Page 104 of The Book Reader
“We will see you again, Arianna. Have faith.” Mom kisses me again, her hand lightly on my back as she guides me toward the door. I go with her, trusting that none of them would make me do anything I’m not ready for. She offers me a soft smile before pushing me through the kitchen door.
I’m standingat the end of the hallway, looking out into the world that is slowly slipping away from me. I exhale a shaky breath, slowly turning around to face what can only be described as a blinding golden light. Despite the light, a corridor of darkness surrounds me. Not knowing what to do, I nervously take a step forward. Everything around me starts to twist and turn. The gold light at the end of the tunnel bursts like an explosion coming out of a great cave. It moves closer to me, like a race car at the starting line that was just given the green flag.
The light envelops my body, embracing me in such love and power that it takes my breath away. The whispers are no longer the sound of a thousand voices trying to talk at once, but friendly chatters that echo around me. Words I’ve heard millions of times, verbs I didn’t recognize, sounds and smells from the past that I had forgotten.
Now, I remember.
Bright light bursts around me; it shifts, and flashes of pictures begin to swirl in front of me like movie screens. Each image features a set of golden eyes, a happy smile staring at me, and touches and embraces. Love, hope, and dream of one soul.
Me. I am seeing who I was and who I am going to be
The feeling of remembrance trickles across my skin.
The images move again. A pair of beautiful blue eyes looks at me lovingly. Gaelan stands before me; he seems so real, but I know he isn’t. “Gaelan,” the gentlest whisper leaves my lips.
A single tear parades down his cheek, reminding me of all the pain this man has had to endure after losing me so many times. My heart breaks for all the bad things that have happened to us, all because Tate and his daughter want it all.
All this is a dark reminder of the pain my past has caused.
In all this darkness, I still feel my heart beating steadily and strongly in my chest, with the rich scent of lemon in the air.
I am loved.
I am supported.
I am powerful.
My chest heaves with every wheezy breath as I try to control the anxiety building in my stomach. This magic and power is a world I never thought I would be a part of. I never thought I was capable of this much power, yet here I stand.
The air around me starts to crackle, and little sparks like fireflies encircle me. One by one, they dive toward me, setting my skin on fire. A burst of heat ignites in my heart, and the power building in my body takes my breath away. I feel charged, as if I touch anything, I will consume it and make it mine.
I hiss when a scraping sensation trails along my arm. Looking down, gold lettering begins to cover my skin. It feels like someone is using a knife to etch the letters and symbols into my flesh. My hands are fists, and my arms shake involuntarily. I want to cry out, to make it stop. The only thing that stops me is seeing the letters start to glow brightly, lighting up around me and bathing me in even more gold.
The stinging stops and the markings settle. Finally, I’m able to take a full breath, filling my lungs with cold air that soothes the burning in my heart. Words I’ve never seen before in a language I don’t know stare back at me. I touch the raised skin, amazed that it no longer hurts. My eyes trace the delicate, intricate tattoos, unfamiliar yet at the same time, it’s as if eachone is branded into my soul. I can feel the powers radiating from them.
From me.
A light innocent giggle rattles in my head. Wincing, I lift my hand, pausing before I can touch my skin. Everything around me starts to buckle, warping the gold and black, making me feel like I’m in a drunken spinning haze. Snapping my hands to cradle my head, my stomach turns, and bile starts creeping up my throat as I fight the need to throw up. The relentless spinning moves faster until suddenly everything goes black.
Covered in a sheen of sweat,I groan against the harsh sunlight. It takes a couple of blinks to adjust to my surroundings.
I’m back in Westrey, sitting in the middle of the houses in what would have been a street. Slowly standing, I dust the sand from my clothes; the row of houses on either side of me shimmer in the heat like a mirage. The memory of what this town used to look like seeps into my mind. “I remember,” I whisper to nobody but myself.
This was my home. A younger me dressed in a sandy-colored dress, running around the streets, my amber eyes glowing gold with my laughter. The little shops… the people bustling around… Happy memories until Tate and the Blood Bringer took it away from us.
I walk toward the end of the street, the sand slipping under my shoes with each step I take. Up ahead, the sand resemblessomeone attempting to build a giant wall in the shape of a circle, keeping something enclosed in the middle.
As I get closer to the circle, I see what looks like a large book floating in the air on an aura of golden light. It shimmers so beautifully in the sun that it takes my breath away. The pages flutter like someone invisible is searching for their next page.
Gaelan told me that the book is looking for me; the happiness of its finding me bursts from its pages and hits my heart. I am the Book Reader..
“I’ve found you,” I call out, my voice filled with longing.
The pages flip faster, fanning the air until they stop abruptly. Walking over to the open spell book, I look down at the golden writing that graces the pages. The letters and symbols look like the markings that are now on my arms.
I run my hands over the pages. The paper doesn’t feel like paper; it’s as soft as silk, and the lettering has no indent or scratches from whatever was used to write them. My fingers tingle, and feather-like vibrations run all over my body —a mystical connection so strong that I shake from it. The book is new to me, as are the powers it contains. But at the same time, my soul knows each page and word as if I had read them thousands of times.
My hands caress the pages, feeling the urge to protect the book by any means possible.
