Read Online No Love for the Wicked by Megan Powell - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Megan Powell
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from.”
Across the sky Theo’s image appeared. He leaned back against a motorcycle, a tight frown darkening his face. It was exactly the way he’d looked the day I’d left. But unlike other times I’d dreamed of his image, he looked much clearer now. He stood golden and bright against the pink sky.
“It is part of the
more
inside me,” I explained. “I never realized it was there while I was living on the estate—Father always made sure my powers were as repressed as possible. But now I know better. I am capable of so much more than just hate and rage and pain. I can trust and be trusted. Maybe I can even love.” Theo’simage cocked a half grin at me that I remembered so well, one I was eager to see again.
I turned to the man I’d conjured, the embodiment of the hold my family still had over me. “This golden place is made up of so much more than any of you could ever imagine.”
The dream man frowned. “What do you mean, ‘any of you’?”
“You,” I said and waved in his direction. “My family. All of you. I was always the strongest—all of you always knew that. But now the power in me is more than just our bloodline.”
For a long moment, I enjoyed staring out at the image of Theo. Soon, he had said, and I couldn’t wait. My fingers played in the blood, tickling my twin’s fingertips and making her smile even wider. When the dream man remained silent, I turned to him again. His expression had dropped, startling me. He looked as if he were stunned.
“You think I am from you,” the man whispered, his voice barely audible. “You think you have imagined me as some representation of your family, the way you’ve imagined a vision of your dead twin sister and the man you pine for. You think I am nothing more than another part of your dream.”
The blood in the lake started to quiver as an uneasy feeling settled over the landscape. “Of course you are from me. None of my relatives has the power to enter my dreams like this.”
His eyes flashed red, and I gasped. No one in my family had ever done anything like that. Only I had that power. He turned his gaze to my hands. They had completely changed, turned into long leathery claws. I hadn’t even felt the shift.
With a tight smile, the man said, “Wake up, Magnolia.”
Instantly, I came awake, gasping for air.
C HAPTER 9
My hands fisted into the sheets as the remnants of my dream still shook me. I was scared to look, but slowly I glanced down. My hands were normal. They hadn’t shifted at all. Thank God. It really had just been a dream.
The man from my dreams flashed in my mind, and I automatically reached out with my senses to see if he was really there. Of course, there was nothing. But now I wondered if he really was just a part of my subconscious. The way he’d told me to wake up—it felt as if his words had actually pulled me away from the dream. I’d never done that to myself before. The thought made me shiver.
I lay back down and cuddled my quilts tight to my chest. Just a dream. The man’s eyes had flashed red because he was a part of me, that’s all. I lifted my hand again. There was the smallest glow to my skin now, visible even in the darkness.
In the morning I sat on one of the mismatched ottomans in the little farmhouse’s living room and powered up my Network-issued laptop. Computers weren’t exactly my forte—considering my lack of formal education, I figured it was pretty impressive I knew half of what I did. But after spending a couple of weeks hanging in a Wi-Fi café in Cincinnati, I’d grown pretty comfortable with the Internet. Geeky minds were so easy to access.
For all the place’s shortcomings (even with the furnace at full blast, I had to wrap myself in blankets just to keep my skin from goose-bumping), the farmhouse had great broadband Internet service. Must be all the high-tech security stuff hidden under the boxes in the little bedroom. The moment I signed into the secured intranet line Chang had
Across the sky Theo’s image appeared. He leaned back against a motorcycle, a tight frown darkening his face. It was exactly the way he’d looked the day I’d left. But unlike other times I’d dreamed of his image, he looked much clearer now. He stood golden and bright against the pink sky.
“It is part of the
more
inside me,” I explained. “I never realized it was there while I was living on the estate—Father always made sure my powers were as repressed as possible. But now I know better. I am capable of so much more than just hate and rage and pain. I can trust and be trusted. Maybe I can even love.” Theo’simage cocked a half grin at me that I remembered so well, one I was eager to see again.
I turned to the man I’d conjured, the embodiment of the hold my family still had over me. “This golden place is made up of so much more than any of you could ever imagine.”
The dream man frowned. “What do you mean, ‘any of you’?”
“You,” I said and waved in his direction. “My family. All of you. I was always the strongest—all of you always knew that. But now the power in me is more than just our bloodline.”
For a long moment, I enjoyed staring out at the image of Theo. Soon, he had said, and I couldn’t wait. My fingers played in the blood, tickling my twin’s fingertips and making her smile even wider. When the dream man remained silent, I turned to him again. His expression had dropped, startling me. He looked as if he were stunned.
“You think I am from you,” the man whispered, his voice barely audible. “You think you have imagined me as some representation of your family, the way you’ve imagined a vision of your dead twin sister and the man you pine for. You think I am nothing more than another part of your dream.”
The blood in the lake started to quiver as an uneasy feeling settled over the landscape. “Of course you are from me. None of my relatives has the power to enter my dreams like this.”
His eyes flashed red, and I gasped. No one in my family had ever done anything like that. Only I had that power. He turned his gaze to my hands. They had completely changed, turned into long leathery claws. I hadn’t even felt the shift.
With a tight smile, the man said, “Wake up, Magnolia.”
Instantly, I came awake, gasping for air.
C HAPTER 9
My hands fisted into the sheets as the remnants of my dream still shook me. I was scared to look, but slowly I glanced down. My hands were normal. They hadn’t shifted at all. Thank God. It really had just been a dream.
The man from my dreams flashed in my mind, and I automatically reached out with my senses to see if he was really there. Of course, there was nothing. But now I wondered if he really was just a part of my subconscious. The way he’d told me to wake up—it felt as if his words had actually pulled me away from the dream. I’d never done that to myself before. The thought made me shiver.
I lay back down and cuddled my quilts tight to my chest. Just a dream. The man’s eyes had flashed red because he was a part of me, that’s all. I lifted my hand again. There was the smallest glow to my skin now, visible even in the darkness.
In the morning I sat on one of the mismatched ottomans in the little farmhouse’s living room and powered up my Network-issued laptop. Computers weren’t exactly my forte—considering my lack of formal education, I figured it was pretty impressive I knew half of what I did. But after spending a couple of weeks hanging in a Wi-Fi café in Cincinnati, I’d grown pretty comfortable with the Internet. Geeky minds were so easy to access.
For all the place’s shortcomings (even with the furnace at full blast, I had to wrap myself in blankets just to keep my skin from goose-bumping), the farmhouse had great broadband Internet service. Must be all the high-tech security stuff hidden under the boxes in the little bedroom. The moment I signed into the secured intranet line Chang had
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