Read The Gates for Free Online

so inhuman; it was hard to picture her having any feeling, any true emotion or empathy for one of us. She was purely animalistic, a creature so cold, I shuddered just thinking about her. “Then why is she so hell bent on making the Amaranthians miserable? I mean, why go against what she wanted in the first place: to peacefully coexist with humans?”
    “She just angry, plain ’n simple,” Vivienne reached for more ink. “Gérard hardened her. Now she takes her wrath out on the frozen souls, especially the reformed ones. They’re what tie her to him.”
    “No,” I shook my head, thoughts stewing. “She’s remained loyal to him all these years.…” My mind wandered, suddenly hypnotized by the dancing of the pen in Vivienne’s hand. As it glided across the paper, I began to picture my mother again, the way she held on to my father for so many years, even after all he’d done to her. “Maybe there’s a part of her that thinks he’ll come back to her someday.” I spoke softly, still staring at the pen. “So she continues to feed him, to please him.…”
    “Listen, nah, child.” Vivienne snapped her fingers in front of my face. “You might be right about that, but don’t you start treadin’ dangerous ground feelin’ sorry for her, nah. She may have had some tough luck, but she still a monster, ya hear? She’ll destroy you and everyone ya ever loved if given the chance.”
    “She’s right, Cam.” Gavin sat next to me, looked sternly in my eyes. “Don’t let her history cloud the reality of who and what she is. She didn’t have to turn on the people of Amaranth, didn’t have to take it out on them. She chose to let Gérard ruin her.”
    “No one chooses that,” I mumbled. “That kind of betrayal alters you.…” As I began to shake, thinking of my mother, Gavin’s cell phone rang and he disappeared into the hallway to take the call.
    He returned, his expression frantic. “We have to go.” He looked at me. “Marie came looking for you again, back at Josh’s cabin.”
    “And Arianna’s with Josh,” I whispered in realization, remembering the last time I encountered Marie, when she stalked me at that very same cabin. Marie was now even more of a threat. We had to ensure that details of Arianna’s whereabouts wouldn’t travel back to Samira. I sprinted toward the door, Gavin making it to the car before I had a second to ponder what this would mean for our plans.

3
    DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE
    “We told Josh to make sure Arianna stayed low!” I choked out, rushing toward the car.
    “There’s only so much he can do, we knew she’d try to snatch you again at some point,” he called over his shoulder. “I told Josh to bring Arianna to your house. We have to stop by and check up on the place anyway, get some of your things. Come on.”
    As Gavin yanked open the passenger door for me, Vivienne called from the front porch, trailing after us with the wooden box. I didn’t even want to think about why Marie had been sent for me in the first place. Probably to make sure I’d make good on my promise to Samira, to allow her to change me and to serve her in place of Gavin’s punishment. No doubt our escape only made my retrieval more urgent to her.
    “Wait just a second, nah, we haven’t gone over everythin’,” Vivienne hustled up to us, out of breath. “This is very important, ya hear?”
    “I think you gave us everything,” Gavin said, glanced down at the bag of supplies in his hands, patted his pockets for the instructions she’d written out. “We still have a few weeks before the portal opens. We’ll meet again before we leave.”
    “Listen, child. You soundin’ like you got it all figured out. But you best watch out for snakes, they come in many different forms.”
    Gavin and I exchanged glances. “Snakes,” he muttered, shuffling me toward the car door.
    “Just keep an eye out, baby,” Vivienne tried to reign in his attention. “This type of situation tends to manifest