Changeling (Book 1) Rated R

Chapter 31

The darkness evaporated, giving way to a lakeside meadow.

My bare feet sunk into dewy grass and a cool wind swept my bangs against my forehead. The air smelled of honeysuckle but it was lilacs that dotted the edge of the meadow where grass gave way to a gentle slope of dirt, water lapping at the earth.

A bird sang from one of the trees, its whistle short and sweet. The kind of sound one might enjoy waking up to, if they were a morning person. Which I was not.

Sunlight rode the tiny ripples in the pond while a few leaves floated on the surface, having been swept there by the wind.

"Huh. So, this is heaven. A cliché meadow with singing birds," I scoffed.

"Where are the pearly white gates?"

Maybe people like me, hybrids and changelings and the like, didn't get an automatic ticket into heaven.

"This is neither heaven nor hell, Amelia."

I swung around, caught off guard only to find a woman sitting on a tree stump, her black, glossy hair a curtain that billowed in the wind.

She was slim, stiff-backed and graceful—maybe rich in another life. Her eyes were a bright blue and she used them to scan my face with genuine kindness. Her gown, a bright organza white, draped across her shoulders, exposing her pronounced collarbones and a birthmark, round and brown, on the left side of her throat.

Wary of her, but oddly at ease, I took a few steps forward, coming a few yards short in case she turned out to be dangerous.

"Then where am I?"

"The in-between." The woman lilted.

"The in between where? Let me guess, heaven and hell."

"The in between life and death. It's taken a great deal of magic to create this for you." The woman explained, gesturing all around them. "I didn't want your first time here to be a frightening one."

"I'm sorry, I'm confused. Am I dead or what?"

"Not dead, my dear, but nearly. The in-between is not a good place for hybrids to be."

The meadow shook and warped, spinning in a circle before righting itself.

I threw my arms out to catch myself before realizing it was steady once more, thinking maybe I'd imagined the entire thing. The world, as I knew it, did not suddenly swing in wild circles, not if you were sober.

"Who are you?"

The woman's lilac eyes cast with worry to the sky.

"I am your birth mother," she said with a smile.

Her words sank into me. The way she said it, so nonchalant and matter of fact reminded me of someone I knew.

Myself.

I studied her face.

She was beautiful in the way models on television were beautiful.

She had a finely sculpted face, all angles. Doe eyes with pouty lips to match.

It was almost like staring in a mirror.

"You are Liana." I stated.

"I take it you've heard of me." She responded, pleased.

"Only that you died and had me switched for another child at birth."

"Oh, Amelia," The woman cooed.

She stood and reached me in a few graceful strides.

She held her hand out to touch my face, the feeling like the brush of a feather, almost nonexistent.

"By that time, I was already dead, but I understand why your guardian had to do it. The vampires were after you and it was the only way to save you."

"Which vampires?"

Lightening cut the sky in half and forced me to tear my eyes away from her to look up.

Clouds rolled in furiously, their thunderous roars bouncing from tree to tree.

A rumble grew as the ground shook and vibrated.

A brilliant streak of lightning struck the ground in front of me. I blinked and found Liana several feet away, her hand reaching for me. A second flash of electricity crackled, blinding me for a moment, only to realize she'd been thrust further away, to an area where black storm clouds were brewing.

"Amelia, there isn't much time." She cried.

A voice shook the world, coming from the sky.

Olga is waiting at the back door, but we must keep quiet.

Chris, if we get caught...

We won't.

"That's enough, Liana."

My eyes snapped back to the meadow where the water was now black and tar-like, to the form of a familiar man, emerging from the sluggish waters, his face the mask of someone I loved yet somehow entirely different.

My heart somersaulted at the sight of him.

An unconscious need to be near him driving me to take a step forward, one that halted when Luke, my father, walked away from me and towards Liana.

His body wove in and out with the lightning, an apparition, a ghost.

"Dad!" I cried, trying to catch his attention.

"Amelia, there's something you should know about your powers!" Liana shouted. Her voice was a wail in the wind, distorted.

Rain began to pour furiously, blanketing my eyes.

The world spun and I stumbled, crashing against the hard-packed earth, scorched grass scraping my cheek.

"Dad!" I cried again as I struggled to gather my bearings.

The words spun like a carousel ride which had lost control.

A piece of the darkened sky fell, landing by my side. Scrambling backwards, I searched wildly for Luke when I saw Liana again, now nearly engulfed in black, each arm restrained by a figure with black, bottomless eyes.

Luke and Ally.

But not them. Not really.

"You can't interfere!" Luke roared.

"Please!" Liana sobbed.

Get her to the study and make sure no one saw us. Hide Hannah.

The words tumbled out of the sky, the letters falling like streams of rain, my eyes reading and hearing them right before they disappeared, with a puff of smoke, like a magic trick, into the parched earth.

"What's happening!?" I cried as I dug my hands into dead grass.

It began to give way, my body slowly sinking into it.

Grandfather, we're out of time.

Step aside. Allow me.

The face of a man with skin like weathered leather overtook half of the sky. He peered in, his eyes two round orbs, floating in the clouds like alien moons.

"Do not trust Henric!"

These were Liana's final words as the world caved in on me. The sky fell in giant chunks, trapping me under.

I sucked in a breath as the sky weighed down on my chest.

My hands grasped the air as the pieces buried me under.

And then, I woke up.