Read The Twilight Before Christmas for Free Online Page B

regroup and rest, but I didn’t feel as if she was in a dangerous state.” She knelt on the floor at the foot of the mosaic her grandmother and her grandmother’s sisters had worked so hard to make.
    Relief swept through Kate. Libby always drove herself too hard, and her health suffered dramatically for it. Libby was too small, too slender, a fragile woman who pushed herself for others. Libby worked for the Center for Disease Control and traveled all over the globe. “We’ll have to watch her,” Kate said softly, musing aloud.
    It was one of the best-loved talents of the sisters, to be able to stay in communication with one another no matter how far apart they were physically. They could ‘see’ one another and send energy back and forth when it was needed. Kate knelt beside Hannah in the entryway.
    Kate always felt a sense of awe when she looked at the artwork on the floor. The mosaic always seemed to her to be alive with energy. Anyone looking into the mosaic felt as if they were falling into another world. The deep blue of the sea was really the ocean in the sky. Stars burst and flared into life. The moon was a shining ball of silver. Kate bent close to the mosaic to examine the greens, browns, and grays that made up mother earth.
    Only Joley’s voice poured into the room, then melted away on the last notes to leave the room entirely silent. The three sisters linked hands. Small bursts of electricity arced from one to the other. In the dimly lit room the energy appeared as a jagged whip of lightning dancing between the three women. Power filled the room, energy enough to move the drapes at the windows so that the material swayed and bowed.
    Kate kept her eyes fixed on the darker earth tones. Something moved, down close to the edge of the mosaic, in the deeper rocks. It moved slowly, a blackened shadow, slipping from one dark area to the next. It had a serpentine, cunning way about it, shifting from the edges up toward the surface as if trying to break through. Kate let her breath out slowly, inhaled deeply to fill her lungs, and let her body go. It was the only way to walk in the shadow world that was invisible to most human eyes.
    She felt the malevolence immediately, a twisted sneakiness, shrewd and determined, a being honed by rage and fueled by the need for revenge. The turmoil was overwhelming, spinning and boiling with heat and anger. It crept closer to her, awareness of her presence giving it a kind of malicious glee. She held herself still, trying to discern the dark force in the deeper shadows, but it blended too well.
    “Kate!” Hannah shook her hard, catching her by the shoulders and rocking her until her head lolled back on her neck.
    Abbey yanked Kate away from the mosaic and into her own body. There was a long silence while they clung to one another, breathing heavily, close to tears. The shrill ringing of the phone startled them.
    “Sarah,” they said simultaneously, and broke into relieved laughter.
    Abbey jumped up to answer the phone. “I’m telling Sarah on you,” she warned Kate, “and you’re going to be in so much trouble!”
    Kate gripped Hannah’s hand, trying to smile at Abbey’s dire prediction. “Did you feel it, Hannah?” she whispered. “Did you feel it coming after me?”
    “You can’t go into that world again, Kate. Not with that thing there. I couldn’t read what it was, but you have to stay away from it.” Hannah held Kate even tighter. “I know what it’s like to be afraid all the time, Katie. I can’t function in a crowd because the energy of so many people drains me. Their emotions bombard me until I can’t think or breathe. You all protect me, you always have. I wish we’d done the same for you.”
    Kate smiled and leaned over to kiss Hannah’s cheek. “I accepted my limitations a long time ago, Hannah, and I’ve never regretted my choice of lifestyles. I control my environment, and it works for me. I didn’t have the need to do all the things you