The Paladins Read Online Free Page B

forward and back again. As a child, I often fell asleep on Ben’s solid chest. Gentle swells and contractions of his ribcage forced me up and down in a steady rhythm like a lullaby with each breath. The tree trunk breathes the same way—like a giant lung. Shivers wrack my body. I force myself to sit still as several limbs bow low. Leaves gently caress my face and neck sending little jolts of energy skittering under my flesh. As the maple rolls me forward again, a warm sensation fills my mind with a sense of awe and wonder. And power. Light floods my eyes in a brilliant flash. I scramble to my feet with a shriek, and, too fast to track, the tree limbs retreat to the canopy above.
    “What’s wrong?” Maggie yells over her father’s shoulder. “Ew, is there a bug?”
    “Uh … ” How do I explain? I stare at my friend, unable to answer with a single intelligent word.
    Worry, fear, and doubt weight the air easing from my chest. When Gideon and I broke the curse last year, I thought the ritual would end our troubles—the supernatural ones, anyway. Suddenly, I’m not so sure. And if the magic’s retuning, how in the world do I tell my beautiful, strong-willed, and overly protective boyfriend?

The Middle

Chapter Four

     
    Cole
     
     
    It’s two in the morning and Rosamond’s spirit still haunts my dreams. She’s appearing more often, making her pleas that much harder to ignore.
    I’m supposed to be going through the stack of tutoring resumes my parents left behind. A year of catching up on my education, and I’m off to Uni. Carving out a worthy career path is a task expected of every decent Wynter.
    Instead, I’m standing on the second floor balcony watching a fox dart across our moonlit garden. Trees, flowers, expensive wrought iron furniture—everything’s washed in an effluent glow.
    Life is peaceful in this moment, or could be, if not for the mysterious blond whose image won’t fade. I tell myself the visions aren’t real, and then she appears again. The more I say she isn’t my problem, the heavier my soul feels. How do I live with myself if I walk away? Yet, the bigger question may be … how can I possibly help?
    My hands grip the balcony railing. As far as I know, the camera hidden in the Maddox mansion was the only way into The Void. While our physical bodies were stored in coffins in the Maddox cellar, our spirits walked the grounds between worlds. Never in my years of banishment had I seen Rosamond.
    Were there other coffins? More people that the Artisans punished whom I’d never met? Gideon never mentioned anyone else. In fact, when Raven convinced him to free us, all twenty-four souls were accounted for that night. So, where did Rosamond come from?
    Even if I knew, would Gideon help me free her?
    Memories can haunt a person as effectively as ghosts. And considering all I’d done to him, I highly doubted that he would …
    At age fifteen, I remember waiting outside the headmaster’s office at Malcolm College, listening to my father rant. Mottled glass panes in the oak door gave me a decent, if blurry, view of the uncomfortable scene unfolding within.
    Headmaster Stewart (Stewie or Stewmeat, as we liked to call him) Allen Gamble was about as tough as boiled noodles. Confrontation with my father was best handled as you would an attack dog. Speak with a clear and firm voice. Never show fear. Never run.
    Who knows how Stewie achieved his high rank? It hardly mattered. If my father had much to say about it—and he did—poor Stewmeat wouldn’t have his job much longer.
    As Father spoke, the volume grew. Cold and hard as the steely, blue barrel of a gun, old man Wynter leveled that voice at his victim and pulled the trigger. “This is absurd! No one expels a Wynter. It doesn’t happen. So, a few boys played an innocent prank that went awry. The burn was an accident. Hell, didn’t we all do a little hazing of the new chap when we were in school? Young master Maddox needs to toughen up anyway, I