Free Rising Dark (The Darkling Trilogy, Book 2) by A D Koboah Page B

stepped into the clearing.
    Perhaps my movement alerted her to my
presence, because the image of her that I saw seemed to waver and
then she looked up at me, seeming to separate from the image I had
first seen of her. It stopped me in my tracks when I saw her face
fully.
    I thought I knew what beauty was, but
every woman I had ever considered beautiful seemed to melt into
insignificance beside the one before me. Her skin was a dark, rich
mahogany, her face heart shaped and her piercing, deep set eyes
almost feline in quality. She had high cheekbones and full,
sensuous plum-coloured lips that seemed to invite a caress. It was
the kind of beauty that cut deep, leaving me gasping and unable to
ever forget it. Her ebony hair, which was the woolly texture that
most Negroes possessed, was pulled back, a scarf hastily tied over
it. I was not aware of the fact that I had started moving again
until I was standing directly before her. She merely gazed at me, a
sad, soft smile on her lips as I knelt before her, drinking in her
beauty. She had an innate gracefulness in the turn of her long,
slender neck and I sensed a quiet strength in her. Staring into
those bewitching eyes, I had the strong sense that she was much
older than she appeared to be, although her face was
youthful.
    I could not take my eyes off of her
and I reached out to touch her, wanting to feel her skin which
looked like dark velvet. I stopped myself in time, surprised by my
boldness, but she seemed to lean in slightly, her eyes fluttering
shut, long, sooty lashes resting on her cheekbone, as if she longed
to feel my touch.
    All too soon the image before me began
to waver and I felt a tug of anguish in my heart. Distress flared
across her features and it seemed as if she was about to speak. Her
lips did not move but I heard words spoken directly into my
mind.
    Wait for me.
    Those three simple words changed
everything for me.
    I wanted to speak, ask a million
questions, but I could not utter a word. Her gaze was one of
compassion, sorrow gathered behind it.
    Wait for me.
    It was all she said and then the noise
of the woodland surged all around me and the ripe stench of the
cadavers filled my nostrils. Moonlight beat away the fading
sunlight in the chapel and the clearing came flooding back in a
swirl of emerald green and smoky blacks.
    A hand with sharp nails dug into my
shoulder and I was wrenched fully back into the clearing. I was
thrown back against one of the trees and Auria’s snarling face
filled my vision.
    “ What was that?” she
hissed.
    “ You saw her?”
    “ Yes! What did you
do?”
    “ You were there with me?”
A tentative joy filled me at the knowledge that the woman had not
been some kind of delusion.
    “ No, you idiot! I saw what
you saw.”
    “ What now?” Onyx had
sauntered over to us, Emory not far behind her. She appeared bored,
but her expression quickly changed to one of anxiety, as did
Emory’s.
    “ There was something
here,” Auria said, releasing me and facing the other
two.
    “ What was it?” Emory
asked.
    “ I don’t know. Search the
area, find whatever that was and bring it to me.”
    “ But there can’t be
anything here,” Onyx replied, although she was looking into the
trees. “We would know if—”
    “ I said search the
area!”
    Emory stared at Auria for a few
moments and then vanished. After a long, malicious stare directed
at me, Onyx did the same, leaving me with Auria.
    When Auria faced me, I began to
understand why the other two had appeared to be so anxious. It was
because whatever I had seen had scared Auria. I could see it now, a
paralysing fear casting shadows of self-doubt through her mind. It
was the first time either of them had seen her afraid of anyone or
anything. She reached over and grasped me by the
shirtfront.
    “ Whatever she is, we’ll
find her. And if you did anything to—”
    “ I did not do anything,
you know that. I do not know where the vision, or whatever she was,
came from.”
    She