Read Before the Dawn for Free Online Page B

to her
and, quick as a wink, he turned and he was gone. Aline spun around
slowly, trying to take in all the strange and beautiful sights she
was seeing. She noted that her friends seemed to be dealing with
all the weirdness better than she was because they had started to
wander around the ballroom, laughing and joking with one another.
The dancers welcomed them quite warmly and, soon, they were all
moving energetically to a lively song that made her think of golden
sunlight shining down on tiny flowers swaying in a playful wind.
She got several invitations to dance while she wandered around the
place, but she only shook her head at each one and explored as much
of the room as she could, thinking that there was something
incredibly familiar about what was happening around her. If she
could only try harder, then she would remember, but the answer only
teased at her mind and refused to be understood.
    There were a pair of glass doors on each
corner of the room, and when she opened and stepped through one,
she saw she was in a balcony that offered an excellent night-time
view of a dark lake. The water glistened under the light of the
moon and, for a moment, she thought she could see a man’s sad face
reflected on the small waves that rippled across the lake’s
surface.
    "Aline?"
    She heard someone speak behind her and she
quickly turned to look at him, her heart suddenly beating much
faster. She had immediately recognized the voice as Trevor's, and
now here he was standing before her. His hair looked messy, like he
had just run a hand through it, and he was dressed a lot like Raven
had been in black, old-fashioned clothes. But there was a frown on
his face and an uncertain sheen in his eyes as he looked at
her.
    "Something's not right," he muttered, almost
as if he was talking to himself. Then his expression sharpened and
his gaze focused on her. "Aline, are you okay?" he asked worriedly.
"I have this really weird feeling about tonight, like, I feel like
I’m sleeping—"
    Whatever he was about to say next, she could
only wonder because he was interrupted by the deep toll of a bell.
She felt her heart seize up for no reason, then the glass doors
flew open once more and Raven appeared to grab her by the arm.
"There you are!" he exclaimed. "Come. Come! The dance is
beginning."
    She could only stare helplessly at Trevor as
she was led away rather forcefully. Raven pulled her to the very
center of the now-silent ballroom where everyone had gathered in a
large circle with every person partnered by another. She expected
that Raven would then lead her in a dance, but she was surprised
when he abruptly dropped her hand and took his place by Meran's
side. The music started and everyone began to move in graceful
revolutions around the room while she just stood there. She tried
to search for Trevor, but her eyes couldn't manage to pick him out
from the thick crowd of dancers. Then another bell rang out,
silvery and clear where the previous one had been somber and dark,
and she felt a hand slip into hers.
    Startled, she looked up to meet the palest
blue eyes she could ever imagine. They were as brilliant and clear
as diamonds. The young man who now took both her hands in his and
led her through the steps of a slow dance had a face that was
dreamlike in its perfection. She had thought Raven was handsome,
but this man—he was beautiful. He was dressed all in black, which
made his fine blond hair look almost white and his skin appear
luminous. But his incredible beauty wasn't what made her feel like
he had laid a possessive hand on her heart.
    As they gazed at each other, she felt like
something vastly important and mysterious had finally been revealed
to her. All thoughts that used to mean so much to her—her dad, her
friends, grades, what college she wanted to go to, Trevor—all of it
suddenly stopped to matter. She was here now, with him . She
had found him, or he had found her, but the important thing was
that they were together and