Drake Sisters 02 - The Twilight Before Christmas

sisters protested for a moment, frightened by what she was trying, but joining with her when they recognized her determination. Jonas made a smal sound of dissent and moved closer to her, ready to jerk her back into reality.
    Moans assaulted her ears. The shadow world was vague and gray, a bleak hazy place where nothing was what it seemed. She chanted softly, her voice spreading through the world with little effort, stil ing the moans and alerting whatever lived there to her presence. Kate felt the impact when the entity realized she’d once again joined him in his world. She could feel his blazing rage, the fierce anger, and the intensity of his guilt and sorrow. The thing turned toward her, a tal skeleton of a man, blurred so that he was nearly indistinct in the gray vapors surrounding him. He wore a long coat and shapeless hat, and he shook his head and pressed his bony hands over his ears to stop the enchantment of her voice. Flesh sagged from the bones, a loose fit in some places, stretched tight in others.
    Kate whispered softly to him, cal ing, beckoning, trying to coax him to reveal the pain he suffered, the torment of his existence. She used her voice shamelessly, cajoling him to find peace. The shadowy figure took a few steps toward her. Kate held out her hand to him, a gesture of camaraderie. There is peace. Let yourself feel it surround you.
    The being took another cautious step toward her. Her heart pounded. Her mouth was dry, but she kept whispering. Speaking to him. Promising him rest. He was only a few feet from her, his arm stretching out toward her hand. The bony fingers were close. Inches away from her flesh. She remembered the feel of the finger bones closing around her throat, but she stood her ground and kept enticing him.
    Something slithered around his boots. Snakelike vines wrapped around bony ankles. Out of the barren rocks bounded a huge creature with matted fur and yel ow eyes. In the cold of the shadow world, she could see the creature’s vaporous breath mingling with the fog. The eyes fixed on her, an intruder in their world.
    The tips of her fingers touched the bony ends of the skeleton as it reached toward her. The creature howled, sending a shiver of fear down Kate’s spine. Her sisters held their col ective breath. Jonas stiffened, communicating his apprehension to Matt and Jackson.
    Kate continued to whisper of peace, of aid, of a place to rest. The being took more shape, the pitiless eyes swimming with tears, extending its hand as far as the snakelike vines al owed. Abruptly the skeleton threw back its head and roared, rejecting her. Rejecting the idea of redemption and forgiveness. She glimpsed a raging hatred of self, of everything symbolizing Christmas, of peace itself. There can be no peace. She caught that as the being began to whirl around, furious, using the vortex of its wild spinning to hurl objects at her. The moans rose to shrieks. The huge creature bounded toward Kate, breathing as loudly as any bul . Kate made one last grab for the hand of the skeleton, but it had turned on her completely, rushing at her along with the beast.
    “Get her out of there!” Jonas shouted, catching the col ective fear that ran through the Drake family. He gripped Kate’s arm hard, shaking her.
    “Matt, pul her back to us!”
    “Kate,” her sisters cried out, “leave him, leave him there.”
    “Hannah!” Jonas cried the name desperately. “The wind, Hannah, bring in the wind.”
    Kate stared at the terrible figure coming straight at her, fury in its every line. The eyes glowed red through the dark fog; the face was made of bones, not flesh. The mouth gaped open in a silent scream. She was trapped there in the world of shadows, real, yet not, unable to find her way back. The worst of it was, she caught sight of a second insubstantial figure coming at her from the left.
    “Kate.” Matt whispered her name, lifted her into his arms. Her body was an empty shel , her mind caught somewhere else.
    “Kate, darling, go with the other one, he’l lead you out.” El e’s soft voice pushed everything else away.
    The dark demon was almost upon her. Kate felt a hand on her arm. She looked down and saw Jackson’s fingers circling her wrist like a vise. She didn’t have time to go voluntarily; he yanked her out of the shadows, back into the light. She heard a roar of rage, shuddered when she felt bones brush against her skin. Matt was real and solid, and she gripped him hard, needing to