Every Last Kiss, Final Copy, June 30, 2011 Read Online Free
Author: Courtney Cole
From: Jessa Gray
Subject: Advice for the day
Stop Obsessing. Seriously- I mean it. Jenn said to tell you that if we survive, we’ll stop back by your house to check on you after our yearly torture session (aka Getting dragged to the Gray Family Reunion kicking and screaming).
Love ya!
Jess (aka The hotter Gray sister)
I rolled my eyes. Jess was made of drama…everything she said or did was usually blown way out of proportion.
She and her sister, Jenn were identical- from the tips of their delicate noses to their size 6.5 feet. Very few people could tell them apart so they were definitely on an equal ‘hotness’ plane, although Jess always insisted that she was the beauty queen in the family. It made me laugh.
Suddenly, though, an image flashed through my mind that instantly stilled my smile. Green street signs, 34 th and Elm, were being pelted with rain. My knees turned weak as I saw a black SUV barreling toward the intersection. And Jenn. She turned, her face frozen with surprise and fear. She scrambled backward, slipping in the rain and fell to the street- directly into the path of the SUV. I squeezed my eyes closed. And the vision stopped.
Oh my God. Jenn. Did I just have a premonition? What the hell was happening to me? I wasn’t even touching the stupid pendant and my thoughts were being invaded by…strangeness.
Something was definitely wrong with me. And every ounce of my being told me that it had something to do with the anonymous gift left on my porch. My heart was still pounding as I started clicking my mouse and within seconds, I was faced with hundreds of web pages devoted to bloodstones.
I clicked on one.
Bloodstone makes one more knowledgeable in ways of the world.
Hmm. As in seeing strange visions of the future? I kept reading.
Bloodstone is a hero’s stone and instills courage. Bloodstone enables one to see the benefits and patterns of change and to recognize the ‘turmoil prior to perfection’. Ancient Middle Eastern civilizations believed that wearing bloodstone could promote wisdom, protect from evil spirits and undo what had already been done. Bloodstone can help the wearer find what is lost.
I sat back in my chair. Interesting. It was quite a piece of jewelry. Too bad it was all superstition and ancient mystical folklore. But still.
Prior to the bloodstone’s entrance into my life, I had never had even one crazy vision. Now, it was like a floodgate had opened- I couldn’t stop them. And I couldn’t help but remember how the veins in the stone had throbbed wildly last night, glowing as if blood actually pulsed through them. It gave me shivers just thinking about it.
A bloodstone. Even the name sounded…ominous.
I glanced into the corner of my bedroom. It was still there, lying right where I had tossed it last night. It seemed perfectly harmless- there was no glowing, no throbbing veins. I sighed a long sigh and got up. There was no way I was going to be able to leave this be. I was just that compulsive.
Hunching over it, I poked it with my finger. Nothing happened. No strange visions, no throbbing stone. I chewed on my lip then took a big breath- and picked it up. Almost instantly, white-hot heat rushed into my fingertips from the stone itself, racing up my arm and spreading throughout my entire body, radiating from my shoulder. I couldn’t even breathe as vivid images assailed me.
A woman crying, dark eyes, swords, soldiers, blood…. the images broke apart and swirled together. I closed my eyes as the sensations became almost too much to bear, overwhelmed with waves of emotion too great to comprehend. I almost
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