Read Online The Legend of the Blue Eyes by B. Kristin McMichael - Free Book Online Page A

thought about her every day. I knew some day she would return,
but I didn’t know how happy it could make an old man like me to see
her smile.” Lord Randolph talked while the young lady next to him
smiled brighter.
    Arianna stared from her grandfather to the
girl. Her grandfather was standing before everyone, truthfully
telling everyone of his happiness, while the girl next to him was
faking hers. Though Devin wouldn’t explain why, as her five senses
had increased the past two days, also had her perception of
people’s feelings. How could the girl appear to be so calm when she
was impersonating someone? The girl slightly swayed out of fake
happiness in a pink taffeta dress to Lord Randolph’s words. Arianna
smiled, secretly happy to not be wearing the awful dress.
    “It is with great pride that I welcome our
newest family member into the clan,” Lord Randolph ended as
applause began. Panic set into the girl’s face as the crowd began
to part.
    The crowd began to murmur as a person
covered in a white cape walked between the people. Arianna listened
from person to person around her to try to understand in her
confusion.
    “But it isn’t midnight,” the lady in the
peacock mask said to the short man beside her.
    “What is he planning now?” another man asked
his companion.
    “It’s too early,” the curly-haired man said
to the younger man with him.
    Arianna slightly tapped the hand firmly
holding her in place. Devin leaned nearer to Arianna.
    “What’s going on now?” she asked
curiously.
    “When a dearg-dul turns, they need a large
amount of blood. So a sacrifice is chosen and presented to the
person at their coming-out party. At midnight, when they turn, they
drink from their sacrifice. The person coming now is the sacrifice
for you,” Devin explained.
    Arianna looked around the room for a clock
and found large, ornately-decorated clock across the room from the
platform. 11:26. Arianna turned back to her grandfather, and he
smiled as the girl next to him was beginning to panic so badly that
her cool cover was breaking. She was as confused as the crowd.
    “A dearg-dul turns at midnight, right?”
Arianna asked, and Devin chuckled. “But that girl, if she’s
supposed to be me, won’t turn for another thirty-four minutes.”
Devin gazed across the room to Molina, who nodded her reply to the
situation.
    “Everything must be set then,” he explained,
as Arianna followed his gaze. Devin released his grip on Arianna
who instead took his arm.
    Arianna watched as her sacrifice neared.
“So, what happens to the sacrifice?” she asked Devin.
    “They die,” Devin replied.
    “But what if you don’t want to kill a
person?” Arianna asked, not approving of the situation.
    “The first time anyone turns, they black out
like you did, and won’t know the difference. In normal situations
you can take blood from someone without killing them by just
stopping when the heartbeat changes. But for the first time, most
people can’t stop because they are overcome with thirst,” Devin
explained.
    “But you’re not dead,” Arianna replied
pointing out that she had changed without a sacrifice.
    “I was prepared to die, but for some reason
you stopped,” he added. “You don’t need to worry about the person
who sacrifices themself,” he added, seeing Arianna’s concern. “That
person knows what will happen. They choose to be the sacrifice. I’d
have gladly died for you.”
    Arianna turned to watch the hooded person
passed nearby Arianna and Devin’s location in the crowd. Arianna
caught the faint scent of lilacs, which she vaguely recognized, as
the person passed. When they slowly began to climb the stairs, the
whispers in the crowd increased.
    “Everyone seems a bit talkative today,” Lord
Randolph said loudly, as the sacrifice approached the top stairs.
“I understand I’m causing a bit of confusion by beginning this
early, but I figured that since my granddaughter actually turned
last night, it would