Between Worlds (Pendant Series Book 3) by Cynthia Austin Page A

run all the way from my hairline to my neck. My clothes were soaked with Ray’s blood. I could only imagine what an awful mess I must have appeared to the clergyman.
    I looked up at Father Renley to gauge his reaction. He had stopped a good distance away from me, clutching his bible to his chest. He looked as if he may have been looking into the eyes of Satan himself, which at this point he very well could have been.
    Or, at least his bride.
    The last thought hit me deeply as I realized perhaps all this could have been prevented had I listened to Ray and his family in the first place.
    “I still haven’t gotten baptized,” I blurted out, wide-eyed and crazed.
    “There’s still time for that, Sidney,” the reverend reassured me.
    “I don’t want to be forsaken, Father Renley. I want to go to heaven.”
    I’ll try to believe. I promise I will.
    “ Of course, my child, of course.”
    But Father Renley did not move from his step. I don’t think he understood the urgency of my dilemma; I needed to be baptized now. It was the only way for me to be saved. “If I’m baptized, then I’m forgiven, right?”
    Now the Father showed great lines of concern in his face as he asked for some clarification. “Forgiven for what, Sidney?”
    I shook my head. “Something terrible has happened to Ray,” I said as calmly as possible.
    “I’ll call for help right away,” he said as he turned and rushed through the heavy wooden doors of the church. I stared at them as I considered following him. But crossing through those doors seemed to be an impossible task for me; they were the doors to salvation. A place and a concept I supposed would never welcome me again.
    I took this time to stand up and silently depart as I continued my journey into the cold dark night.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 12
     
     
    Bury Me in Black
     
    Once I reached the locked door, I realized that I had left my purse and keys back at the mausoleum with Ray. I stood in the shadows on the porch, banging on the front door of Granny’s house. It looked like someone had taken the liberty to board up the broken front window.
    I continued to pound.
    Please be home, Chrissy. Let me inside.
    Finally, the door swung open.
    Chrissy stood inside the doorway staring at me with a look of indifference. I guess she was still deciding whether or not to be angry with me from our earlier spat.
    Then she apparently decided to forgive and forget as she rambled on. “Sidney. Thank God you’re okay! I went to take a shower this afternoon and when I got out, the front window was smashed in. Emmy’s just fine, but I was totally freaked when I couldn’t find you. Speaking of your Granny, I have some epic news about her. I’ve been calling you all night, why haven’t you answered your phone?”
    Finally taking a breath, she turned to flick the porch light on. Suddenly seeing me under the light, she let out a shriek. I just stood there on the porch, shivering in the cold, unable to provide the answers I knew Chrissy was burning to ask.
    “Have you seen Adrian?” I calmly asked.
    Chrissy didn’t know how to respond to the question or anything else I would have said, for that matter.
    All she could do was stare at my blood-stained shirt as she shook her head, “Of course I haven’t seen Adrian, even if I had, I would have trouble recognizing him. Have you forgotten that he’s your most guarded secret and you refuse to let me meet him?”
    I took a step into the house and Chrissy jumped back, afraid to get near the ungodly mess that I was.
    “Sidney, you’re freaking me out. Today you went crazy telling me that some kind of evil spirit was after you, and then our front window was broken, and now you’re covered in…what is that?”
    I stared at her horror-stricken face. I could feel how dry and bloodshot my eyes were and I wasn’t even sure if I had blinked in the last five minutes. “Blood,” I answered as I dragged my feet over to the couch. I looked up