Lost Seraphine (The Seraphine Trilogy #2)
Read Lost Seraphine (The Seraphine Trilogy #2) Online
Authors: KaSonndra Leigh
Lost Seraphine
A Paranormal Romance
© 2013 b
y KaSonndra Leigh
Published by the TriGate Group
Proofread by Alizon Duckwall and Kristin Campbell
of C&D Editing Services
All rights reserved.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold, copied, or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events are products of the author’s imagination. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.
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Cover Art © 2013 by Stephanie Mooney Designs
Table Of Contents
This book is for the readers who have stuck by my side from day one, and for those who chose to believe in my wild imagination. Persistence pays off. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise. And finally, to the Angels of Chaos, my fabulous street team. There would be no KaSonndra Leigh Books without all of you.
xxMuch Love
~KaSonndra Leigh
In this moment, I fear for his life more than I do my own.
The boy
’s dark head bobs up and down in the ocean’s angry waters as he screams for help. I’ve been warned against getting involved in matters of the human world, but I can’t simply stay here and let him drown, right?
I make a quick decision.
Leaving my hiding spot behind the reefs, I dive underwater and swim toward the place where I last saw his body surface. My heart pumps in a way I’ve never felt it do before. I’m small for my age, but I know I’m strong enough to pull him to safety.
He floats just underneath the surface. I can reach him. I know I can.
If I hurry, then no one will even notice I’m gone.
The distance between us closes. I dodge rocks of all sizes and shapes
, my eyes focused on the goal. Closer. There’s only about twenty feet left between us. His body bobs up and down one last time right before the waves pull him under.
Oh no!
I glance around and make sure no one has followed me. My heart speeds up as I make the final choice. Flipping my fins with all my might, I surge toward him. Under the water I can see his body drifting down. He no longer fights against the current that has swallowed him.
The boy is giving up.
I can change all this. So I do.
I reach his body and wrap my arms around his waist. With my
special eyes, I can see him just as clearly as the humans who use lights and those funny goggle things to find their way around under the sea. He’s not moving. I gently shake his shoulders. No response. Panicking, I don’t know what else to do for him. I shove my mouth up against his, breathing the life back into his still body. A single kiss. A magical one.
His chest rises once
, filling with air from the elixir I have just given him. I don’t understand why, but I do know the boy will now be safe.
The ocean thrashes today in a way I’ve never experienced before. Swimming against the currents
—
something that’s really hard to do even for a girl with fins
—
I shuffle away to the shores and pull his body to safety. Then I wait for the Change, the moment when my fins will turn into legs.
I’ve broken every rule Father has set for us. This one will be the last, the most forbidden, the kind others in my home have faced death after doing. It doesn’t matter. The boy is safe.
While I wait for my legs to appear, I caress his face and study his features; the dark hair, the smooth skin, and ruby red lips which are almost too perfect for him to be a boy.
I’m caught up in his spell when the sharp pains attack my legs. My bones snap. My joints ache. It takes about twenty seconds for the transformation to complete itself. I glance at my legs and gasp. Excitement tingles all over my skin. Even the water feels cool and strange as it washes over my new limbs. I feel different, unique, free.
The boy stirs.
The joy I have felt turns to panic at once.
He’s waking up and I can’t let him see me. It’s forbidden to do so.
I stand, grab his wrists and pull him closer to the foliage growing along the shores, a place that’s close to the forests we’re not allowed to go inside. I drop down beside him and plant one last kiss on his cheek. He swats at me this time. How rude. Such a pretty human, but he’s very mean. In the distance, I hear a female’s voice; an older woman. She’s calling out to someone named Caleb. That must be his name. Yes. The human lying on the ground, the one who has just tried to slap me, looks exactly like a Caleb. His eyes fly open, and I find myself wondering if he was asleep at all. I shoot to my feet, tripping over my hair that almost reaches my new feet, and we stare at each other for a short moment. The boy looks me up and down and then his eyes stretch. I glance at my body, too, realizing too late that I am naked. My body flames with embarrassment. At first, I’m not able to move. He must be a baby warlock and has me locked in his spell. Finally, I manage to turn around, run toward the forest and hide behind one of the monster-sized trees. The boy props up on his elbows, coughs up some more water and then glances around. I’m happy he’s okay, but I’m scared of what Father will do once he finds out I have disobeyed his rules.
“Mommy!” he chokes out as he sits up and turns his back to me. I’m hooked. Completely enchanted. This makes him the first human I’ve ever seen. I want to touch him; to feel his skin, to glance into his eyes. What will one little peek hurt?
I step out from behind the tree and ease toward him, a strange type of warmth filling me as I get closer to the place where he sits with his back still turned to me. He sits very still for the longest time as though he’s waiting for me to make the first move. Closer. I’m almost two feet away. Just one little touch won’t hurt. I reach out to feel his hair; and then he jerks his head toward me. Our gazes lock and hold. I really wanted to touch him.
My favorite pet, a starfish named Ticky that always hides in my hair when we travel together, calls out to me in a language that only my people can hear. He’s asking to stay with the boy; and even though it saddens me to do so, I reach up and remove him from my hair and offer him to this Caleb human. The boy snatches him up right away, his eyes wide as he focuses his gaze on Ticky’s bright red body. “His name is Ticky. Take care of him for me.”
“Ticky? That’s a stupid name,” he chides.
“Be nice, or I’ll take him back,” I scold in return.
“You gave him to me. That means he’s mine now.”
I cross my arms, pout and plop down in the sand, sitting directly across from him as I glance into the purest gray eyes I’ve ever seen. He turns up his nose at me and I stick out my tongue at him. We both smile.
This time, I don’t feel as exposed.
This time, being so close to him feels…right.
Our short moment in paradise doesn’t last. A group of black lines begin to form on his arms and legs, startling him and amazing me. I gasp and study them until the curvy lines fade almost as quickly as they appeared. What does this mean?
The warning bells screech through the forest. The boy squints. My heart quickens. Someone from my home knows I’m missing. Most humans can’t hear the sirens of the sea people, but this one can. The winds begin to stir around us, flipping sand through the air. Someone’s coming. I shuffle to my feet and run back to the tree. Two adults storm out of the forest across the way from where I’m hiding. Thankfully, I have hidden just in time. They pull the boy to his feet and embrace him. He’s going to be fine now. I can tell.
I’m not, though. I’ve been so caught up in my human ventures that I hadn’t even noticed the place where I have entered. The forbidden zone, the land of the sea witches.
I wait for the human man and woman to lead the little boy away from the place where I stand. Almost as soon as they disappear from my view, a storm cloud rolls in from the west. The chants begin next and then the howls and whispers snap and pop around me. I’ve stumbled into a nightmare, I think.
I slam my hands over my ears and take off running toward my side of the water. It does me no good. Something chases me all the way to the ocean; something large and dark. All the while, the area on my side of the sea teases me with its offer of safety.
I run and trip at the same time. My human limbs make it difficult to stand, let alone flee. The thing gains on me. I steal a glance behind me. Big mistake. A large, black blob leaps through the air. I fall to the ground and cover my face. Hisses and snarls greet me in return.
Then, my world fades to black.
