Lord of Lightning Read Online Free Page A

looked into the quarry. What she saw there made her drop to her knees in astonishment. The basin of the craterlike form was ablaze with a brilliant blue-green fire.
    The brightness forced her to shield her eyes. It was staggering to look at—a turquoise inferno—but without heat. Only that incessant buzzing sound. Or was it a clicking? She couldn’t take it all in.
    A darkness moved behind the sheets of flaming light. Lise pushed to her feet, trying to make out the apparitional form. It flowed like mercury, taking different shapes. Her heart was beating wildly, but curiosity held her in place. Was it an illusion? A shadow? She inched down the steep grade for a closer look and stopped abruptly as the vaporous form seemed to float in her direction. It might have been the body shape of a man, she realized, only it looked larger, much larger.
    The gravel gave way beneath Lise, and by the time she’d stopped her slide, she realized she’d entered the aura. The light drew in around her, gauzy and surreal, eddying like an azure tide. The color intensified, and she felt a prickling sensation run along her skin, rifling the hair on her arms. An ethereal odor filled her nostrils, burning the tender membranes.
    Lise lurched backward. If the light was actually some sort of gaseous substance, it could be poisonous. She’d heard of things like marsh gas, but never in the mountains. Panic caught her as she floundered in the rock bed. The gravel sank beneath her with the deadly suction of quicksand as she wrenched around and fought for traction. Digging in, propelling herself upward, she burst into the fresh air. Air. It seared into her lungs in several sharp gasps.
    She was halfway up the cone when she heard a hiss of sound and glanced back. The darkness was a black wraith swimming in blue fire. It grew larger and more distinct by the second. Lise could discern a domelike head and appendages that might have been arms. That’s when she realized it was moving closer. It was following her.
    Adrenaline burst through her body. She heaved herself toward the crest of the cone, laboring frantically to reach it. A stitch of pain caught her as she reached the top, and the sharpness doubled her over as if she were a stricken marathoner. She clutched her side and dropped to one knee, fighting to get up again. Through the trees, she could see the clearing where her car was parked. Just let me get there , she thought.
    She started down the slope, pitching forward as her foot snagged something. An instant later she was tumbling helplessly down the rocky decline.
    Even if Lise had seen the boulder that lay in her path, she wouldn’t have had the strength or the control to avoid it. The blow caught her in the ribs and solar plexus, knocking the wind out of her, a collision of flesh and bone against solid granite.
    The last thing she saw before she lost consciousness was an amorphous silvery form descending upon her.
    Hushed by night’s descent, the foothills became a moonlit temple, sanctuary to a thousand nocturnal creatures. A coyote howled in the distance, the sound forlorn. As the cry faded a sparrow hawk swooped through the clearing and landed on the front porch railing of the Cooper cabin. Silvery-winged in the moonlight, it seemed to be standing guard, a vigilant sentry.
    Inside the cabin Stephen Gage was contemplating the unconscious woman he’d just settled on his bed. He’d checked her for breaks at the quarry and had found only lacerations and bruises. Her breathing was normal, and there were no apparent concussions, but some of the cuts looked deep. They would have to be treated to prevent infection.
    A flash of silver caught his eye as he turned. Seeing his own reflection in the dresser mirror, he realized he hadn’t changed out of his protective gear. He unzipped the disposable suit at the shoulders first, pulling off the gloved sleeves as though they were pieces of a sewing pattern.
    A moment later the rest of the jumpsuit lay