Read Awakening (Book One of The Geis) for Free Online

the excited feeling mingled with an uneasiness that pulled the blood from my fingers and toes. I rubbed my hands to improve their circulation, clanging the necklaces together.
    I waited in the car, twisting the loose ends of the leather knotwork around my fingers. After more than twenty minutes went by, I rationalized that Aunt Avril didn’t expect me to wait this long.
    I got out of the car and followed a cobblestone path to an overhang where waterfalls flanked either side of the door, each ending in a pool teeming with koi. The formidable wooden door loomed above me, reinforced with iron scrollwork that continued onto the rock and provided a lattice for the vines of ivy that flourished along the wall. Above my head a stained glass window arched over the door, the colored glass puzzled together to form a mountain landscape that mirrored the view of the valley behind me. Whoever lived here had money—lots of it.
    I knocked on the door and it shifted open.
    “Puzzling to be sure, and a tragedy,” Aunt Avril’s voice came from my left, sounding smooth and fake. I wondered what she saw. I turned to the sound of her voice and found her in a large—and far from medieval—kitchen. A stone hearth arched over a range and grill next to antique mahogany cabinets that rose higher than a person could comfortably reach. Two marble-topped islands stretched the length of the kitchen, each held up by columns that completed the mash-up of primitive castle and modern convenience.
    “I’m not sure why you came out this way at all, ma’am.” A policeman stood in the kitchen. He had a dark-tanned complexion and his black hair was shaved close to his head. His tan uniform was tucked into green pants that hid most of his scuffed black boots from view. “Tell your superiors that we can handle this.”
    “It’s so kind of you to indulge an old lady’s fancy. I’ll be sure to let them know.” Aunt Avril stepped around the policeman and into the adjoining living room where a white-haired woman sat on the couch. Her eyes looked red from crying, but otherwise she looked put-together, from her cream colored, tailored pantsuit to the regal way she held herself.
    The officer rounded the counter and came toward me. I pressed myself against the wall and tried to look as if I belonged. It didn’t work.
    “Who’s this?”
    Aunt Avril whipped around. When she saw me, she sighed, motioning for me to sit next to her on the couch across from the mourning woman. “This is my niece, Officer Bassett. McKayla, come on over here.”
    Officer Bassett shook his head and left the room, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like, “Crazy old bat.”
    I took my shoes off before stepping on the beige carpet, and sat down next to Aunt Avril. When I looked up at the woman whose house we were in, I couldn’t help but stare. Up close, she was much younger than I had thought. Her flawless skin and exotic eyes were striking. But what really caught my attention was her hair. It curved in waves down her back and it was white—not dye-it-super-blonde white, but more like a whiter-than-a-lily white. She glanced my direction before turning her attention back to Aunt Avril. A surge of annoyance made me catch my breath and I clenched my jaw, wishing I’d stayed in the car. Then the sensation dissipated and I settled back against the cushions.
    Aunt Avril asked the woman questions. “Did you hear anything out of the ordinary last night?”
    “No, I went to bed before Jonathan, and I didn’t wake until morning,” said the white-haired woman. She reached for a tissue, dabbed her nose, and then added the tissue to the growing pile on the coffee table. “I don’t understand how this could happen. Jonathan was in great shape. He ran every morning.”
    “We don’t know what caused his death yet, Mrs. Saddlebury, but anything that you can tell me will be helpful.”
    I fiddled with the woven knot again, circling the gemstone with my thumb as I studied a