Read The Gates for Free Online Page A

itself. But you …” she stepped forward and reached for his face, stared deep into his eyes. “You’ll know what to do when you run into one. You’re the beginning of things to come for your kind, ya hear? Don’ you forget it, nah.”
    “I’ll try, Vivienne.”
    “And you,” she moved to me next, “you watch out for the water, and don’ be afraid when the time comes.”
    “Water and snakes. Right .” I glanced at Gavin. “Vivienne, you keep saying you’re not psychic, but …”
    “This ain’t about seein’ the future, baby. This already written. It’s the path of our people. We don’ take it lightly when someone messes with our magic, ya hear? Don’ know just how it’ll pan out, nah, but sure enough, it’ll happen.”
    “It’s … written ?”
    “Take this, baby,” she opened the wooden box and handed me a small ancient-looking text with strange symbols woven on the front. “It’ll tell ya everything else ya need to know about the frozen souls, an’ their history with our magic.”
    “Thanks Vivienne,” I took the book. “We’ll see you before the crescent moon.”
    Gavin and I sped off down the long dirt driveway, leaving Vivienne’s plump silhouette in the rearview mirror. I watched her face disappear amongst the Spanish moss-draped trees, feeling more and more foreign to my Southern Louisiana home each passing second.
    * * *
    “Don’t you take the garbage out? That smell is disgusting.” Marie sat in my kitchen, fussing with her hands, which were tied and secured with duct tape and rope behind the chair. Arianna and Josh stood on each side of her, arms folded, silver blades in hand.
    “That’s what happens when no one is here to take it out,” Arianna snapped.
    “Way to scare the hell out of us,” Gavin replied as soon as we stepped through the front door and saw our unwelcome visitor. “We thought this would be the other way around,” he motioned between Marie and Arianna. I peered around the kitchen, covering my nose to mask the smell of the garbage.
    “Yeah, we’ll have to take care of that,” Gavin murmured, crinkling his nose. He continued to pay for my electricity and water, to keep the house available, just in case, but the reality was I’d abandoned my home, just like I’d abandoned my job and every other dream I’d had while living in Louisiana. Yet I knew I’d swapped out one set of dreams for another, and that it was time to conform to the new path.
    I stopped mourning my nice, familiar, formerly non-smelly kitchen and pulled my attention back to the tiny round woman who’d recently tried to kidnap me.
    “I can free myself from this,” Marie hissed, looking at me. “I have enough energy to snap this chair in half, you fools. Let me go and give me the girl.”
    “Well I have news for you, lady,” Josh spat, his face threatening. “Just because you’re loaded up on energy doesn’t mean you can take down three of us. And clearly you know that, because you haven’t freed yourself yet.”
    My gaze lingered at my new protector, at his warm hazel eyes and silky brown hair, but I forced myself to look away. I wouldn’t become attached to Josh, period.
    “Fools,” Marie hissed again, looked up at Arianna. “And you. You ruined my relationship with my son, do you know that? After I spoke to you at the gates, the day he showed up looking for you right before the war, he blamed me for running you off. He hasn’t spoken to me since then, won’t even answer my calls. I haven’t heard from him in ages! I’ve been working so hard, all of these years, to keep his whereabouts secret from Samira, just so he can be with you, so he can live a safe, happy life. You better be treating him like a king!”
    Arianna glanced at Gavin and then toward me. This woman had no idea her son was dead. Would Arianna tell her? It couldn’t possibly be a good idea to reveal that at this point.
    “Marie, I’m sorry to hear that you hold me responsible for any problems you have