Lightning

Prologue

Prologue

Char

I was sitting on the couch watching “I Love Lucy” reruns, a huge bowl of fresh fruit on my lap, when my sister came in from another date.  I was grateful that her boyfriend’s curfew kept him from coming in to hang out with us.  For some reason I couldn’t quite place, I didn’t trust him.  I also wasn’t a fan of watching them stare at each other like lovesick puppy dogs.  She let out a sigh as she gently draped her purse over one of the hooks on the coat rack.

“Welcome home, honey,” I called to her, keeping my eyes on the glowing screen so she wouldn’t decide to come over and tell me about every second of her date.  “Have fun?”

“Great time as always!  I’m just going to bed, I think,” she replied.  I tried not to let out a sigh of relief.  Not that she would notice if I did.  She always returned from her time with Logan in a trance.

“Goodnight, Zin!” I turned to watch her float through the room.

“Night, sis.”

I listened to her getting ready for bed, brushing her teeth and doing whatever other primping she always thought necessary before sleeping.  Seriously, who was going to see her?  I heard quiet music start playing and her bed squeaked gently as she climbed in.

I rarely slept, but for some reason my body was telling me I should go climb into bed, too.  After brushing my teeth and pulling my hair back into a loose braid, I threw on some cotton shorts and a loose tank top and propped myself up on my bed with a book.

I didn’t realize that I was falling asleep.  I woke to the sound of Zin thrashing around in her bed.  She had vivid dreams fairly often, so I tried not to pay it any attention as I picked up my book to continue reading.

And then a scream rang through the house.

“No, Logan! NO!”

I bolted out of bed, grabbing the syringe from inside my bedside table.  I knew there was something wrong with that guy!  I was outside her bedroom in a blink.  Not wanting to waste any time if the door was locked, I smashed it open with a perfectly placed hit from the heel of my hand just above the handle.  It flew open more dramatically than I expected, the force of the impact embedding it into the wall.  Now wasn’t the time to worry about that.

I stood in the doorway and glanced quickly around the room.  Zin obviously hadn’t noticed when I smashed her door in.  She was sitting bolt upright in bed, the sheets a mangled mess around her, glancing first at the phone in her hand and then out toward the full moon.  She seemed to be alone, but she had never screamed like that before.  Thinking of it sent a cold shiver down my spine and made my blood boil.  I could hear both our hearts thumping in our chests.  Had he really escaped that quickly, or was he hiding somewhere?

“Zin,” I whispered, trying to break her from her reverie without scaring her.  As she slowly turned toward me, I noticed that all of the color had drained from her face.  She looked so fragile in the glow of the moon.  Her eyes glanced blankly at my face before widening and locking onto the glowing syringe in my hand.  She pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them with shaking arms.

“What is that in your hand,” she whispered breathlessly.

And that was when everything changed.

Author's note:  Hi everyone!  Please let me know what you think of this prologue.  The remainder of the story will be told from Zin's point-of-view, but I plan on writing more from Char as I continue writing about these sisters.  Also, this prologue is the turning point of the book.  So, I'm not sure if it's a spoiler and I shouldn't keep it posted.  I'd love to hear your input!  I just had a lot of fun writing it one night and wanted to put it out there.  Thanks!