Read Online Beyond The Door by Phaedra Weldon - Free Book Online

survive
it—"
    "Nonsense. You'll survive. You're strong. And
you have all of us—"
    "But if I don't, will you promise me that if
you're able, you'll keep looking for her? That you'll find her?" He
took her hand this time and gave her his warmth again. "And you'll
let her know that I love her?"
    Alice felt her own heart touched at his
sincerity. As a Familiar, she was herself, but also a part of him.
She knew when he was keeping secrets, and she knew when he was
honest. In his heart there was nothing but love for Zoë. This boy
would give up his own life for her.
    She just hoped that girl realized
it.
    She returned the squeeze and leaned to him to
move a stray strand of his hair from his face. "I will promise you,
Darren that I will do everything within my power to make sure we
find her."

 
    Rhonda
    THIS is it . And it
was. A return to the very spell she'd used in Rodriguez' little
torture chamber so many months ago. The day she'd altered that damn
book, and the man she loved, forever. And here I am, asked to do
it again, to once again save his life.
    They were back in the same room she and Nona
had found him in before, when Zoë had run off with Azrael to look
for Dags and Jason. The other Revenants were nearby—guarding what
they believed was the key to restoring the Abysmal plane. Daniel
had come to her before she started and confirmed what she'd already
suspected—the borders were closed down.
    No one knew why. There was a subtle panic
setting in amid the different Abysmal creatures still on the
physical planes, now cut off from their homes with no explanation.
Was it because the Phantasm was gone? Was it because there was a
void?
    Was it because of Zoë?
    When Daniel and Azrael returned from the
Abysmal plane, Daniel became ill. Though his body could tolerate
the Outer Planes because of the First Born in side of him, the
excursion took a heavy toll and he ended up in the Society's care
for several days. Even before Nona talked her into allowing them to
look after Dags.
    Stop it...you need to
concentrate.
    Dags was asleep on the slab and not tied down
by straps or chains. That wouldn't be necessary. She'd unfastened
his pajamas and laid them open to expose his chest. The book glowed
softly through his skin, as if it were just beneath the surface,
though she knew it was just an illusion. She'd already started the
spell in her mind and shut out the world to call forth the book the
same way she'd set it inside. 
    Nona was the only other one in the room with
her—the only one she'd allow.
    The light on Dags' chest sparkled as it rose up
through his skin, a plain book—
    No...it was different now. Different
than it'd been when she'd held it in the Physical Plane. The cover
had changed. It was still worn and aged, but instead of a blank
surface it now had burned into its center the symbols tattooed on
Dags' palms. They glowed with an soft red light, and a blue white
light light.
    "The Familiars' marks," Nona said in the
shadows caused by the book as it floated above him, and then opened
to reveal its pages.
    Rhonda reached up into her Veil and retrieved
the pages found by the others. There were twenty in all. But were
there enough to bring Dags back to her? To her they were all blank,
empty pieces of parchment.
    Once she'd removed them from the plastic bag,
the bag returned to the Veil and she stacked the pages neatly on
top of the open book. She repeated her request to see the words
written three times—and she said them in Sanskrit—in hopes that
would speak to the book.
    At first nothing happened. The pages lay in a
stack atop the glowing book—
    Until the top page's surface blurred and words
in the tiniest script she'd ever seen appeared as if written by an
unseen hand. She waited until the page was finished and pulled it
to the side. The page sparkled and melted down into the book and
then vanished.
    The next page did the same thing, only when it
finished she felt the tug that it wanted to be on the other side