Read Online Conduit by Maria Rachel Hooley - Free Book Online Page A

Elizabeth
is gone, and we don’t know where.”
    “It matters to me.”
    Lev started to argue but abruptly
froze, searching the darkness. Had something moved? 
    “Lev?” Elizabeth’s voice called to
him.         
    He waved her to silence.  “Where are
you?”  He seemed to speak to no one, which set Celia on edge even further.  It
was like he was hearing voices she couldn’t.
    “Who are you talking to?”  Celia
stepped closer.
    Here again, Lev didn’t answer but
instead glanced slowly around, now gazing skyward.  “Elizabeth?  Where are
you?  I can’t hear you anymore.”
    Elizabeth ?  Celia
shook her head, trying to make sense of what was right in front of her.  What
did Lev think he was hearing?
    “Lev, what’s going on?”
    “Shh!”  He waved his hand around
again, still searching.  “I can’t hear her anymore.”
    Unsure what to do, Celia fell silent
and watched, hoping for insight.  Instead, what she saw was her brother getting
more and more agitated while getting louder and louder—so loud, in fact, that
Griffin heard him and stepped out onto the porch.  Lev kept calling for
Elizabeth.
    “Celia?”
    She shrugged. 
    Lev whirled to face her.  “What, you
can’t hear her talking to us, begging us to help her before they kill her?”
    “No, Lev, I can’t.”
    His shoulders sank, his face ashen.
“How can you not?”
    “Because she isn’t tied to me like
she was to you.”  Celia stepped closer to him.  “The two of you shared a
covenant.  There’s no way we could’ve known such a bond would transcend your
loss of immortality, but perhaps it has, and that’s why you can still hear her
voice.”
      Lev closed his eyes and shook his
head, tormented.  “When she speaks to me, I can hear her voice as plain as day,
but I can’t find her to save her.  She needs me, and I don’t know how to help.”
    “We can help her,” Celia said, and
wrapping her arm around him, leading him up the porch steps where Griffin
stood, unsure what to do.
    Although Celia thought her brother
might put up a fight, he went quietly into the house, his gaze trance-like and
to the sofa, and she wondered if he still heard Lizzie’s voice, and if they
could somehow use that to help them find her. As it stood, they were all at a
loss as to how to find the dybbuks which had taken her, and even if Evan
did manage to find angels who better knew how to deal with the situation, they
wouldn’t necessarily know how to track Lizzie down.
    “Why don’t you try to relax until
Evan gets back?  Maybe he’ll have answers.”
    Reluctantly, Lev nodded and sank onto
the soft couch, still staring ahead at things only he could see.  At one point,
she might’ve tried to help guide her brother through this, but she knew she
lacked the necessary skills.  He wanted some kind of a promise that Lizzie was
going to be fine, and she didn’t have the power to make it so, so there was no
point.
    From the door, she watched him,
relieved when he leaned back.  She thought perhaps he might close his eyes and
drift off to sleep, but he just shifted his gaze skyward, searching.
     
    Lev had no clue how much later it was
before Evan opened the door.  It didn’t really matter.  He’d spent the whole
time sitting on the couch, listening for Elizabeth’s voice.  He needed to hear
it to prove it hadn’t all been his imagining things, but she hadn’t spoken
again, which sent a cold chill down his spine.  He couldn’t help but wonder if
something had silenced her, or whether this newfound power had simply been
wrested out of his control, leaving him in this horrible silence.
    Still, when his father appeared, Lev
forced himself to look at him.  He scowled. “So, do you know any more than when
you left?” 
    “I have recruited another angel who
has had some experience dealing with dybbuks and will be joining us.”
                “That doesn’t help us.”  Lev
straightened and closed his eyes,