Free The 13th: Destiny Awaits by Ela Lond Page A

don't feel sane.”
    His hand slid over her jaw and down her neck. “I don't always feel sane either, but that doesn't mean that I'm crazy.”
    His hand was too warm, his touch too gentle, and she needed to slap his hand away before she yielded to the need to close the distance between them and lean her head against his shoulder. He made her feel that it was okay to not always be strong, that it was okay to have weaknesses, and that it was okay to lean on somebody, to trust. But her mother said, “Trusting people will only hurt you.” She was half-right: trusting people didn't hurt, but betrayal of that trust did. Kate had experienced it first-hand, with her mother hurting her the most. She slapped his hand away.
    An hour later he forced her to do rolls on the thick carpet. He explained that by doing rolls she would learn how to fall correctly, so she wouldn’t hurt herself, which would come in handy later on when they started jujitsu.
    She only did a few before she’d had enough. She told him that as she stood up, stumbling slightly. The rolls made her feel dizzy.
    He offered her his hand.
    She ignored it and went to the couch, slumping into it. With the back of her hand, she wiped off the perspiration that had gathered on her brow. She hadn't sweated while doing tai chi and she hadn't expected to start while doing rolls.
    “We should probably have our next lessons in a dojo.” His eyes slid over the thick brown rug that they used to roll on. “Or are you willing to drag down a few mattresses?”
    “Dojo?” She had heard that word somewhere, but she couldn't remember where. “And why would you need mattresses?”
    “We can't do throws here, not without involving pain, anyway, and I doubt that you are a masochist. Or are you?” He raised his brow, his blue eyes sparkling with mirth.
    “I must be, since I'm hanging out with you.”
    “Your words can cut so deeply.” He made a noise that sounded like a half-sob, before an impish smile curved his lips. “If I were more of a sensitive kind, I might even take offence.”
    She frowned. “Your skin is too thick for that.”
    “How can you say that? I'm such a fragile little snowflake.”
    “Of course you are.” She rolled her eyes. “Are we done here now?”
    “Almost.”
    “Almost?”
    “As soon as you reap a few souls.”
    “And then you will leave?”
    He nodded.
    “Fine.” Kate dragged herself off the couch, to the door and then out into the garden with Ethan close behind her. She closed her eyes and with deep breathing dove into the darkness. This was only the second time she was trying to materialize the scythe, and she thought that she might have some problems drawing it forward, but the tool appeared in her hand five seconds into imagining it. She opened her eyes and, concentrating on a sickle, changed it into its smaller version.
    “Not bad.” Ethan whistled.
    Kate rolled her eyes. She was about to ask where the ghosts were when the colours around her shimmered into shapes. They formed a line before her.
    So this is how it was now? They really couldn't sense her without the scythe? She cut through the first ghost, a young man, getting a hushed 'thank you' and an explosion of light green as a result.
    Her gaze slid over the group waiting for their turn. In a way she felt sorry for them, but after she got Ethan off her back, they would just have to find a way to cross over on their own.
     
    #
     
    Kate parked the car on the pavement alongside the villa, knowing that nobody would prevent her from visiting her mother outside of her regular schedule. She couldn't wait for Saturday and because of that she had taken a wide detour on her way from school. She had even ditched Ethan for it.
    A small smile bloomed on her face. It was a special day. Today she was going to show her mother how beautiful and harmless ghosts really were. Today, she was going to make everything right.
    She left the car and went inside with a spring in her step. She climbed up