Destiny (Vanish Book Four) Read Online Free Page B

in my mind, was
that if Dante was shot, that would be the end, he couldn’t come
back.
    My eyes searched the forest floor for
something, anything I could use to save him. I tried not to be
suspicious, but I needed to act fast. Conveniently, the tree to my
left had a broken whisky bottle lying next to it. Now, I just
needed to figure out how to get to it, and get back over there
faster than the man could fire the gun. It was hopeless. Then I
realized; the Alliance was gone. I could use my powers in front of
whoever I pleased. I could imagine whatever weapon I needed, but
with the situation in front of me, I figured a knife would be best.
I’d never fired a gun, and Dante was way too close to the man.
    I put my hand behind my back and imagined a
knife. I refocused my attention back to them; they had been arguing
without me even noticing. The man holding the gun was getting
angry, apparently Dante insulted him. What did he think would come
of insulting the man holding a gun to his head? Then I realized; he
was probably trying to distract them. I lunged forward and stabbed
the man in the chest. Dante grabbed the gun before the other man
could. I paid no attention to them, only the man lying on the
ground covered in blood. The weaker he got, the stronger I
felt.
    Before I could comprehend what was going on,
Dante shot the other man, who was running at me. Dante closed his
eyes, and I knew he was feeling what I felt only moments ago.
That’s when I realized—we were monsters, and as long as we wanted
to live, we would be. This was what we needed to do to survive. I
didn’t understand it, but I knew that I would never be the same
again.
    “Do you realize what’s going on here?” I
asked. My expression was blank, and my voice didn’t give away what
I was feeling.
    “You feel stronger too?” he assumed.
    “We need to find out more about this. We need
to know if this is the only way.”
    “Those guys were creeps, Scarlett. They would
have killed us, and we’ve made it this long, maybe it’s not
something we’ll have to do that often.”
    “If it’s something we’ll ever have to do
again, then we need to know if we have other options.”
    “You’re right,” he agreed, “but I wouldn’t
let this bring you down—they wanted to kill us. It wasn’t even like
before, the Alliance had a reason. I’m not saying that makes what
they did right, but something tells me, we weren’t the first people
that ran into those guys.”
    “You always know how to make me feel better,”
I sighed.
    “Come on let’s get back before they come
looking for us.”
     
     

Chapter 5: An
Unlikely Savior
    We went back to camp. Everyone was still
swimming around without a care in the world. I wondered if I could
ever be that way, I wondered how all of this would play out.
    Day after day, it became clearer that I was
different. I wasn’t the same person I once was, and I would never
be the same again. Did that mean that I would never find happiness?
No, I had all that I needed here with me right now. His arms were
wrapped around me as he stood behind me, watching the others. I
just needed to figure out who I was—or what I needed to learn to
accept it.
    We grabbed a blanket from the tent when we
were sure they weren’t planning on getting out anytime soon. We lay
down and faced each other. He looked better than he had in days,
his skin was a little brighter; his eyes had a spark in them, and
he no longer looked the least bit tired. I assumed the same applied
to me, and I knew exactly why—killing was the only way we could
stay strong.
    It seemed as though a soul taking over
another body was specific to the Alliance—specific to evil. They
had no problem killing to keep their strength. In fact, I was
almost certain that it was a welcome excuse.
    The sky was starting to darken; the clouds
were slowly rolling in. The sun peeked through while it still
could, leaving us with a slight shimmer of light for the time
being. I heard thunder in