Read Online Darkness Watching (Darkworld #1) by Emma L. Adams - Free Book Online Page A

if you like, it’s just that way.” He pointed at an alleyway between the Art Gallery and the cathedral.
    “Sure!” I said. “I haven’t seen the sea in forever. We were going to go to France this summer, but my parents needed to pay for all my stuff for uni.”
    “Yeah, I know what you mean. It’s expensive, moving out. You don’t realise how much you take for granted until you’re on your own. This is the quickest way,” he added, climbing over a stone wall.
    I followed. The hairs on my arms rose as I realised we were in a graveyard, around the back of the cathedral.
    We walked swiftly, not speaking; something seemed to press on us like a heavy blanket of fog. I didn’t believe in ghosts―not the traditional ones, anyway―but, if ever a place seemed haunted, that place did. The graves themselves seemed to have a presence, like their inhabitants sat all around us, watching. I felt almost as unsettled as I did when I saw a demon.
    As we climbed over a stile into a field, David said, “That place is abandoned, but it still creeps the hell out of me. I think it’s because that’s where the Blackstones are buried.”
    I nodded. No one could escape that family here. The ruined house, the paintings, the cemetery―even the name spoke of their loss. I wondered why I hadn’t heard about it when I’d first visited. It seemed like the sort of thing Cara would find interesting.
    We walked through a small copse, large oak trees forming a canopy that blotted out the sky. The uneven ground made it hard to manoeuvre, and, with no clear path, we had to skirt round broken branches and patches of thorns. Fungi grew in clusters around the ancient trees. The salty tang of the sea breeze mingled with the scents of decay. Crows nested in the branches above, looking down at us with distrustful eyes. Once or twice, I thought I saw the shadow of a larger bird pass overhead, but, whenever I looked up, I saw nothing there.
    We emerged from the trees to find ourselves at the top of a rugged cliff overlooking a pebbly beach. Waves crashed against the jagged rocks below.
    “People have barbecues down there in summer, when the weather’s nice.”
    “ Is the weather ever nice here?”
    David grinned at me. “You’d be surprised.”
    I suddenly felt awkward. It hit me we were alone together. Cara’s words echoed in my head. “If a guy asks you out alone, it means he likes you.”
    I rarely took notice when she said things like this, but, then again, maybe that was because no one had ever been interested in me …
    “It’s nice here,” I said lamely.
    He looked away from me, out across the rippling sea. “Yeah, it’s nice. A bit isolated, but I guess you knew what you were getting into when you applied, right?”
    He said this with a strange kind of emphasis, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
    “Sure,” I said. “No one from my sixth form was coming here; it was perfect.”
    “You wanted a fresh start?”
    “Yeah, I guess so.”
    “A lot of people do. You’re lucky to have had the chance.”
    Lucky. Now I thought about it, I guessed I was lucky to be here, even though part of me worried it was a deception, that I’d not quite escaped the fear. I hesitated, on the brink of confessing what had really happened last night.
    Stop. No, I couldn’t tell him. What would he think of me?
    But the girl. She was proof I wasn’t the only one who could see the demons. She was a student at the university; it wasn’t unreasonable to assume we’d meet again. And, next time, I’d get some answers.

y the time we got back to the flat, Sarah and Alex sat chatting in the kitchen. We all walked up to campus to meet the heads of the Literature department and to enrol in the course. This meant a lot of trailing around in the rain that surrounded us in a constant haze of fine drizzle. In the fog, the older part of campus looked more Gothic than ever; and it gave me a start of surprise when a troop of people dressed as medieval warriors