Ravens

This
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of
the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed
as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, organizations, or person,
living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

WCP

World Castle Publishing

Pensacola, Florida

Copyright
© Kaylie Austen 2013

ISBN:
9781938961816

First
Edition World Castle Publishing February 15, 2013

http://www.worldcastlepublishing.com

Licensing Notes

All
rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner
whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations
embodied in articles and reviews.

Cover:
Karen Fuller

Photos:
Shutterstock

Editor:
Eric Johnston

DEDICATION

To my husband, who put up with this
writing addiction, and to the authors who helped another author make it this
far.

Chapter One

The first few times Kendra dreamt of
Liam, he was a blurry ghost haunting her sleep. After the first year, he sat
with her, talked to her, and consoled her.

“What’s wrong with your eyes?” she’d
asked.

His gaze met hers until she looked away
first. The intensity of those unnatural orbs sent chills down her spine. The
colors were all wrong and made Liam seem dangerous, inhuman.

“Our eyes change here.”

“Where’s there?”

He shrugged. “Another world.”

“Like…the afterworld?”

He laughed. “I’m not dead!”

“Of course you are,” she muttered.

Liam disappeared when she awoke, and
every so often returned to continue the conversation.

“Is Julie with you?” Kendra inquired
with a bitter ache in her chest.

“Yeah.”

“What happened?”

“You really want to know?”

“Who killed you?”

He laughed. “I’m not dead!”

“Of course you are,” she muttered.

Liam hadn’t visited in a while, but the
anniversary fast approached, which meant he’d pop up again. It was a familiar
expectance. 

Miserable, hot days and nights tortured
Kendra in the beginning of a scorching Texas summer. She slept alone in a
makeshift bedroom loft in the deserted family barn. As time swept by, the
haunting visions intensified, and as the anniversary of the disappearances
approached, Liam frequented her mind more often, even during waking hours. She
conversed with him as if they met in forbidden assignations, for he no longer
existed. She tried to convince herself these meetings didn’t make her insane.
She wanted to forget him, but the memory of Liam wouldn’t leave her alone.

Sweat beads formed on her temples, slid
down her face and neck. Perspiration glistened on her chest, catching elusive
bits of dull light that entered through the window blinds. Reality drew her
back from her stubborn attempt at sleep. She recalled this little thing called
technology and the coveted relief of a fan.

She deliberated whether she should make
the trip downstairs. By the time she decided the venture out of bed wouldn’t be
worth the hassle, she realized she couldn’t fall asleep. No matter, slumber
seemed sparse these days.

A chorus of crickets filled the air. An
owl hooted in the near distance. Critters scurried right outside the barn,
sounds that morphed from faint to pounding.

She groaned and dragged herself away
from the loft. Her short, gray cotton shorts and matching tank top stuck to her
sweat-soaked body. The heat annoyed her, obliterating any patience she had. She
moved down the stairs with confidence, as if she marched around in broad
daylight, fully aware of every step and creak in the barn. The place that
should’ve scared her the most was her sanctuary.

Kendra made it to the locked barn door
in several lazy strides and flipped on the light switch next to it. She lifted
her hand to her face to shield herself from the sudden glare. She mistakenly
illuminated the entire lower floor. Slamming the tiny lever down, she flipped
up the adjacent control and stood for a moment, allowing the wind from the fan
to cool the perspiration on her skin.

She didn’t have to go through this
nonsense every night with her parents’ air-conditioned house only a short
distance away, but she hardly did things that made sense. Life felt backward.

“Kendra.” A rough, dry voice shattered
the silence. The crickets and critters hushed outside.

She froze. Her heart plummeted at the
unexpected sound. She scrutinized the barn and was overwhelmed by fear she
hadn’t felt in years. Gulping and forcing aside the emotion, she squared her
shoulders and stood defiantly. Someone was here, in her home uninvited.

“Kendra.” The alluring, hypnotic tone
rumbled across space.

“Who’s there? Show yourself,” she
demanded, facing the direction of his voice.

“Kendra, it’s me.” 

A young man, probably no older than
eighteen, stepped out from the shadows. A pink mist, similar to the light that
accompanied the bright white flash ten years ago, covered his body in a hazy
glow. He appeared as a looming pillar of bronze magnificence, somewhat godlike,
powerful, and superior. Kendra stood five feet, seven inches tall, but the
young man towered over her.

The stranger couldn’t have been a slave
to lethargy, apparent by the ripples, contours, and dips clearly outlined by
the snug, gray T-shirt hugging his torso. He stood with his feet shoulder-width
apart, his hands at his sides, appearing calm, composed, and relaxed; not at
all out of place as an intruder should be. He leaned against the railing and
cocked his head to one side. He possessed a commanding presence that might have
caused Kendra to cower had she not been bold.

Kendra couldn’t help but stare at his
glowing white irises set against the dark backdrop of his sclera.

“Stay away from me.” She narrowed her
brows as she readied herself in a fighting stance, feet slightly apart, and
fists curled. Her years of martial arts training wouldn’t fail her now.

