Edge of Twilight Read Online Free Page B

and knuckled away her tears. “I need to go to him. I need to see him—both of them. How is he? Have you spoken to him?”
    â€œIt was Rhiannon who phoned with the news,” Angelica said softly. “She specifically asked for you to come.”
    Amber nodded. “And what about the rest of you?”
    â€œWe’ll be coming later. First we’re heading down to Eric’s. Roland is already there. They need all the help they can get with the research,” Jameson said.
    â€œBesides,” Angelica added, “we don’t want to over-whelm ‘Fina and Will. All of us descending on them at once might be a little too much.”
    â€œThey’ll want time alone, too.” Amber swallowed her tears, though they nearly choked her. “Coming with me, Alicia?”
    â€œOne of us needs to stay and keep the shop open, hon. Pandora’s Box can’t run itself. But if you need me, call me, and I’ll be there like lightning.”
    â€œAlicia, I’d feel better if you went along,” Angelica began.
    Amber interrupted her. “Mom, I’m twenty-three and perfectly capable of getting to Salem Harbor on my own.”
    Angelica thinned her lips.
    â€œWe both learned from our mistakes, Angelica,” Alicia said softly. “We’re not teenagers anymore. We own a business now. The Box is already turning a profit. We’re responsible adult women. Both of us.”
    â€œI know that.” Angelica shot a look at Jameson, and he gave her a silent nod.
    Amber drew a breath and sighed in gratitude. Alicia was giving her time and space to do this on her own. Amber and Will—they’d formed an odd bond when he’d saved her life five years back. He was like the big brother she’d never had. She loved him madly, and maybe part of that was because he was an outsider, too. Part of this extended family of the undead, even though he wasn’t one of them. Just like Susan and Alicia. Just like she was herself. Well, not just like, she thought slowly. She wasn’t mortal, either. She didn’t know exactly what she was.
    Nodding hard, her mind made up, Amber said, “I’ll pack up tonight. Leave early in the morning.”
    â€œShould I call the airlines for you, Amber?” Susan asked.
    â€œNo, I…I think I’ll drive. It’ll give me time to…process all this.”
    â€œSounds like a good idea.” Alicia got to her feet. “Are you guys all right?”
    â€œWe’re dealing with it as best we can,” Angelica said. “It’s not easy on any of us. But Eric’s refusing to give up hope, and maybe there’s some chance he’s right.”
    â€œBut you don’t really think so, do you?” Amber asked.
    Her mother lowered her eyes, but Amber heard the hopelessness in her heart.
    Alicia said, “Amber, let’s get back. I’ll help you pack, maybe even make you a few snacks for the road, huh?”
    Smiling her thanks, Amber nodded. She got to her feet, let her father hug her hard. “When you go out there, Amber, forget your own pain. Think of easing theirs.”
    â€œI will.”
    â€œI know you will.”
    Â 
    Edge was staked out in the shadows outside the kitschy little New Age-slash-magic shop in one of Rochester, New York’s suburbs, a town called Irondequoit. The sign in the window read Pandora’s Box, and included a stylized drawing of a treasure chest with its lid open and purple sparkles spiraling from within. The apartment where Amber Lily Bryant lived with her mortal roommate Alicia Jennings was on the second floor, and his research showed the two were joint owners of the shop, which they’d purchased from its former owners two years ago.
    Why the Child of Promise was sharing an apartment and a business with a mortal, rather than living under the constant protection of a dozen vampiric bodyguards, he couldn’t begin to guess. None of the