[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

like soldiers. Rhododendron bushes and patches of briars snaked through the trees like strings of green
and brown Christmas lights.
I sighed. Although I wanted to do nothing more than lie here and sleep for the next three days, I knew I
had to move. I didn t know where the hell I was, which meant the others had no chance of finding me.
They probably thought I was dead already, trapped beneath the earth with Tobias Dawson and his two
giants.
I grinned. I d enjoy coming back from the grave just to see the look on Finn s face.
It took me awhile, but I propped myself up on my elbows, then sat up. It took me even longer to get up
to my knees, then my feet. I looked around the clearing where I d emerged from the earth and found a
piece of fallen wood. Using it as a sort of walking stick, I hobbled forward.
Pain pulsed through my body with every step. I d cut my feet badly on the rocks inside the mountain,
and the briars, brambles, and twigs that littered the ground didn t help. But I stumbled forward.
I didn t know how long I walked, an hour, maybe two, but eventually I came to a small stream. Maybe
it was the one that had run over the cavern. I didn t know, and I didn t really care. I lowered myself
down onto one of the rocks and dipped my feet into the water. Cold as ice, but it felt like heaven on my
swollen feet and ankles. I gulped down several mouthfuls of the water and washed off my hands and face
as best I could. I was careful to let one part of my body dry before I moved on to the next. I didn t want
to get hypothermia from the shock of the cold water.
But cool wetness helped revive me and made me realize just how much fucking pain I was in. Every
single part of me hurt, but the real problem areas were my broken jaw, aching skull, and scraped,
bruised, bloody hands, knees, and feet. Jo-Jo Deveraux was going to have her work cut out for her
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
when she started healing me.
The thought made me smile, which turned into a grimace as the muscles in my jaw screamed in pain.
Once I felt strong and dry enough, I used my walking stick to push myself up and plodded on. I d been
walking about thirty minutes when I stumbled across what looked like two ruts in the middle of the forest.
I frowned. Did somebody have a house up here? That could be good or bad. Good, if they were gone
and had a phone. Bad, if they were home and got a clear look at me.
But I stepped into the smooth track and headed left, climbing upward to whatever might lie at the top of
this rise. I got all the way up to the clearing before I realized where I was on the access road that
overlooked Tobias Dawson s coal mine. I could still see the tire tracks in the mud from where Donovan
Caine and I had driven up here the night we d broken into the dwarf  s office. Hell, I was probably
standing in about the same spot I d been in when I d stripped for the detective.
Irony. What a fucking bitch.
I shook my head and trudged on toward the edge of the ridge. Noise drifted up to me from the basin
below.
Men yelling at each other, along with the grind of heavy machinery. I hobbled closer to the edge of the
ridge and stared down. I wasn t particularly surprised by the scurry of activity. Men and women, mostly
firefighters, cops, and other rescue officials, stalked back and forth on the rocky floor below me. Some
of them had driven their vehicles into the basin, and the red and blue lights spun around and around. The
sirens had long ago been turned off, though. The people hung together in small clusters talking among
themselves, but mostly what they did was stare at the mine before them.
Or what was left of it.
The right wall of the basin, which had once been just as tall and strong as the others, had crumbled in on
itself, like a cheap piece of tinfoil. The entrance to the coal mine and the second, smaller shaft that led to
the diamonds had been completely obliterated. Dirt had spilled hundreds of feet outside the original
opening, burying the metal tracks that had led inside the mine. The whole side of the basin looked a
sandcastle somebody had kicked over.
Me. I d been the one who d done the kicking. I d used my magic to escape Tobias Dawson, and I d
crumbled half the mountain in the process. I d always thought Jo-Jo Deveraux had been blowing smoke
up my ass when she claimed I had more Stone magic than anyone she d ever seen. That she d just been
pretending when she said I was even more powerful than she was. But as I stared at the shattered
mountain, I really, truly, started to believe her.
The thought made my stomach clench.
 Damn, I whispered.
For a moment, another image flashed before my eyes.
The ruined, crumbled shell of my own childhood home.
I d used my magic to destroy it as well, to bring all the stones down, to try to save myself and Bria. I
shook my head, and the image vanished. But the tightness in my stomach didn t go away.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
I looked down and I realized my hands were glowing again. The spider rune scars on my palms burned
with cold, silver flames once more even though I wasn t consciously holding onto my magic. I curled
my hands into fists and willed the light, the magic, away. After a moment, the flames died, vanishing back [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

  • zanotowane.pl
  • doc.pisz.pl
  • pdf.pisz.pl
  • thierry.pev.pl

    •