Read Online Secret Legacy by Anna DeStefano - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Anna DeStefano
Ads: Link
Who knows what the programming he embedded is doing now. It’s possible none of this is about the missing piece to your legacy.”
“She’s real . . .” Sarah saw the door again, deep within an unforgiving ocean, the memory growing stronger as more of Richard’s energy merged with hers.
She felt his focus narrow. Hazy images took shape in her mind, blooming to life . . .
A scarred door. Light shining just beyond it while Sarah allowed herself to be dragged away, her hands torn and bleeding, the ocean taking her to an empty, painful place that felt too familiar. Too right. Too much like the near death of her coma. Except there was more than emptiness there now. There was the shadow of a crumbling house that hadn’t existed in the nightmare. And a shadowy room waited for her within, where a mind called to her, demanding that she come back and—
“Help me,” Trinity cried from inside the dilapidated structure while Sarah ran away, just as she had in the nightmare’s ocean. Only now she was running through the woods, desperate not to see
. . .
She shoved the vision away, along with Richard’s centering presence.
“I can’t remember any more.” She opened eyes she hadn’t realized she’d closed and found Richard’s face inches away, his cheek reddening from where she’d struck him.
“Can’t or won’t?” The intensity of his focus told her he’d seen everything she had. “Tell me about the house, Sarah.”
“That . . . that didn’t happen in the dream. That place, it wasn’t part of the ocean matrix. It was—”
“That place? You mean your nightmare’s reflection of the house you grew up in?”
“What?” That’s exactly what it had been, she realized. And Trinity was waiting for her there. Sarah was suddenly certain of it.
“I heard her, too,” Richard said. “Something broke through your memories from the ocean nightmare justnow. A new matrix overpowered them. It felt like the same presence I sensed when I dove into your projection.”
Sarah’s stomach surged. The liquid she’d swallowed threatened to force its way up. “There’s never been anything from my past in the dream’s matrix. My parents’ house isn’t part of the projection.”
“It is now. Your mind’s telling you that’s where you’ll find Trinity.”
“But that makes no sense. She can’t be there.”
“Most likely not.” Richard’s features hardened into a warrior’s mask, everything except the worry in his dark eyes. “But something else is, and it’s affecting your control. Which means we have to get to the bottom of it.”
“What? No—Maddie and I have to get back into my nightmare.” Dredging up the past would only make that more difficult, if not impossible. Sarah was barely clinging to her sanity now.
“You’re not dreaming again without me,” he said. “Every time you project, every memory you have from now on, I’ll be there. Accept that, and the council will give you another chance to search your ocean. But this new projection is too important to dismiss. So is the surge of psychic energy near your family’s original home in Lenox that occurred at the exact moment that your dream took over your sleeping mind. A Watcher recon team is deploying in less than an hour to check it out, and you and I are going to be on it.”
“Recon? But Maddie—”
“Can’t help you. She almost died tonight trying to drag you back. The dream almost absorbed both of you. I have to convince the elders that won’t happen again and that it’s worth the risk of going back into yourocean to figure out what the dream wants. Something in Lenox is linked to you beyond the nightmare’s hold. That will be enough for me to secure us both a place on the mission.”
“You . . . you want me to go home? I haven’t been there for—”
“Ten years. Since your father died and your own injuries from the accident led to a psychotic break that left you in a coma.”
Sarah shivered. “I can’t—”
“You
“She’s real . . .” Sarah saw the door again, deep within an unforgiving ocean, the memory growing stronger as more of Richard’s energy merged with hers.
She felt his focus narrow. Hazy images took shape in her mind, blooming to life . . .
A scarred door. Light shining just beyond it while Sarah allowed herself to be dragged away, her hands torn and bleeding, the ocean taking her to an empty, painful place that felt too familiar. Too right. Too much like the near death of her coma. Except there was more than emptiness there now. There was the shadow of a crumbling house that hadn’t existed in the nightmare. And a shadowy room waited for her within, where a mind called to her, demanding that she come back and—
“Help me,” Trinity cried from inside the dilapidated structure while Sarah ran away, just as she had in the nightmare’s ocean. Only now she was running through the woods, desperate not to see
. . .
She shoved the vision away, along with Richard’s centering presence.
“I can’t remember any more.” She opened eyes she hadn’t realized she’d closed and found Richard’s face inches away, his cheek reddening from where she’d struck him.
“Can’t or won’t?” The intensity of his focus told her he’d seen everything she had. “Tell me about the house, Sarah.”
“That . . . that didn’t happen in the dream. That place, it wasn’t part of the ocean matrix. It was—”
“That place? You mean your nightmare’s reflection of the house you grew up in?”
“What?” That’s exactly what it had been, she realized. And Trinity was waiting for her there. Sarah was suddenly certain of it.
“I heard her, too,” Richard said. “Something broke through your memories from the ocean nightmare justnow. A new matrix overpowered them. It felt like the same presence I sensed when I dove into your projection.”
Sarah’s stomach surged. The liquid she’d swallowed threatened to force its way up. “There’s never been anything from my past in the dream’s matrix. My parents’ house isn’t part of the projection.”
“It is now. Your mind’s telling you that’s where you’ll find Trinity.”
“But that makes no sense. She can’t be there.”
“Most likely not.” Richard’s features hardened into a warrior’s mask, everything except the worry in his dark eyes. “But something else is, and it’s affecting your control. Which means we have to get to the bottom of it.”
“What? No—Maddie and I have to get back into my nightmare.” Dredging up the past would only make that more difficult, if not impossible. Sarah was barely clinging to her sanity now.
“You’re not dreaming again without me,” he said. “Every time you project, every memory you have from now on, I’ll be there. Accept that, and the council will give you another chance to search your ocean. But this new projection is too important to dismiss. So is the surge of psychic energy near your family’s original home in Lenox that occurred at the exact moment that your dream took over your sleeping mind. A Watcher recon team is deploying in less than an hour to check it out, and you and I are going to be on it.”
“Recon? But Maddie—”
“Can’t help you. She almost died tonight trying to drag you back. The dream almost absorbed both of you. I have to convince the elders that won’t happen again and that it’s worth the risk of going back into yourocean to figure out what the dream wants. Something in Lenox is linked to you beyond the nightmare’s hold. That will be enough for me to secure us both a place on the mission.”
“You . . . you want me to go home? I haven’t been there for—”
“Ten years. Since your father died and your own injuries from the accident led to a psychotic break that left you in a coma.”
Sarah shivered. “I can’t—”
“You
Similar Books
