didn’t need to run. I simply appeared there a moment later, looking down at my body, breathing steadily, lost in a deep sleep.
    I listened for The Intruder , expecting her to have put a spell on me, but silence greeted me. I imagined her outside my bedroom door, an ear propped against it, listening intently. A second later, I stood exactly where I’d envisioned her standing.
    Disoriented, I turned one way then the next, but I didn’t see or hear The Intruder in either direction. It occurred to me that I was in one sense of the word a ghost, despite having not died, since I left my sleeping form in my bedroom.
    Then I recalled Grams in this same state. She’d called it astral projection. It seemed I’d discovered my first gift! It made me feel special to know that Zephora was the only other witch in our line to have this ability. I decided to see if The Intruder was asleep, so I started in that direction. A half-second later, however, I found myself across the hall, standing before her bedroom door.
    I reached out to grab the knob and once more watched my hand slip through the circular piece of brass. But in this instance, since I expected to turn the knob and push the door open, my body followed my hand right through the door and into Grams’s room.
    I stood before The Intruder and watched her sleep. It was such a creepy sight, knowing someone else had invaded Grams’s body. I expected to feel nauseous, but this phantom version of myself wouldn’t let me feel any particular body part. That actually made sense since my body lay inside my bedroom.
    I approached the bed, looking closer, trying to get a better angle of the person inside the woman I’d loved all my life.
    She lay on her left side, eyes closed, breathing quietly.
    A second later, without needing to walk to her bed, I materialized right beside it, looking down at her, seeing her deep wrinkles, her thinning white hair.
    Grams opened her eyes and stared right at me. Taking an even breath in through her nose, she said, “I know you are here.” She didn’t look the least bit worried. If anything, she seemed amused. “I can sense you.” She lifted her head from the pillow, propped herself up on an elbow. “I know you are here,” she said. “Do you think you are the only one who can astral project?”
    My real Grams had mentioned that only one other witch in our line had the ability to astral project: Zephora. Fright swept through my spectral form, since my body wouldn’t respond likewise, given that the woman who had entered Grams’s body was my ancestor and not a demon. I felt only a little bit safer. Given that she planned to rule the world, and just happened to be the most powerful witch to walk the Earth, I couldn’t help but feel unprepared to deal with such a crafty practitioner of magic.
    Still, the question remained: why had Zephora inhabited Grams?
    There had to be a logical reason. But try though I might, I couldn’t find a rational explanation as to why she’d want to take over Grams’s body, other than the aforementioned intention to rule the world. That aberration haunted my mind, just as Zephora haunted Grams’s body.
    A harsh cackle erupted from her throat. “Yes, you are here!” She scanned the room with that freakish grin, shifting her head ever so slightly in