And she wouldn’t go anywhere near Reed.
Reed sat upright in the truck bed behind Joe Manors. By looking into the rearview mirror Ben could look directly into his nephew’s face. Now the boy was sitting comfortably, staring ahead of him, hands folded neatly in his lap.
Ben had to admit Reed looked better than expected. In fact, he looked healthier, if anything, than the evening he got off the train. His pale complexion was almost ruddy now, as if he’d spent years outdoors. His movements seemed confident, agile. And he seemed to have completely gotten rid of that damn cold.
Reed’s eyes were dark and shadowed, actually pretty handsome, Ben thought. His hair had gotten a little wild, seemed a little longer than Ben remembered it. As if he hadn’t had it cut in years. There was something dark… mud or scum… smeared and dried into his hair, something from the flood, putting reddish highlights into the pitch-black hair.
Reed turned and looked Ben directly in the eye. His nephew’s eyes had odd, sickle-shaped highlights in the upper halves of the pupils.
What you can’t face… it controls you. They’d had the conversation a day ago. It seemed like years.
Reed was smiling. A gleaming tooth on one side of his mouth caught the lower lip and pulled it away from the mouth. He unfolded his hands. The knuckles were worn, the skin stained, dirty. The nails were like digging tools—or, Ben suddenly thought, like claws: long, curved, thick with the years.
For just a moment, Ben closed his eyes.
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ALSO BY STEVE TEM FROM CROSSROAD PRESS:
Four diverse characters collide in an ancient world of darkness and magic: the Amazon Gwynn, the princess Evonna, the wizard Alden, and the beast Thet. Out of that collision comes an unforgettable novel of endings and reconciliations, the death of magic and the birth of technology, and the eternal struggle between darkness and light.
Highborn Evonna is unhappy with her constricted choices and troubled by her brother Alden’s dabblings in wizardry. In the great city that is her home, where nothing unplanned ever happens, something has gone terribly wrong. Everywhere are signs of chaos and creeping madness, rumors of plague, and intimations of worse to come. But what can Evonna or Alden do? The answer comes unexpectedly, with the terrifying visit of the subhuman Thet and the sudden appearance of the amazon Gwynn, who harbors a shocking secret. Together, the four unlikely companions bring unimagined change to the city… and are themselves changed in unimaginable ways.
Yet the chaos continues to spread. Desperate, our heroes leave their dying home and embark on a hellish journey to the far mountains. There they will come face-to-face with a malignant darkness determined to forever unbalance the world… a darkness as insane as it is evil.
LICENSE NOTES:
This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to your vendor of choice and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author
Copyright
Crossroad Press & Macabre Ink Digital Edition
Copyright 2010 by Steve Rasnic Tem & Macabre Ink Digital Publications
Copy-edited by David Dodd
Originally published in paperback by Avon Books