Sandman (Ceasefire #6) - Claire Marta Page 0,1

my side with gentle fingers. “We have to hurry.”

I hear mother gasp the same time pain twists through my soul.

Father.

His death steals my breath, my eyes widening in disbelief. It’s not possible. He’s the strongest of us all. How could he have fallen?

Head jerking up toward the mountain where his cave resides, I’m in time to see the fireball descending. The light hits me with the force of a freight train. My scream is lost in the roaring in my ears. Energy fills me choking, suffocating. There’s nothing I can do to fight against it as I’m overwhelmed. I’m deaf and blind to anything else around me. I feel myself break like a crystal vase shattering on a wooden floor. Shards ripped away taking pieces of me with it sending me plummeting into darkness.

1

Robin

A chill surges through my skin jolting me to consciousness. Sucking in a deep breath, the scent of flowers fills my lungs. Eyes snapping open, the sight above leaves me in awe. A vast expanse of stars glitter like diamonds glowing radiantly above me. I’ve never seen anything so clear and bright.

Mind whirling, I can’t remember how I got here. Every time I try to focus, it draws a blank. Fingers curling in wet grass, I sit up glancing at the blackness around me. Where is here?

Nothing looks familiar in the dark. From what I can see, the field stretches out endlessly in every direction. The cotton, pink pajamas I’m wearing, covered in unicorns, aren’t really the right clothing for a midnight stroll. Was that what I was doing? Maybe I was camping and got lost? Tripped and hit my head? Why the hell would I be out here in the middle of nowhere? Brows puckering in concentration, there’s not even a thread of recognition. I’m lost and alone. The more I try to recall something about my life the more my head hurts. My memories a blank space. It brings a feeling of confusion and growing chaos.

The wind picks up out of nowhere going from a gentle breeze to a rising howl. Rain begins to fall, the icy sting of its touch lashing my face and body.

“What the hell?” Scrambling to my feet, I gasp at the coldness invading my skin. I’m not sure how it changed so quickly. My breathing sounds harsh to my own ears. Stumbling in the dimness, I’m barely able to stop myself from tripping, my only thought to find shelter.

Dashing bare foot through the grass and trying hard not to fall on my arse, I head for the treeline I catch a glimpse of lit by a streak of lightening. My clothes are drenched through. Hair plastered to my face, the strands still free whipped into a frenzy.

The trees writhe and flail, their groans carried away in the storm. Another sound catches my attention over the din.

My name.

Muted desperate voices. Haunting, mournful they beg me to help them. A presence holds them back. Menacing, threatening, I sense it reaching to claim me. Some inner instinct warns me of danger. A primitive feeling of fear that sends my feet flying faster over the ground. I’m scared to look back. Terrified of what I might see.

Thunder booms overhead so close and loud it’s almost deafening.

Wiping raindrops out of my eyes with the back of my hand, I search desperately for somewhere safe. Out here I’m vulnerable. The trees give no protection. If anything, they’ve become ammunition for the tempest. Projectiles, falling debris. Wrenched from the earth by their roots, it would only take one to crush me. The violence around me continues to escalate.

Panic driving me onward, I almost collapse in relief when a light pierces the dark.

A house.

The welcoming glow spills from the windows of the ground floor. Two stories high with red brick walls, it looks like it’s been plucked from suburbia and dropped in the middle of nowhere. Somehow it sits untouched by the ferocity going on around it. The eye of the storm. For only one brief fleeting second do I think it odd to find it standing alone in a clearing with no other buildings in sight.

Shivering, numb through, I rush toward the promise of help not slowing until my feet hit the porch. Taking the steps, I duck into the door, which has been left ajar, stumbling inside and slamming it shut behind me.

Pressing my forehead to the smooth wood, my eyes flutter closed as waves of warmth crash over me.

“Thank you, God,” I murmur softly, still