Dark Daze Read Online Free Page B

the
last. If not, you’ll hear about it, my friend.”
    “Take it up with the boss if you’re unhappy
about a selection,” Paul said, his eyes shining with laughter.
    Ian grasped the dog food. Deep inside, he
hoped she wouldn’t like him. Or perhaps she would be cruel or a
simpleton. Anything to make this easier on both of them.
     
    <><><>
     
    Brie grabbed her dress off the end of the
rumpled bed. She slipped it on as the itch began in the back of her
mind—the part where the psychic twinge lived. Closing her eyes for
an instant, she prayed she wouldn’t flip.
    Heading into the living room, she glanced
past the overstuffed furniture and bookshelves and eyed the wall
clock. Four ten. She would leave in an hour or so. She took the
time to brush out her hair and apply the finishing touches to her
lips, trying to suppress the twinge, which continued to needle the
spot in her head. She never should have agreed to this date. What
if she flipped right across the table from him? Another
relationship would begin based on lies.
    Or end abruptly.
    Besides, she couldn’t flip again. She’d never
done it twice in one day, or even one week. No, she was imagining
it after the strange experience she’d had. It rivaled the afternoon
her brother died. The aptly named Dark Day she never spoke of with
others.
    Pain shot through her head, like a lightning
bolt heading right for the spot on the base of her skull. Her head
slammed back so hard she barely managed to keep her feet. The
living room flipped, folded, and slid away.
    After a short shopping trip to resupply,
Andrea already craved the quiet of her home. And the next chapter
of Cold Terror. As she got in her car, she surveyed the line of
vehicles leading up the hill to the local ski resort. A girl in the
passenger seat of a Honda was reading the novel. She could see some
of the picture and part of the title…LD…ROR.
    That girl’s copy would never be better than
hers. The call, telling her she’d won an advanced reader copy and
would be expected to write the first review, had been a surprise.
She couldn’t even remember entering a contest. Guilt nagged at the
back of her mind for not having turned in the review, which she
should have turned in yesterday. Her release day review would be
late. Due to problems with the post office, she hadn’t received her
book until yesterday. She looked at the clock. Five twelve. Time to
read her chapters.
    Pain slammed through Brie’s head, but not in
the spot where her psychic twinge formed, the world went gray and
fuzzy. Then Andrea faded into a cloud of blackness.
    Brie found herself standing before the door
to a small diner. A chicken, sitting on an egg near the door,
clucked at her in a semi-human voice, “Can I take your order, or
are you leaving?”
    “ It’s not safe here.” Brie wanted to move
the chicken, but the neon signs offering daily specials distracted
her. She pushed open the door and stepped up to the counter. A
woman stood behind it, looking pale and haunted. Brie’s intuition
told her the waitress held some importance. Passing a book to Brie
over the counter, the woman met her gaze and nodded. A starkness
filled her eyes, a quiet sadness and horror, which crept through
her expression.
    “ Thank you.” Brie reached out to grab the
proffered book, but it was gone. “Oh dear, a twice fallen
tree.”
    Brie glanced down at the bare floor, and when
she looked up, the woman was gone. In her place…shadow. No, more
than shadow. Something loomed, dark spiral eyes sucking light from
the room, drawing her in with it.
    She whirled and ran. When she reached the
door, she shoved it open and raced onto the sidewalk. The chicken
squawked but she couldn’t see it on the unnaturally dark street
beyond the diner. An abandoned car waited for an owner who would
never return.
    Heart pounding out of control, Brie rushed
past the hunk of metal and down the road. She could feel the thing
closing in on her, its hot breath on her neck.