He chuckled. “I’ve been watching you.
You’re very good at what you do.”

“What?” She staggered, losing her
confident pose. “You’re invading my home, and you’ve been
watching
me?”
She buried her nails into her palms and pressed her lips together, clenching
her jaw. 

He smiled and took a step toward her,
and then another, offering Kendra a better view. The pink light around him
ascended to his torso and mixed with a white glow that illuminated his face.
She didn’t know where the source of the light came from, but it followed him.

“Liam?” she asked in a flat tone.

“You remember me. Maybe I don’t visit as
often as I should, but the ten-year mark is up. It’s time.”

“Get out of my head, Liam. You’re not
real.”

He ignored her and glanced around the
barn as he moved across the floor. He picked up a
jō
, a four-foot
wooden staff used in Japanese martial arts. She didn’t like how the young man
gripped her favorite weapon with skill, striking the air and grinning like a
child. Kendra hoped he wouldn’t notice the slight quivering of her lips or detect
her pounding heart. She could fight attackers, but she couldn’t run from her
mind, and that was the scariest thing of all when she was probably crazy.

She groaned and clenched her eyes,
willing her imagination to cooperate. When she reopened them, Liam was still
there…and she was still crazy.

He looked her up and down with a
constant smirk on his face. “Hey, wanna check out this cool tat I got a few
years back when you started studying martial arts?” He stripped off his shirt
before Kendra could respond.

Kendra withheld a gasp at first glance
of the toned muscles glistening in the pink and white light. He twisted his
upper body away from her to reveal the end of an inked tail that whipped across
his shoulder blades. He spun back around to expose the remainder of the tattoo.
An angry dragon with black and white eyes roared fire across his chest. Its
thick tail moved alongside the young man’s left pectoral muscle and beneath his
side to slash across his back with the very tip wrapped around his right bicep.
An intricately detailed work of spirals and semi-circles decorated his left
upper arm.

“It’s a little much, maybe. It reminds
me of you. I can’t explain it. Check out the black slit eyes. That’s how I look
now, obviously.”

He put his shirt back on. “What?” he
asked in response to her gawking. “Bet they’d look good on you, too. Ever
thought about getting tats? Or maybe some wild color in your hair, like this
pink light?” He glanced down for a moment at the languid swirls around his
legs.

“Anyway.” He scratched the back of his
head and averted his gaze.

She wanted Liam alive somewhere,
somehow, and her mind gave way to nightmares. This was just another dream, and
she knew that. Liam disappeared and died years ago, so this guy couldn’t be
Liam, or at least, couldn’t be real.

“Don’t run away this year. I need you
here with me. I miss you, Kendra.”

“I miss you too, Liam.”

She spoke before thinking. Over the
years, these ridiculous visions became vivid. They consisted more and more of
everyday conversation, as if Liam stood before her, and less of actual
memories. Liam grew with her in these delusions. He went from the little boy
she remembered to the teenage heartthrob he would have become.

“I’ve got something to tell you,” he
admitted.

“What?”

“Julie’s alive.”

Kendra stiffened. Tears threatened to
fall. “Shut up right now.”

He paused before continuing. “She needs
your help.”

“I said shut the hell up.”

“No. Stop tuning me out.”

“You’re not real.” She clamped her fists
over her ears, then spread her fingers to cover her head, and rocked on her
heels. Yep, like a crazy person.

He walked up to her, reached out, but
retracted his hand. “Listen to me, Kendra,” he said in a stern, diplomatic
tone. “It’s time for you to come.”

When he grabbed her by the nape of her neck,
he forced her to look up. She smashed her hands against his chest, but quickly
calmed. There was something serene and captivating about the odd warmth
emanating from his being and the way the light hissed around Kendra like snakes
until trails of colored mist wrapped around them both.

Kendra watched him. He focused on her as
he lowered his attention to her mouth. He tore himself away, grunting, “You
belong here, and Julie’s—”

He jerked around, as if caught off guard
by something Kendra couldn’t see.

“Gotta go,” he said with dire urgency.
Liam released Kendra and moved around her. The mist clouded around his body
until it dissolved, and he along with it.

“But—” Kendra held her hand out.
“Julie….”

She took a step after him, but the pink
light exploded into the bright, white light she knew all too well. She gasped
and shielded her face from the sudden glare. When the second of blindness
dissipated, she lowered her hand and glanced at the wall next to her bed.

“What the heck?” she mumbled confused.
The fan was off. She never made the decision to actually get out of bed and
turn it on. She must’ve fallen back asleep and dreamt the entire thing.

She went to the railing and searched the
lower floor. Everything appeared normal in the growing morning light. Sunlight
penetrated through the windows and created an ominous view. Particles of dust
floated in the air. Shadows stood still. The ambience felt downright creepy in
the calmness. Kendra lived in the barn to face her fears, but on the day of the
anniversary, the barn turned into a surreal place. It became scary, perilous,
and she couldn’t stay here on the anniversary night.