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

Chapter Twenty-Three

I was running.

I couldn't remember leaving the bench, but I must have, because I was no longer trapped in the hallway with Alex's cousin. I was sprinting through trees, I think, they were flashing by so quickly. Thorn bushes reached out to snag at my jeans and slash my unprotected arms. Something sharp grazed the bottom of my foot. Crap, where were my sandals?

But still I raced on.

I didn't know why I was running. I had had plenty of nightmares, ones in which I had to escape and others where I tried to but couldn't. Never before had I woken up in full flight. The only thing I knew for certain was that I simply couldn't stop. Shouldn't.

I was an abomination.

I gasped as my heart pounded, its frantic pace too rapid, even considering I was moving as fast as my body could take me.

I shouldn't exist.

Adrenaline, oh god, the adrenaline. I couldn't stop because I had to burn it off. Panting, my stomach flip-flopped when my side seized, first with the phantom-remembered pain of being struck by the apartment umbra, and then with the quaking of uncontrollable power. I was gentle enough to form snowflakes, but terrible enough to shake apart buildings.

Dream Bettihemae was right, this was what I had been concealing, even from myself: I was a danger to those I cared about. That it was night and I was seeing in the woods as clearly as if it were day didn't seem nearly as disturbing as the fact that I'd been allowing myself to become closer to people.

My friends. I would be putting them in danger if I didn't keep moving.

Legs and arms pumping hard with desperate speed, I caught sight of something glowing up ahead. An unknown entity snaking through the trees—and I was heading right for it. Gasping, I backpedaled, my feet skidding across fallen leaves. I went flying down a good-sized embankment, kicking up dirt that became a brilliant shower of sparks.

I stuck the landing in the middle of it with a tremendous splash and I froze, unsure of what I had gotten myself into. The light flowed without interruption around my legs. It came up as high as my calves and threatened to do nothing except soak my jeans.

Breathing hard, I found that I could scoop up a handful, its strange illumination dimming as its motion settled. It was cool to the touch and had a natural, pure smell, like the essence of the earth in liquid form. Certain it was safe after careful inspection, I brought it up to my dry lips, drinking with an immense thirst. I was standing in a stream. Why it glowed, I hadn't the faintest idea.

Another surge of adrenaline raked my body, and my arm shot out, plunging into the water up to my elbow when I nearly fell over. I pressed my hand against the rocky bottom, and a slight shock went through me when I gained the knowledge of a waterfall, located farther upstream.

I stood, forearm dripping. I focused in that direction, and sure enough I could hear water cascading over high rock.

I need to head toward it, I remember deciding, because next thing I knew, I had taken off, feet throwing up torrents of the glowing water. I took off down the middle of the stream for all I was worth, moving so fast that I believed I was dreaming again.

And then I could see nothing at all; I might have blacked out. Fresh panic overtook me when I found myself underwater.

The pool softened the rush of water tumbling overhead. Resurfacing with a huge gasp and flailing arms, I screamed at the unexpected sight: sparks. Bright, white sparks, cold and not burning, rained down with a nonstop fury over a steep rise. Oh my word, it was the waterfall. First a glowing stream, and now a waterfall fireworks display. This was just getting better and better.

My legs hurt, and my chest was on fire. I couldn't go any farther; my body had had enough. So having nowhere else to go, I crawled out of the pool and up through the sparks, where I found a low-ceilinged, dead-end cave hidden behind the cascading water.

Movements clumsy with fatigue, I slipped over algae-slimed rocks, the roughness of them scraping my palms. Hunched over and shaking, I leaned myself upright against the back wall of the cavern, arms tight around my chest to try to calm my frantically beating heart. Water streamed from my hair and dripped off the end of my nose as I shivered uncontrollably. Crap, this sucked.

"Micah, I'm in here," I mumbled when the wind picked up outside, buffeting the waterfall.

His voice... I could hear his voice on the wind, calling for me, searching. "Micah—Micah—Micah," I screamed the last, convulsing when another all-consuming wave of adrenaline hit. My cries echoed off the rocky surround. "I'm in here!"

My balance tilted, and I toppled over, left shoulder taking my weight hard. Dislodged stones made bright flashes, tumbling across the cave floor before disappearing into the falling water.

"Mi-i-cah," I called out again, my shout breaking into sobs when his voice calling back got closer. "I-I can't make it stop."

"Aurora?"

"I can't make it stop."

I was still screaming when he gathered me up. Eyes squeezed shut, I buried my face against his shoulder. He was wet from the waterfall.

"Oh gods, little one, what is wrong with you?" Micah ran panicked hands over my back, touched my shoulders, my cheeks. "Your aura is way too hot."

"The water, the rocks, everything is too bright." His hold on me tightened when I wailed, "My heart! I don't know how to slow it down. Micah, it hurts."

I pulled back to look at him, and my breath caught. He was staring at me, searching for the thing that had me in its harmful grasp. His face, his body, he emanated a light that couldn't have been of this reality. I touched his radiant face.

"You glow...like an angel?" I managed through trembling lips that tried to smile. Micah was here. He was with me. My guardian was back. I stroked his tousled hair, only to jerk away when a bright flash leapt at my fingers.

"You're seeing my aura," he said with realization. "You're also seeing energy as light now: the friction of rocks, the kinetic movement in water. Your spectral sight must have come in."

"Micah, I don't feel very good." I lurched as another surge of adrenaline struck me, making me go hot, then cold. I gagged at the sudden temperature change and almost threw up.

"I don't know what's wrong. I've got to get you to Indy." He moved us out from behind the falling water, close to the rocks. The ferns growing there were soft brushes as we passed.

He then broke into a fast run as soon as his feet hit the forest floor, instructing me to close my eyes and hold on.

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That's it for the weekend, folks!   And we made it to 2021!  Woo hoo!  Again, happy new years to you all.   Thanks for reading thus far :)