Nightwish (An Echoes of Eternity Novel Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

return to hell.”
    “And because the demon’s eyes flashed three times while it approached me, it meant that the host had lost the battle. So did the man’s soul get sent back to heaven?”
    “Either that or he’s a ghost. I’ve already told you about your mother,” he said, changing the subject. “You also have a sister and a niece.”
    Mouth ajar, I just stared at him. It was enough to learn that I had a mother, not to mention a sister…and a niece!
    “Your grandmother didn’t want you to have anything to do with them.”
    “Why?” Without waiting for an answer, I said, “When I was little, I always wanted to meet my mother.”
    “That may be, but you’ll soon wish you hadn’t.”

CHAPTER THREE
     
     
     
     
    After Darius pulled to the curb at DePaul University’s Lincoln Park Campus, I stepped out of the car, and we walked along a sidewalk toward the Quad, where over a dozen trees surrounded various walkways, all of which led to a circular pattern enclosed by manicured bushes. I’d spent the past four years crossing these sidewalks each day. Now that a new world had opened up for me, I looked up at the large buildings I’d once walked past daily and regarded those moments as uninformed and naive.
    “What are we doing here?” I asked Darius. Opposite us, a trio of women and a teenager made their way toward us.
    “You’ll understand soon enough.”
    His conviction, sounding almost like a threat, made my pulse leap. “And what do you want?” A few seconds later, I looked back, only to find that Darius had vanished. I scanned the area, but I didn’t see him anywhere. I found it unnerving that he vanished without a sound.
    “It is delightful to see you once again.”
    Startled, I swung around and found Grams behind me wearing matching gray Chicago Bears T-shirt and sweatpants, while an orange Bears hat collected her thin, silver hair. Grams extended her arms as a vibrant smile lit her hollow cheeks. “I am overjoyed to have you join us.”
    I drew back, surprised by her strange greeting, not to mention that she stood alongside three strangers. “You weren’t at the ceremony,” I said, waiting for an introduction to the others. “What happened?” Following the graduation ceremony, I’d chatted with many friends I’d probably never see again, so we all went out to dinner and snapped photos to one day remind us of past memories. Afterwards, I’d called and texted Grams, but she hadn’t responded. So to now hear her all but disregard my graduation, a ceremony she had looked forward to since I entered college, I was puzzled by her disinterest.
    To deflect those thoughts, as well as to avoid asking her to break the ice with those beside her, I wondered why she wasn’t wearing her Bears’ headband and wristbands. They were probably beside her Bears’ lamp, under which lay her Bears’ slippers, which lay upon her Bears’ rug. The Chicago Bears were a yearlong love affair for Grams. In her opinion, the off-season didn’t exist: the team played year-round and won every game, existent or non-existent.
    I turned and Grams swept me up in a loose hug that lasted approximately two seconds. How odd! Throughout my life, Grams always wrapped her arms around me and squeezed tight, holding me there for at least six or seven seconds before stepping away.
    “Yes,” she said, pausing before saying, “the ceremony: please accept my congratulations. But I am afraid that we have more important matters to attend to.”
    I examined her eyes to see if she’d accidentally doubled (or tripled) her dosage of high-blood pressure medication. I often left notes around the house because, over the past few weeks, Grams’s Alzheimer’s had taken a turn for the worse. “You’re right: a demon attacked me.” I waited for a response, but getting none, I repeated: “Eyes that flicker black? Laughs at broken bones as if I’d tickled him? What do you know about that?”
    She offered an amused smile, but she