Sun Catch Her (Book 1: Three Rivers Deep series) COMPLETE

Chapter Twenty-Two

A soft chuckle made me stir. Arms worked between my limp body and the bench, lifting me to cradle against him. Micah.

"Hey you," I murmured, eyes still closed as I struggled against a heavy drowsiness. "Can you help me get back" —yawn— "to my bed?"

The voice chuckled again, the sound of it coming across as higher in pitch this time. Feminine? My stomach suddenly dropped as my body was jolted upward with a quick thrust. Dumbfounded, I dangled at an odd angle over a narrow shoulder, the familiarity of the tone and the awkwardness of the position sending a stab of fear into my gut. Bettihemae!

The she-devvi's taunting, lyrical voice heightened my fears even more. "Do you ask all of the boys back to your bed, or am I special?"

I kicked helplessly at thin air.

"Did you spread your legs for Alexander the night he took you home?" She spun us around, taking off at a brisk pace.

"Let me go!" I tried to see where she was taking me but failed to find any way of piercing the darkness that consumed us. Why was it so dark?

"Put me down, now," I shouted, finding a fistful of shirt. I gave it a good, tearing yank. Crap, she wasn't supposed to be in the valley! Alex hadn't returned from Lake Erie, and his cousin had gone with him. Yet, here she was, making off with me.

"Now why'd you have to go and do something like that?" She chided me about ripping her shirt. Grabbing the back of my jeans, she hoisted me off her shoulder. "I've only come to find out why everyone's making such a big deal about you."

I let out a yip as I flew through the air, the motion of it prolonged before I slammed headfirst into something solid. A door?

"Come on, little one," the she-devvi whisper-growled Micah's choice epithet. "Do something impressive for me. Help me understand why my cousin is so interested in you." She grabbed the back of my head and slammed me into the door again.

Stars danced on the edge of my vision despite the darkness. "Somebody help me!" I wailed.

The darkness suddenly vanished. My cheek was pressed against the coolness of the window in a door as I stared down into the stairwell of the apartment building in New Mexico. Ah crap, I was dreaming. No wonder I hadn't been knocked unconscious by the first blow.

An ominous rumbling echoed through the hallway, and I squirmed, fighting it. The heat of Bettihemae's rasping breath drew near to my neck. But it wasn't real. "Come on, Eos. Don't be that way. One little hint?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!"

"You're hiding something."

"I am not."

"Sure you are." She jerked us around to face the inner hall, which was already in its torn apart state. "What about this?" Bettihemae said as I watched the dust cloud part and give way to live, shimmering air. An umbra. The formless gathering of nature's energy, the animal equivalent of a devvi. "You drew power from it before."

"I didn't mean to. It...it was an accident!"

"Let's see if you can do it again."

"No!"

"Yes! A demonstration to see what a half-breed can do. Don't you also want to know? Surely you do? Let's find out together what makes you so damn special."

"No, no, no please, no!"

"Let us fill you, you half-breed abomination!" she spat, pushing me toward the shimmering air. "Fill you until you break with the kind of power that shakes your core."

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Oh jeez!  Micah, where are you?!

VOTE if you've ever had such a vivid dream/nightmare that you were tricked into thinking it was real (eep!).  I know I have :(  Usually involves wrecking my car, lol.