Whispers in the Dark - Maya Banks [147]
And so she’d slammed the door shut on her sister, and the void hurt every bit as much as the bombardment of sickness and pain she’d absorbed. Not having Shea there was the worst sort of loneliness. She’d severed the telepathic link between her and her sister, and her worst fear was that it was permanent. She’d never get it back.
In a way, she supposed it would be a blessing. If she lost her abilities, she could have a normal life. But so would she lose the ability to make a difference in someone else’s life.
She closed her eyes, exhausted by the weight of responsibility, sorrow and regret. She hated that she wasn’t stronger, that she’d crumbled under so much stress. But the ailments had been thrown at her, one after another. Broken bones, horrible bloody wounds, tumors, diseases, and the list went on and on. The most horrific experiment she’d undergone was when it had been demanded of her to reach inside the mind of a woman with a mental illness and heal her.
For three long days Grace had known what it truly was to be insane. She’d lived the woman’s existence while the woman had gone away cleansed of the darkness in her brain. Twice, Grace had tried to kill herself, not because it was what she wanted, but because it was what the illness dictated. In the end, she’d been restrained, unable to do even the basic necessities for herself because the fear had been too great that she’d find a way to end her life.
She was hungry, but the thought of food made her stomach twist into knots. She drank water from nearby streams frequently, because she knew she had to do something to keep her strength up.
Quietly, she turned over, rearranging the blanket in the fruitless hope she’d somehow find greater warmth. Eventually she’d have to reach out to her sister, but if she did so now, Shea would see the horrific shape Grace was in. Shea would come. She’d put herself in grave danger. Grace would never be able to live with herself if Shea was sacrificed because in a moment of weakness Grace gave in and tried to re-establish the link with her sister.
Silent tears slid down Grace’s cheeks, briefly warming her skin until the chilly air turned it to ice. She angrily scrubbed them away and hunched lower, furious with herself for allowing despair to control her.
She was stronger than this, and she’d be strong again. She just needed time to recover from her ordeal. Maybe she’d never be the same as she was, but she wasn’t going to give in. If she died, she’d die running. She’d die standing up and fighting. She refused to die in some laboratory where rats were treated with less disdain.
A distant sound froze her to the bone. She went so still that even her breath sounded like a roar in the night. She pushed the blanket over her mouth, trying to quell the noise and she stared into the trees, trying desperately to see through the thick curtain of night.
Someone was coming.
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Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 39
CHAPTER 40
CHAPTER 41
CHAPTER 42
CHAPTER 43
CHAPTER 44
CHAPTER 45
CHAPTER 46
CHAPTER 47