The Children Who Time Lost Read Online Free

blood.
    I continued running, but a thick branch on the ground caught my left leg and I fell. I spun around and saw the creature’s feet in the air, its mouth open. I screamed as loud as I could and closed my eyes. My racing heart then took over.
    Click! Click! Click! I felt something yanking against my white shirt. Why wasn’t I dead yet? I opened my eyes to see pretty blue irises staring at me. It was Madeline, my … d—dead daughter. But why here? Why now? Why would she come to such a ghastly place? She pulled my shirt again, urging me to get up without saying a word. I rose and wiped dirt from my clothes. The green moon was still in the sky. Madeline took a step back and folded her arms, studying me.
    I walked toward her and knelt down. “It’s me, honey. It’s Mommy.”
    She looked at me and shook her head. Her eyes turned cold and lifeless. She clenched her hands.
    I frowned and took a step back. Can that really be my daughter? “Who are you?” I demanded.
    The girl laughed and took a step forward.
    “Who are you?”
    “It doesn’t matter who I am,” the girl said in a deep husky voice, one far too old for such a young mouth. That was definitely not my Madeline but something nasty and evil.
    “You’re not real,” I said. “This is only a dream. My daughter is dead. You’re sick. Leave her body alone, whoever you are. Let her rest in peace.”
    “But how often have you seen me in your dreams?” the deep voice rumbled again. “I’m very real.” The girl who looked like Madeline stepped forward until her feet were inches from mine. She leaned to my right ear and whispered, “In time you shall know everything, and you’ll beg to return here to me.” She stepped back and laughed.
    I stared at her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    The girl continued laughing and then abruptly stopped. She lunged to her knees, but she didn’t seem to do it on purpose. It was as if some unseen force had caused it. She tilted her neck up and screamed. White light surrounded her head, which looked like it would disintegrate. Her neck grew at least three feet from her shoulders. I put my hands over my mouth and sobbed. My daughter or not, Madeline was possibly in there somewhere and her screams were all I could hear.
    The girl floated in the air. The same sharp green scales I’d seen on the creature before covered her arms and legs. Then they burst through her clothes and spread across her whole body. The light around her face disappeared. The scales were all over her head as well, like a pack of snakes. She landed on the ground, now at least seven feet tall.
    She laughed at me and then her eyes retracted into her head, leaving a big gaping hole. I screamed as loud as I could and clenched my fists. A revolting noise similar to ripples in an algae-infested swamp then filled my ears.
    Pearl-black eyes emerged from the gap in her head where eyes used to be. They continued protruding out, stopping about three feet away from her face and looking like a cucumber. Her cry no longer sounded human but like that of something as evil as evil could get. She charged at me. I couldn’t run this time. I screamed so loud it felt like my eardrums would burst.
    Click! Click! Click! The cold water that entered my eyes stung for a second. My body was covered in sweat, but the creature was gone. I wasn’t in the forest anymore.
    “Rachel. Rachel,” I heard someone say. I tried to move my hands but felt the restraints. I remembered where I was. I kept my eyes shut for almost ten seconds. When I opened them, Jarrod was flashing a small torch in front of my eyes.

Chapter Three

    Chapter Three

    I walked through my front door and opened a silver cupboard on the right-hand wall of the corridor. I grabbed a glass and filled it with the thick medicine Jarrod had given me. I gulped it down and sighed. I had maybe three days’ worth before I’d need more. I wished they’d prescribed me one that would have lasted at least a week. I stood