Page 21 of Visions & Shadows

“Kind off,” she replies. “I was found at this waterfall when I was thirteen.” She doesn’t look at me as she continues, “No one knows what I was doing here, and I had no memory of my past. It’s been almost five years, and I still don’t remember anything.”

Hearing the sadness in her tone, I murmur, “I’m sorry.”

I should’ve come with you.

She shrugs as if it’s nothing. “It is what it is. Mayor Calder was kind enough to take me in, so it hasn’t been that bad. I’m actually lucky.”

Needing to hear the answer, I ask, “Have they been good to you?”

She nods before she glances at me. “Yeah.”

Thanks be to Awo.

“I’m glad to hear that.”

She gives me a questioning look. “Why?”

“No reason. I’m just glad.”

The corner of her mouth lifts, then she asks, “What’s your family like?”

“I have two older brothers. Twins,” I answer truthfully. “It’s just us and my dad. My mom died when I was younger.”

Alchera gives me a compassionate look. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s okay. It happened a long time ago.”

Silence falls between us, and I struggle not to spend every second staring at her. The last thing I need is for her to think I’m a creep.

Chapter 4

Jane / Alchera

It’s twilight, where I’m standingin a park. There are no chirping birds but just a dead, chilling silence all around me.

I can feel every hair on my body rise as a strong electric current sizzles in the air.

Glancing up, I see the heavens begin to churn, dirty gray clouds massing above my head. I suck in a breath, and suddenly, there’s an explosion of sound. It’s so loud my ears ring.

It nearly drives me to my knees as I grab at my ears, but I’m not fast enough to block out the noise. Blood starts to trickle from my ears, seeping through my fingers.

I can hear trees screeching all around me, and I smell flesh burning.

Everything is dying!

My breaths explode over my parted lips while it feels as if my heart is being torn from my chest. The pain increases horribly, and a fear I’ve never felt before envelopes me entirely as I try to scream.

My vision blurs, and when it clears again, I find myself in the middle of a road where everything around me is being torn apart. There’s nothing I can do. I’m standing on quaking ground, shocked to my very core, while people scream and die around me.

Oh God!

The earth shudders violently, and huge chunks of ground start to disappear, leaving deep black gaping holes.

I watch helplessly as the ground gives way beneath people’s feet, and they plunge to their deaths.

My heart lurches in my chest at the horrifying sight unfolding around me. It feels as if my feet are glued to the quaking ground. Fear and panic engulf me until I’m struggling to take a breath.

“Alchera!” I hear a man calling.

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