Read Online Intaglio: Dragons All The Way Down by Danika Stone - Free Book Online

actually…” 
    “Both?” Ava
asked.
    “Yes, the two of
you.  Look, there’s Cole there too.” 
     The older man
gestured with his finger to a small shape of leaves, but the smudges looked
like nothing to Cole, so he simply sat back and listened.
    ‘Could be
anything,’ his mind prompted.  ‘Doesn’t mean a goddamn thing...’
    He didn’t know
why the words bothered him so much.  Why he was getting more edgy by the
second.  The record had switched to a new song, the instrumental music slow and
melancholy.
    “When the ship
begins to near this new land, there’s so much hope.   I can see you standing on
the deck of the ship, looking up at the birds.  See here, Ava?  Yes, that’s a
bird, and you’re watching it, knowing that you’re almost there…”  Oliver’s
words suddenly stopped, eyes widening.
    “What?”
    “It’s um…”
    “Dad, what?!”
    Oliver’s chin
bobbed up, eyebrows furrowing in alarm. 
    “Before you make
it ashore, there’s a storm, a terrible storm.  The two ships are torn to
pieces.  There are people in the water, screaming.  So much death… so many
dying.  Oh Ava, I’m sorry.”
    “And Cole?”
    “No, Cole’s
okay.  He’s swimming.  Wait!  You’re there too!  But something’s not right…” 
He lifted the cup closer, brows low over his eyes.  “You’re both there at the
end – I can see the two of you together … both of you on a beach but… but…”  He
frowned, eyes narrowing.  “Hold on… Yes, both of you made it to the shore.  The
storm’s ending, and you’ve made it to safe harbour.  I can see you, Ava… you’re
lying in the grass, looking up to the sky.  Cole’s beside you… the new land
surrounding you… swirling grasses and low rolling hills... And from above I can
see something that looks like a snake...”
    ‘The snake is a
river,’ Cole’s mind announced.  At the words – coming from someplace deep inside him –
his body began to quake.
    “Yes... I can
see it now... not a snake exactly, but a river leading out to the ocean. You’re
laying a short ways from the shore, a field of grass all around you... a river
in the distance… the sea further on… and trees.  You and Cole are together, but
you’re staring upward… something’s not quite right...”
    Oliver tipped
his head in concentration, his gaze back in the past.  Cole’s body was frozen
in place, his fingers clawing the edge of the table.  Heart thudding loudly in
his ears.
    ‘This can’t be
happening...’
    Oliver’s voice
dropped back into its hypnotic rhythm, the words rippling like wind against
grass. 
    “The sun is shining. 
It’s a beautiful place: the shore and the trees, and the river in the
distance.  There is so much beauty there, so much peace.  Cole is talking to
you and the wind is blowing... but you already know something…”  He frowned. 
“Ava, you know what’s happening to you.”
    “What’s
happening?” Her voice was barely a whisper.
    Cole could feel
something pulling at his awareness.  It was so close now he could feel the wind
on his cheek.  Knew the texture of the grass under his shoes.  Adrenaline
rushed through his veins, poising him for flight.
    ‘I’ve been
there!’ his mind screamed .  ‘I’ve seen this!’    His body rioted with the urge
to  run.  It was too much, and the denials from earlier only made this moment
all the worse for its intensity.
    “You’re there,
just the two of you.  You love him, Ava... I can see that even here.” Oliver’s
voice roughened.  “Cole’s begging you to stay with him, but you can’t…” 
    As Oliver spoke,
distress began to wrap tightly around Cole’s chest.   Oliver’s voice was no
longer soothing to him; the words leaving Cole more panicked with each passing
second. 
    ‘I know this
story...’ he realized.  ‘I know how it ends!’
    “He wants this
new beginning… this new start for the two of you…”  Oliver glanced up,