*****Carved Excerpt*****
My gaze roamed over the room, my heart leaping and crashing in such a strange way I wondered if I was having some kind of heart attack. Everywhere I looked, the faces of angels stared back at me. There weren’t merely one or two of them, not even a dozen or so, but hundreds, perhaps thousands of them lining the floor-to-ceiling shelves of the room.
All of the angels’ little cherubic faces were dusty, but I could still make out their different expressions and poses. Most of them were in prayer, some had their wings stretched outward, and others were playing with each other with clouds beneath their feet. Some were porcelain dolls, others were miniatures, and more than a few had been hand-carved and painted.
I’d never seen anything like it. They were beautifully strange, yet something about them made my skin crawl. There were so many.
Beside me, Corson’s mouth hung open. His eyes surveyed the room as if the angels were going to come to life and fly at him. After everything I’d seen since leaving my normal life behind, I wouldn’t be surprised if they did come alive, but I didn’t think it was going to happen. At least, I really hoped it didn’t. I didn’t believe that whatever had drawn me here was bad, but I couldn’t think of anything more terrifying than these figurines coming to life right now.
****Carved Excerpt*****
“What has drawn you in here, River?” I inquired, my voice reverberating within the cavernous building.
“I’m not sure if anything has.” She removed her hand from mine as she picked her way carefully forward.
I followed her as she moved past the shattered remains of a couple of pews poking out from the rubble. She walked to the altar covered in wood and rotting shingling from the roof. Her frown deepened as she focused on the stained-glass window of an angel tucked behind and to the right of the altar. The angel’s blonde head was tipped back to the sky, her hands clasped in prayer and her green eyes vibrant in the sunlight filtering through the window.
“It looks like the figurine you have in the truck,” I remarked.
“It does,” she murmured. Her head tilted to the side as she seemed to be straining to hear or see something within the shadows and cobwebs hanging in what remained of the rafters. Rays of sunlight streamed through the stained-glass window, causing multiple colors to play over her tanned complexion and caressing her body in an almost loving manner.
In that moment it seemed the world was as deeply connected to River, as she was to it. She’d said the loss of her bond to the earth and all things living would break her, turn her into something evil like Lucifer, and I believed her. I couldn’t feel her connection to life and the world around her, but I knew the bond I felt with the hounds, how intricate a piece of me it was, and what it would do to me if it was ever severed. I wouldn’t risk doing anything to her that could possibly destroy her link to the earth.
“I’m not sure if anything has.” She removed her hand from mine as she picked her way carefully forward.
I followed her as she moved past the shattered remains of a couple of pews poking out from the rubble. She walked to the altar covered in wood and rotting shingling from the roof. Her frown deepened as she focused on the stained-glass window of an angel tucked behind and to the right of the altar. The angel’s blonde head was tipped back to the sky, her hands clasped in prayer and her green eyes vibrant in the sunlight filtering through the window.
“It looks like the figurine you have in the truck,” I remarked.
“It does,” she murmured. Her head tilted to the side as she seemed to be straining to hear or see something within the shadows and cobwebs hanging in what remained of the rafters. Rays of sunlight streamed through the stained-glass window, causing multiple colors to play over her tanned complexion and caressing her body in an almost loving manner.
In that moment it seemed the world was as deeply connected to River, as she was to it. She’d said the loss of her bond to the earth and all things living would break her, turn her into something evil like Lucifer, and I believed her. I couldn’t feel her connection to life and the world around her, but I knew the bond I felt with the hounds, how intricate a piece of me it was, and what it would do to me if it was ever severed. I wouldn’t risk doing anything to her that could possibly destroy her link to the earth.
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