Read Online Visioness by Lincoln Law - Free Book Online

Adabelle hesitated before it. But this was just a dream.
    No, she thought. Not just a
dream. Father might be here.
    She took her first few cautious
steps towards her cousin’s. It was not hard to find her. The boundaries of her
own dream seemed to fuzz, at which point the mists returned. It was like she
was in tune with Larraine’s frequencies long before she had actually entered
them.
    In the distance, there were
two figures. One was tied to a chair, her words muffled by distance. And the
man standing above her, in a top hat. His voice was muffled, too. No, he was
whispering.
    She fought the part of her
that wanted to storm ahead. She hadn’t seen him in years—and even before then,
barely at all. For that reason, she stayed silent, observant, but prepared to
act should she need to.
    She sniffed, her nose
picking up the scent that had been described to her. It was exactly how she had
imagined it. It was like shaving cream, but stronger. A cough tickled its way
up her throat. It took all her self-control to keep it down.
    Something sat over this
scene.
    A sound.
    She listened carefully.
    A tune. A soft, high-pitched
lullaby, like that from a music box. It tinkled, one note after the other, a
struggling tune, seeming entirely devoid of momentum. With every note that
played, Adabelle thought the tune might end, but then another note sounded, collapse
into the next.
    A distant spark, a faintly
remembered childhood told her she knew the song.
    The Dreamer’s Lullaby, she thought. It was so familiar
to her now. It seemed to draw focus towards it, away from the figures. She
heard the words in her mind, sung them to herself.
     
    The world of thought beckons
thee,
    The tendrils of mind set her
free,
    And then I call you back to
me,
    Even when you die.
     
    It was her favourite line. It
had also been her mother’s.
    With that phrase she
remembered what she was here for. The notion had slipped her mind. She was here
to save Larraine. She looked up, wondering how much time had passed. The two
figures were gone, and Larraine’s screaming had ended. She did not have long to
think, though, for suddenly she felt herself tugged back to her own dream, and
then tugged again back to her space in the alcove. Someone had her by the
shoulders and was shaking her.
    “Adabelle,” they said. She
faintly recognised the voice. “Adabelle, come back.”
    Adabelle opened her eyes,
looking up into Mrs. Abeth’s worried expression. She hadn’t any time to be
caught in the dream buffer. She hadn’t been in the Frequencies long enough to
forget where she actually was.
    “What are you doing?” Mrs.
Abeth asked, voice furious.
    “Larraine was in trouble,”
Adabelle replied, unable to shake the sleepiness in her voice. “Is she okay?”
    “She’s fine,” Mrs. Larraine
said. “She’ll need some stitches on her cheek, and some time to rest now. She
is rather shaken.”
    “Did she say anything,
though?” Adabelle begged. “Anything about my father?”
    Mrs. Abeth’s mouth opened as
if in a traitorous attempt to answer. For a moment, a sound came from her. She
stopped. Adabelle knew the answer.
    “I want to speak to my cousin,”
said Adabelle furiously. “I need to speak with her!”
    Mrs. Abeth said nothing of
worth, murmuring under her breath. “Not now. She is not in any state to talk
for the time. For now, I need you to go to your room and sleep. You have a
meeting with Professor Oakley this afternoon, and I want you ready to ask all
that you can. Until then, I don’t want you speaking to Larraine. I need you to
promise you won’t.”
    “I won’t promise anything,”
Adabelle said. She rose up, staring into Mrs. Abeth’s eyes for a time, glaring
with all the fervour she could muster. Despite her steadfastness to stay angry,
her expression quickly melted into one of sorrow. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Abeth.”
    Mrs. Abeth extended her
arms, wrapping them around Adabelle. “It’s okay,” she whispered, stroking a
hand through