Dark Masterpiece (Serendipity Series 3) Read Online Free

head. “Look, I’m not too
thrilled about having to tote you around either! This is my chance
to work with the greatest artist of all time, and I have to bring
my little brother along! I’m not jumping for joy here, but Mom and
Dad had no one else! I called my professor and he said it should be
fine if you come with me. I have no other option and neither do you
so shut up and help me look for this turnoff.”
    Seth sat back with an
agitated scowl. Evie sighed. She was not happy about her parents dumping
her brother on her at the last minute. This was the chance of a
lifetime. The last thing she needed was Seth hanging around all the
time. He was a moody teenager. He would just be an annoyance. She
glanced at him with his bleach blonde hair and leather jacket. He
looked like Billy Idol. She was sure that would make a great
impression. Please, Evie, you’re our only
hope. Why did she always fall for that?
She was sure there had to be somebody, anybody else who could have taken Seth. Yet, here she was, stuck with him
all summer. It figured.
    She guided her car down the winding coastal
highway and turned onto the remote dirt road that was practically
non-existent. They were somewhere in Big Sur, hours and hours away
from Ashland. She felt like she had been driving for eons and the
last portion of it had been on Highway 1, which was only a two-lane
highway right next to the ocean that twisted and curved for miles.
She had been battling Seth for control of the radio for half the
journey, and he had appealed to her about five times to let him go
back home. She just wanted to get where she needed to go so she
could be away from her brother and away from the road.
    The road took her down toward the cliffs
overlooking the ocean, and the trees began to get denser and more
foreboding-looking, their thick branches jutting out in awkward
positions that looked like gnarled fingers. Wisps of fog slithered
through the branches like serpents and Evie suddenly felt like she
had ventured into a horror movie. She continued to drive, the fog
getting thicker as she went along.
    “Dude, Evie, this is kind of creeping me
out,” Seth muttered.
    Evie rolled her eyes. “It’s just fog.” But
she did have to admit, everything felt dark and foreboding, and
that was an ominous feeling.
    Without warning the road widened out and an
enormous, Gothic-looking house came into view. Evie gasped in
surprise and slowed the car to a stop as she stared at the
structure. It was dark, nestled in a grove of eucalyptus trees,
sitting like a lonely sentinel. The architecture much resembled
that of a sixteenth-century manor and she briefly felt like she’d
traveled through time.
    “Holy crap,” Seth said. “What kind of guy is
this? A friggin’ warlock or something?”
    Evie shook her head to regain her senses and
unbuckled her seatbelt. “Come on, he’s an artist. It makes sense
that his home would be artistic.” But she couldn’t shake the
feeling that there was something horribly lonely and tormented
emanating from the dark edifice.
    She got out of the car and started toward
the front door, shivering as the eerie ocean breeze blew gently
across her skin. She heard the forlorn cry of a seagull as she
approached and, behind it, the rhythmic pounding of the ocean
waves. The breeze rustled through the leaves of the eucalyptus
grove. Evie had to take a deep breath to calm her nerves before she
knocked on the heavy, oak door.
    “Seriously, Evie, let me go home,” Seth
whispered, stuffing his hands in his jacket pockets. “I can
hitchhike, or take a bus, or something. If you want to stay here in
Edgar Alan Poe land, that’s cool, but I’d rather not if you don’t
mind.”
    Evie scowled and shushed him just as the
door swung open. She raised herself taller and prepared a smile,
but it promptly faded upon seeing the man in front of her.
    He was very tall and had
thick, black hair that fell in shining strands all the way past his
waist. His hair alone made