Black Gate: Timewalker Chronicles, Book 4 by Michele Callahan Page B
Authors: Michele Callahan
Ads: Link
something to remind her that she was human and whole, something besides a stranger’s kiss that could anchor her.
The darkness waited inside her cells, eager to be set free. She closed her eyes and summoned the dark within, felt it rise through her flesh and slide around like a long-lost friend. Energy sizzled along her nerve endings and her skin tingled and burned as a portal of swirling darkness materialized a couple steps away in midair.
Too easy.
Katherine dragged a full, deep breath of sea air into her lungs. The smell of sand and salt calmed her and helped her find her center. She would come back with her men, or she wouldn’t come back at all. Lifting her gaze to the azure sky, she made her vow. All or nothing. She wouldn’t leave them behind again.
She rose to her feet and stepped through the Gate’s welcoming embrace, forging straight ahead into the very heart of the darkness.
Waiting was difficult, as time was impossible to gauge here, but soon she felt them, their pulsing heartbeats and the rapid staccato burst of energy flowing nonstop from Andrew’s calculating mind. They were all alert, aware of their predicament, and no longer ruled by terror.
With a thought, she hurtled though the black spaces until she found them wrapped up and bound in place by tendrils of darkness that wove in and around their bodies like creepers on a beanstalk. They were floating in a void. It was surreal, like a late-night sci-fi movie.
“Katherine.” Frank saw her first. The black tentacle around his neck tightened until he nearly choked.
“Don’t speak. Any of you. Don’t draw attention.” Katherine whispered the command and they obeyed, questions and words of greeting dying on their lips. She approached Sebastian first. His energy was calm and steady, so steady and cold that the darkness barely held on to him with a couple of strands. “You could have broken free.”
“And gone where?” His whispered response reminded her that they needed her to get them out of here. For her? A thought would send her home. For them? This place would be a prison of eternal night.
“Right. Sorry.” She laid her bare palm on the snake-like vine around his leg and it slithered away at her command. When Seb stood free she turned her attention to the others. Hundreds of small strands wove around Frank. Matteo and Ryan hung upside down, mouths completely covered. The dark had effectively gagged them. Now that she knew they were okay, the sight made her want to laugh. “I’m guessing you two couldn’t keep your mouths shut?”
Matteo grinned and shrugged, helpless to deny it. Frank scowled at her, still straining against the strand wrapped around his neck. He glared at Matteo as he spoke, “Just get us out of here.”
“Yes, Sir.” Katherine closed her eyes and connected with the darkness. Every second that passed she felt more comfortable here, as if she’d found a home, a place where she could let her power roam free. A place where she could change the world, where she would always win.
An image of the Triscani creature her cousin Sarah had battled slipped into her mind. Both the Gate and Teagh had warned her that the Triscani roamed freely here. She just had to hope they were too busy elsewhere to come looking.
At her command the tendrils retreated en masse, freeing the men. She smiled with relief and grabbed Andrew’s hand with her right, and reached to Ryan on her left. “Hold on to each other.”
They formed a circle, holding hands like school children, and Katherine pulled them back to the original Gate, the one beneath the mountain. She knew exactly where it was. That Gate hummed and sang with energy deep in her soul. She would always be able to find it. She’d never be lost again. It was hers now.
When it opened she was stunned to see the room was empty but for one guard standing at the far end of the room. He looked familiar, but she couldn’t see his face.. Didn’t matter who he was. He was from one of
The darkness waited inside her cells, eager to be set free. She closed her eyes and summoned the dark within, felt it rise through her flesh and slide around like a long-lost friend. Energy sizzled along her nerve endings and her skin tingled and burned as a portal of swirling darkness materialized a couple steps away in midair.
Too easy.
Katherine dragged a full, deep breath of sea air into her lungs. The smell of sand and salt calmed her and helped her find her center. She would come back with her men, or she wouldn’t come back at all. Lifting her gaze to the azure sky, she made her vow. All or nothing. She wouldn’t leave them behind again.
She rose to her feet and stepped through the Gate’s welcoming embrace, forging straight ahead into the very heart of the darkness.
Waiting was difficult, as time was impossible to gauge here, but soon she felt them, their pulsing heartbeats and the rapid staccato burst of energy flowing nonstop from Andrew’s calculating mind. They were all alert, aware of their predicament, and no longer ruled by terror.
With a thought, she hurtled though the black spaces until she found them wrapped up and bound in place by tendrils of darkness that wove in and around their bodies like creepers on a beanstalk. They were floating in a void. It was surreal, like a late-night sci-fi movie.
“Katherine.” Frank saw her first. The black tentacle around his neck tightened until he nearly choked.
“Don’t speak. Any of you. Don’t draw attention.” Katherine whispered the command and they obeyed, questions and words of greeting dying on their lips. She approached Sebastian first. His energy was calm and steady, so steady and cold that the darkness barely held on to him with a couple of strands. “You could have broken free.”
“And gone where?” His whispered response reminded her that they needed her to get them out of here. For her? A thought would send her home. For them? This place would be a prison of eternal night.
“Right. Sorry.” She laid her bare palm on the snake-like vine around his leg and it slithered away at her command. When Seb stood free she turned her attention to the others. Hundreds of small strands wove around Frank. Matteo and Ryan hung upside down, mouths completely covered. The dark had effectively gagged them. Now that she knew they were okay, the sight made her want to laugh. “I’m guessing you two couldn’t keep your mouths shut?”
Matteo grinned and shrugged, helpless to deny it. Frank scowled at her, still straining against the strand wrapped around his neck. He glared at Matteo as he spoke, “Just get us out of here.”
“Yes, Sir.” Katherine closed her eyes and connected with the darkness. Every second that passed she felt more comfortable here, as if she’d found a home, a place where she could let her power roam free. A place where she could change the world, where she would always win.
An image of the Triscani creature her cousin Sarah had battled slipped into her mind. Both the Gate and Teagh had warned her that the Triscani roamed freely here. She just had to hope they were too busy elsewhere to come looking.
At her command the tendrils retreated en masse, freeing the men. She smiled with relief and grabbed Andrew’s hand with her right, and reached to Ryan on her left. “Hold on to each other.”
They formed a circle, holding hands like school children, and Katherine pulled them back to the original Gate, the one beneath the mountain. She knew exactly where it was. That Gate hummed and sang with energy deep in her soul. She would always be able to find it. She’d never be lost again. It was hers now.
When it opened she was stunned to see the room was empty but for one guard standing at the far end of the room. He looked familiar, but she couldn’t see his face.. Didn’t matter who he was. He was from one of
Similar Books
