Read Online Descended by Debra Miller - Free Book Online Page B

going to make them see that!
    “Violet?” Gabriel tried to get her attention.
    “Are you listening to me?” he asked.
    “Sure Gabe, I hear you, loud and clear!” she remarked snidely.
    Gabriel knew that look and that tone of hers all too well. He was smart and he knew Violet better than anyone. Right now, he knew she was upset and that meant trouble. Gabriel decided that he needed to change course and appeal to her as a friend instead of ordering her around as her leader.
    “Vie, please wear this necklace so I can know you are safe.” Gabriel simply stated his fear to his friend honestly and lovingly.
    “Well,” Violet said, annoyed that Gabriel was using their friendship to get what he wanted. She figured she owed him. After all, she was here on this mission because of him.
    “Fine!” she said and grabbed the necklace from his hand. “I’ll wear it, but only because you asked me nicely!”
    “At all times?” he said with begging eyes.
    “Don’t push it, Gabe!” she replied, one eyebrow lifted and glaring at him now.
    Gabriel offered to help her put it on since she was clearly struggling with the delicate clasp. He took the necklace from her and reached his hands around the front of Violet’s body. He swept her hair to the side of her shoulder and fastened the clasp. They stood in front of the mirror, staring at each other for several seconds and then Gabriel said, “You really don’t see the resemblance?”
    “To whom?” she said completely clueless.
    “To her…to Vivian?” he pointed to the girl reflected in the mirror.
    “Stop messing with me Gabe! I said I’d wear the necklace but I can always change my mind!” she threatened.
    Gabriel knew to quit while he was ahead but couldn’t understand why she did not see how much she and her vessel, Vivian, looked alike. Everyone noticed it, everyone except Violet. Violet just stood in front of the mirror looking at the necklace, tracker, she was forced to wear. Truthfully, she thought it was the most magnificent thing she had ever seen. She loved it but she was not going to admit that to Gabriel and the others. Its beauty was not the problem; the problem was with the Guardians not believing in her and that made Violet very unhappy. Worse than that was that her friend didn’t have faith in her and that was even more troubling for Violet.
    Violet decided to speak to Gabe and let him know why she was really opposed to wearing the necklace. But before she could utter a word, she heard a “Click”, the room went dark and he was gone. She turned back to the mirror to look at the pendant around her neck shining vibrantly in the moonlight now stretched across her floor. “You will always be with me Gabriel, even without your pendant,” she said silently to herself.
    Violet returned to her bed pulling the covers over her body. She knew she needed to rest. She could feel the fatigue of the vessel but was afraid to close her eyes and lose herself in the darkness of sleep. “Just relax your body,” she thought to herself. She grabbed the IPod sitting on the night table to help her to do just that. She scrolled through the playlist, coming across a song that spoke to her. The screen read, “Bring Me to Life”.   Violet closed her eyes and hit play.
    She was captivated by the words and found herself drifting slowly away into the darkness. Sleep was coming and she couldn’t fight it any longer.  Deeper and deeper she fell into the black gloom, carrying the lyrics of the song with her in her head.
    “How can you see into my eyes; like open doors?”
    “Leading you down into my core where I’ve become so numb”
    “Without a soul, my spirit sleeping, somewhere cold.”
    “Until you find it there and lead it back to home.”
    The voice of Evanescence traveled with her into the blackness.
    Violet was standing on the edge of a cliff as tall as the sky looking down into the deep blue water below her. “How did I get here?” she wondered, hearing the