AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Isaiah liked the way she said this. It sounded pretty, like the way Memphis talked.
“Push,” Sarah Beth instructed. Isaiah shoved with both hands. “We can share moon glow, you know. It’ll make our powers stronger. I’ll show you.”
Abruptly, Sarah Beth stuck her feet down and skidded to a stop in the dirt. She climbed out of the swing and motioned for Isaiah to follow her into an old cornfield. The plants were taller than Sarah Beth and Isaiah, but the corn had been left to rot. It was brittle and yellowed, and bugs had eaten holes in the husks. Sarah Beth led him deep into the ruined field, and Isaiah cast a worried glance over his shoulder. He wanted to make sure he could still see the house. In the distance, the farmhouse’s pitched roof peeked out above the dried cornstalks.
“That’s far enough,” Isaiah said.
“Fine,” Sarah Beth said with a toss of her braids. “Here. Give me your hand.”
Isaiah balked. “Why?”
Sarah Beth put her hands on her skinny hips. “Well, if you’re only going to be silly, then I won’t show you.”
Isaiah was torn. He didn’t like being called silly, but he was nervous about offering Sarah Beth his hand. “Will it hurt?”
Sarah Beth smiled. “Not at all! It feels awfully good.”
“Wait a minute. How do you know that?” After all, Sarah Beth had lived out on the farm her whole life without other Diviners around.
“I know it the way you and I know things. Because we’re special. We need to start joining our powers together and making ’em stronger or we won’t ever be able to beat the King of Crows.”
That was true. And coming together was what Sister Walker told them they were supposed to do. Henry and Ling went dream walking together all the time. Isaiah reckoned this wasn’t much different from that.
He offered his hand. “All right. Show me how.”
Sarah Beth smiled, showing the tips of her small, grayish teeth. She took hold of Isaiah’s hand. “Let’s moon glow together.”
His body stiffened. He felt a tug, as if his heart were being pulled into Sarah Beth’s orbit, and then his body went warm and relaxed, a very pleasant sensation.
Isaiah?
He could hear her inside his own thoughts. “Mm-hmm.”
What can you see?
Isaiah told her what he saw: a strange, golden machine humming and glowing with life. The machine was terrifying, though. Screams came from inside it.
It’s scary, Sarah Beth said.
“It’s changing again,” Isaiah said.
What Isaiah saw next frightened him far more. It was like Gideon everywhere. Cold and empty, with the dead, so many dead, scavenging for whatever they could find, snapping at one another over the picked-over remains of a dead animal.
Do you see him? Do you see the King of Crows?
“Yes, I see him.” In the midst of this barren landscape, the King of Crows sat on a high-backed chair inside a ruined mansion. He was demanding his tribute from the dead even though Isaiah could tell he didn’t need it anymore and there wasn’t much left to give him.
Is he alone? I can’t tell from here.
“Yes.”
There’s nobody with him. Are you sure?
Isaiah couldn’t be sure, because he was feeling tired.
“Just the dead, I think,” he answered.
Don’t let him see us! Sarah Beth warned. Is this the future?
