Ever Shade (A Dark Faerie Tale #1)

  “Shade…”

  The blue fire was glowing all around her, crackling and popping on all sides. The walls seemed too near, enveloping her like a cocoon. She stood up from the ground where she’d woken. Is this real? A dream? She didn’t know. Feeling the walls with her hands, they felt hard and rough with cold stones. The sound of her own breath echoed around her, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary, besides the fact that she had no idea what was going on. The fire came from the other side of the room. It stood like a pillar the size of a man. In fact, as she stared longer into the glowing flames, the image of a man surfaced in the fire. She gasped. The man’s eyes remained closed, and his hands laid crossed over each other on the hilt of a gleaming sword. The blade also glowed with wisps of blue fire. Its hilt was made of dark red rubies, and the red flames spread from his hands onto the edge of his sword.

  Shade walked toward him, asking him who he was. He didn’t respond to her inquiries, no matter how much she pleaded. She kept going, and although her feet were bare, she did not feel cold as she thought she would. Her heart pounded in her chest as she reached out to the man.

  “Help me,” Shade whispered to him, her voice faint and weak. Her fingers were almost touching the blue flame engulfing his body, even though she felt afraid. She didn’t know if the flames would burn or scald her hands. Somehow, she needed to wake him and make him help her out of this place, this tomb. Taking in his face, she realized he looked a lot like Dylan, the way he’d look if he’d been resting and peaceful.

  Suddenly, his eyes and mouth flew open, and a bright, white light poured out of them in piercing rays. A sound like loud ethereal music filled her ears to the point that it sent her to the floor, covering them. The music seemed to scream into her, filling her with prickling pain.

  Then the words came, and they were excruciating:

  “WAKE UP AND RUN, SHADE!”