A Dark and Lovely Devastation by J. Ann Curtis EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author: J. Ann Curtis
- Language: English
- Genre: Dark Fantasy Horror
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 1 MB
- Price: Free
I wasn’t a hero.
I always knew that. I wasn’t the person who sacrificed for others. I
never intentionally placed myself in danger. But I never thought myself a
villain, either.
Until today.
Thick globs of mud dangled from the bog witch’s matted hair. A smile split
her face, revealing enormous gaps among rotting teeth. “Make your choice,
dear.”
The ripples in the dark pond curled and eddied. My feet sank deeper into
the squelching clay. Despite the mugginess and insects buzzing around my
head, shivers rolled over my body.
I stared at the shimmering archway in front of me. The magic pulsed
through my veins.
Self-preservation was a powerful instinct. Stronger in some than in others.
It didn’t matter that I caused the approaching death and destruction that
was about to lay waste to this realm. It didn’t matter that only I might stop
it.
I wanted to live.
And only one choice made that a guarantee. I lifted my feet from the
festering mud and pulled myself up onto the root of the tree, free of the bog’s
depths. I drew in a shuddering breath, then stepped into the shimmering
archway, passing through the portal, entering the human realm.
Leaving the Otherworld to war and ruin.
I awoke, lying on the stark cold floor of my bathroom, utterly naked. The
freezing tile dug into my back, my body still dripping water, wet hair stuck
against my neck. An ache in my shoulder marked where I’d hit the floor
when I fell. I didn’t move, my chest rising and falling in steady breaths as I
tried to regain my bearings.
A vision. The swampy smell of the bog lingered in my nostrils. The
memory of the witch staring at me with sunken eyes made the hair on my
arms stand on end. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen a vision of the future.
The attack had come upon me right as I was leaving the shower, reaching
for my towel. The familiar electric shock had run up my spine, and then my
sight tunneled before I’d collapsed onto the bathroom floor. And the vision
had taken me.
They came when they wanted. Sometimes I could go weeks, even months,
without seeing one. Then they’d just come, leaving me helpless to stop
them.
I hated it. I hated it every time.
Sitting up, I gripped the counter. My slick, bare calves dragged across the
tile until I pulled myself to my feet, shaking from the cold. Electric
toothbrushes and hair supplies littered the countertop. I snatched my towel
off the rack and wrapped it around my body while I tried to process what I
had foreseen.
It was a vision of me leaving the Otherworld, the magic realm that was
home to all magical creatures. But that made no sense. I wasn’t even in the
Otherworld. I’d never even stepped foot there.
And didn’t plan to.
A loud banging came on the bathroom door. “Hey, Chels! Are you
finished? You better not have used up the hot water again!” shouted Nellie,
my roommate.
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