Read Online Veiled Shadows (The Age of Alandria: Book Two) by Morgan Wylie - Free Book Online Page A

Kaeleigh’s hand. “I love you, my sweet child. I will always love you and be with you. Trust yourself. Listen to your heart...” Even as Eva spoke she began to fade.
    In a panic, Kaeleigh tried to hold on to her mother’s hand. If she could keep a hold on her, maybe she could keep her grounded here like the way she had brought her in. “Wait!” she shouted. “I need more time!” Still shouting, tears streaming once more: “How do I get back?” She suddenly realized that she could be stuck here forever and started shaking with anxiety and fear of being left entirely and utterly alone for eternity... or perhaps not alone—that thought scared her even more; her mother said it was dangerous here.
    Eva broke into her thoughts, causing her to focus. “Kaeleighnna! Focus. You can get home. As I am released from you, you must create a tether of emotion and thought leading you back to where you need to be.” Eva cupped Kaeleigh’s face with what little tangible essence she had left and gazed lovingly into her eyes as only a mother could do. “I have always loved you. You are my greatest accomplishment and gift. I will be with you... in your heart,” she said as she brought one of her hands to rest high on her chest where her heart was. “Be brave. Listen from your heart—for sometimes the voices carried on the wind will be your greatest allies.”
    Kaeleigh tried to savor the feel of her mother’s hands and brand the image of her mother’s face in her mind and sear it upon her heart. Eva was fading. There was almost nothing left of her and she couldn’t feel her anymore. Golden tears were silently streaming once more down her face, giving pause to the warm places where her mother’s fingers had just touched, and still hovered translucently above her cheeks. Her heart was breaking all over again, this time a much greater loss. Her mother was gone.

 
     
    CHAPTER SIX
     
    Kaeleigh fell to her knees, weeping. Devastated, she suddenly felt the icy chill of being alone, very alone. Everything was still. The very air around her was heavy with silence. She didn’t know how long she stayed like that, maybe a few minutes or maybe hours, but she cried all that she had in her to cry and was empty. 
    Feeling the whisper of a sound starting to rise out of the white fog, she remembered that this was not a place she wanted to stay in any longer. Frantically looking around, searching for someone approaching her, she got to her feet and braced herself for what could be out there, though she didn’t see anyone or anything.
    The sound, the whisper, was a voice spiraling toward her on a light breeze. Not one voice, she realized, but several. Voices she recognized. Chel, Finn, Hunter, a sound she didn’t recognize that sounded faintly like musical chimes... even Daegan. Their voices soft whispers surrounding her, caressing her, giving her warmth and comfort. Chanting, they were chanting something she couldn’t understand, but their intent was strong. They were calling her home. Kaeleigh remembered what her mother had said about focusing on getting back, creating a tether to their realm, to where they were, to their hearts. It pained her heart to think of her mother and how she was ripped so quickly from her, but then she thought of her friends—her family —that had stood by her, both older and newer alike. Their faces flashed before her and she felt their words and their love create bonds as she unabashedly visualized strong unbreakable cords of colors connecting her to each one of her friends. Orange for Chel. Green for Finn. Purple for Hunter. Brown for the stranger. Blue twisted with black for Daegan; she couldn’t describe why, but that’s what she saw. All those colors entwined and connected to her heart; she held on tightly and started to blindly walk to the other end of the cords that led into the white misty fog.
     
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    Surrounding the table where Kaeleigh lay unmoving but still breathing, Finn, Chel,