Enoch's Ghost Read Online Free Page A

father.” After sliding the paper into an inner pocket in her bag, she carefully lifted the ring from the box and laid it in her palm. “Mother,” she said, arching her brow, “I already have a rubellite ring, but may I wear yours?”
    “I would be honored. I would have eventually given it to you anyway.”
    Ashley slid the band over her right ring finger, but it wouldn’t pass her knuckle, so she moved it to her pinky. As she closed her fist, the rubellite seemed to glow with a deeper, more vibrant red. “Very strange,” she said, passing it in front of her eyes. “It’s almost like it changed when I put it on.”
    Karen pointed at Ashley’s left hand. “Are you going to keep that one?”
    “My other ring?” Ashley pulled it off and laid it in Karen’s palm. “You can have it.”
    As Karen slid the ring on her finger, her face beamed. “I’ll take good care of it. I promise.”
    Thigocia’s ears jerked around. Her eyes flamed as she growled, “I sense an increase in danger. Our safety could well be in jeopardy.”
    Walter dropped the box and jerked out Excalibur. “Which direction?”
    “There!” Thigocia blew a dart of fire, scorching the grass a mere ten feet away. “Where my living room used to be!”
    Walter waved the sword back and forth. “I don’t see anything!”
    Ashley pulled up her bag, withdrew a photometer, and pointed it in the direction her mother had attacked. Tapping her jaw, she called out, “Larry, are you reading this? I estimate a distance of ten feet.”
    Larry’s familiar voice buzzed through Ashley’s mouth. “To quote an oft-quoted movie, ‘There is a disturbance in the force.’ The wave frequency resembles what we have seen in the wake of a cross-dimensional rift.”
    “The wake? You mean something just left this dimension?”
    “Or is about to enter it. The strength of the field increases for point seven seconds, then lessens for the same amount of time before going back toward its peak—a sine wave.”
    Ashley clicked a dial on the photometer and frowned at the flashing digits on its tiny screen. “If it’s sinusoidal, then the dimensional barrier is probably stable, at least for now.”
    “Affirmative. Stability, however, does not mean the barrier has not been breached. Something has triggered the dragon’s sensitivity.”
    “You’re right.” Ashley laid a hand on Thigocia’s neck. “Mother must be detecting danger from the other dimension. Something’s getting through.”
    Walter raised the sword high. A brilliant beam of light blazed from the tip and pierced the low clouds. “I set Excalibur on deep fat fry, but I can’t cook what I can’t see.”
    As Thigocia sniffed the air, her eyes brightened again to fiery scarlet. “It feels strange—powerful … crafty … sinister.”
    Larry’s buzzing voice spiked. “The curve pattern has shifted. The peak energy is growing rapidly, and the entire field is destabilizing.”
    “I see that!” Although her hand shook, Ashley kept the meter pointed at the same spot. “It’s going nuts!”
    Walter set his feet in a battle stance as he waved the sword’s beam across the field. An explosion of light energy erupted from the ground. Streams of sparks spewed in arching tentacles that seemed to reach out for Ashley and company before falling to the wet grass in a sizzling shower.
    As fountains of energy continued to shoot upward, Walter drew the sword back, ready to strike. A mass of blackness appeared in the center of the fountain, eclipsing the brilliant light. Ribbons of smoke arose from the falling sparks and created stringy black columns that masked the growing shadow.
    An acrid film coated Ashley’s tongue. She coughed and spat. “Get back!” she shouted, pulling Karen’s elbow. “Those fumes could be deadly!”
    The three humans backpedaled into clearer air. Thigocia beat her wings, fanning the poisonous stench toward the erupting sparks. The smoke seemed to attach to the central swelling mass,