The Black Time

Gorgon's Curse (Sneak-peek)

Second book of my Ventures of Gem Land series, I hope you all like it. This one is with unseen surprises and terrifying monsters, possessions, and more. 

The wind was howling and twirling around her. But even its sound could not hide the screams of despair. She was walking down a glass bridge. Covering her eyes to prevent them from swallowing the flow of the swirling storm surrounding her, she screamed as she saw a hooded figure. She saw someone cloaked move at the end of the bridge. She tried to move closer but in vain. The wind pulled her back like a magnet attracts metal. She felt cold airstream wrap around her ankles and wrists. But she wanted to get out of the horrible place. Over the roars of the gust, she heard waltz music. Slow waltz and loud cackling. She tried to see what was happening. And slowly the squall slowed down and she was able to see what was going on but then wished the storm to start again. At the end of the bridge, stood an old cloaked woman. She had worn a purple cloak and had some chin hair. She was laughing maliciously. She was familiar and so was her laughter. Lucinda had seen her several times in dreams. But she had never met her face to face, at least till that moment. That witch was the reason why she had been several times late to her school. Whenever she had dreamed of the witch, she used to feel like she was stuck in the horrible nightmare. It was worse than Black Time. "At least," she often thought. "I could forget what happened in Black Time."

But these nightmares were unforgettable.

These nightmares were also the reason why she had to use dream diaries. Her aunt had magicked a normal dream diary into a magical one which used to note down her whole dream itself. Fortunately, Lucinda knew a little magic and was even allowed to use it as her aunt had no idea that she had Gem Powers, the only kind of powers except illusions that used to work on the earth. She had tried to put a spell to stop the diary from noting her dreams. And after a lot of magic and glitters and potions, she was finally able to at least stop the diary from noting her whole dreams. Now the diary only listed whether she had a nightmare or a good sweet dream even if the diary had magically listed what kind of dreams she had in the previous year. But she would have started writing herself inside the diary if it could stop her from seeing what was next. The witch was dancing with a young boy. And as soon as the waltz ended the witched stopped dancing and she did something very fast. It took Lucinda a few moments to realize what the witch had done. In her old fingers, Lucinda saw a neck, the neck of the young boy. She heard the witch's sly laughter. She tried to move, but she could do nothing except seeing the witch's fingers pierce the flesh of the young boy. She tried to shout but she was horror-struck. After few long moments of standing there and searching for her voice, she finally cried- "Leave him, please......" her voice was very tiny but still, the witch heard. She turned her old, ugly face to her. She freed the boy and raised her hand towards Lucinda. She started pacing slowly towards Lucinda. Lucinda tried to run. But the air was still pulling her back, so she fell. The witch cackled and started walking faster towards her. She was a few feet from Lucinda when Lucinda heard a worried voice of a boy- "Get up Lucinda, come on!"