The Mesmerized Read Online Free

obvious worry in his eyes were unsettling.
As though sensing her disquiet at his ruffled exterior, he slung an
arm around Minji and kissed her lips before leaning down to press
one to Ava’s cheek.
    “We’re going to be okay,” he said to his
daughter, and if the confidence filling his voice was fake, Minji
didn’t care. Rising, he said to his wife, “We’ll deal with this
together.”
    Minji nodded. “I know.”
    “Ready?”
    “Yeah,” she lied.
    Gripping her hand, Jake started to push
through the human stampede.
    The next wave of disorientation seized not
only Minji’s brain, but her body. Stuttering to a halt, she was
immobilized by the sensation of icy water rushing over her flesh
and freezing her limbs. Ava slipped from her grasp and hit the
floor with a resounding thump. Unable to move or cry out, Minji
fought against the overwhelming power attempting to subsume her. A
black void swallowed her eyesight, rendering her blind once again.
This incident felt different from the preceding ones. This time,
the power that seized her mind and body felt absolute, terrible,
and eternal.
    No , no , no , no ...
    For the single beat of her heart, her
eyesight returned, but the world was transformed into a miasma of
brilliant colors. Eerie voices rose in an off-key chorus of
unimaginable beauty. The shocking, abysmal magnificence of what she
was witnessing left her on the verge of madness.
    Was she seeing heaven or hell?
    As abruptly as it had come, the glorious,
incomprehensible vision vanished, leaving Minji trembling in the
wake of what she’d experienced. Darkness returned, but the
blindness was welcomed after the terrible hallucination she had
suffered.
    In increments, mobility returned to her
body. Warm liquid trickled from her nose and a coppery taste seeped
between her lips. With quivering fingers, she wiped blood from her
face.
    The mall was eerily quiet. At first Minji
thought she’d been deafened by the latest attack, but then her ears
detected the rumble of the waterfall. Minji sucked in a harsh
breath through her chattering teeth as her sight returned.
    Every person in the area was unmoving,
unblinking, and silent. Those who had been helping the bleeders now
stood next to the dead in perfect mockery of stone sentinels over
quiet graves. No one moved or gave any indication of awareness. It
was as if the scene had been caught and suspended in a single
moment of time.
    “Jake!” Minji gasped. “Jake! What’s
happening?” She pivoted toward her husband.
    The tall Swede was completely still, blue
eyes staring straight ahead. Jake didn’t flinch when she grabbed
his arm and shook him.
    “Jake! Wake up! Please, babe, wake up! We
need you!”
    Her husband remained impassive. Though his
chest moved with breath and his eyes blinked every few seconds, he
didn’t respond to her increasingly desperate cries. Slapping her
hands against his chest, Minji attempted to awaken him.
    Whirling about, she mewled in despair when
she saw Ava among the human statues. Dark eyes unfocused, Ava
didn’t react when Minji clutched her arms and gave her a frantic
shake.
    “Ava, Ava, please, look at mommy. Look at
me!”
    The five year old remained stock-still and
silent.
    With a sob, Minji pressed her palms against
the rounded cheeks of the little girl. “Please, Ava, if you can
hear me, look at me.”
    Minji’s heart sank when Ava’s gaze remained
blank.
    Fighting against the heavy weight of fear
and despair, Minji straightened and took several deep shuddering
breaths of the much colder air. The phantom touch of a thousand
strands of spider silk drifted over her flesh. She shivered.
    Hugging herself, Minji warily scrutinized
the still forms around her. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe this wasn’t
terrorism. What if this event was the manifestation of something
not human? Pushing that irrational speculation out of her mind, she
wrestled her fear under control and focused her thoughts. If she
could move, then someone else may be