Read Online Deep Shadows by Vannetta Chapman - Free Book Online

“We’ll see more up there than we can down here.”
    She shook her head, but she wasn’t saying no. Max considered that a victory.
    He let her climb first, thinking that if she slipped he could catch her. A more likely scenario was that she’d knock him over on her way down, and they would both suffer broken legs or worse.
    He shouldn’t have worried. She climbed the ladder like a monkey in a tree.
    By the time he reached the top, Shelby was seated with her feet dangling and her arms hooked over the shorter of two rails.
    â€œGreat idea, Max.”
    â€œI have them occasionally.”
    He dropped down to sit beside her, trying to process what he was seeing. If the aurora had been startling when viewed from the ground, it was overwhelming from where they sat. Flopping onto his back, he stared up at it. It was now after two in the morning. With all that had happened in the last six hours, he hadn’t slowed down enough to consider the thing that was changing their lives. From one hundred and twenty feet up, the sight of the aurora was mesmerizing. The sky resembled a kaleidoscope, and Max felt as if he were caught in a tube somewhere between the array of mirrors on one end and the objects chamber on the other.
    â€œYou’re looking a little green there, Max. Afraid of heights?” Shelby leaned over him, studying his face. Her impossibly curly black hair fell forward and onto his chest, and her warm brown eyes laughed at him.
    He wanted to reach up and touch her face. He longed to pull her to him and forget about this cataclysmic event for a moment. But before he could make a move, Shelby was tugging on his hand, hauling him into a sitting position.
    â€œI know that look,” she said. “Carter had the same expression before he upchucked last week.”
    â€œHe’d bet Jason he could eat three chili cheese dogs.”
    â€œIt’s a good thing he did barf, or his insulin levels would have shot through the roof.”
    â€œBoys will be—”
    â€œYes, I know, but the point is that you have the same look. Deep breaths, please.”
    He actually did feel better sitting up. “For a moment there, it felt like I was floating.”
    â€œA little vertigo is normal if you stare at the aurora too long.”
    For the first time, Max’s gaze sought the horizon toward the west. As far as he could see, in every direction, there was near total darkness punctuated by very few lights. “Amazing, isn’t it?”
    â€œIt would be beautiful if it didn’t spell doom and destruction.”
    â€œDo you believe that?”
    â€œI’m not sure what I believe.” Her tone had grown serious.
    This was the Shelby he knew—contemplative, private, never giving much away. He preferred the one that had leaned over him with the look of amused concern.
    â€œThere’s only enough water for twenty-four hours?” she asked.
    â€œIt might last longer, if people conserve.”
    â€œWhy don’t we have a generator for this water tower?”
    â€œMoney. We’re a small town and a generator of that size isn’t cheap.” When she didn’t respond, he added, “There’s always the water from the springs if it comes to that.”
    â€œIt’s not only a matter of having enough to drink. Think of the sanitary issues if you can’t flush a toilet or bathe or wash your dishes.” She again slung her arms around the lowest rail and stared down at the ground.“This comes from a lack of imagination. People can’t conceive that the world they live in, the society they are used to, can change in a flash.”
    Instead of arguing, he bumped his shoulder against hers. “I won’t let anything happen to you and Carter.”
    â€œWe’re fine.” She pushed her hair back out of her face. “I appreciate it. I do. But we’re fine.”
    Max allowed her words to fade into the darkness, and then he