Destiny Calls Read Free Page A

gaze.
    Destiny. Anna. Destiny. Anna. Was he home or in the woods of Jim Thorpe? The heat suddenly left his body in a rush. His body swayed in long, wide circles.
    He looked at the female before him, no longer certain who she was. Her face blurred, and his vision faded with the weight of his body. He called to her, “Anna.” And then everything fell away.

Chapter 1
     
    The moment he fell into the snow, the silence became suffocating. Adrenaline and the residual shock of what just happened pumped through her blood like fire, and her entire body began to practically convulse she was shaking so badly. Pain seared her back and the cooling, sticky trickle of her blood seeped through her clothing. Carefully she tried to look over her shoulder, but the angle twisted her muscles so painfully she couldn’t see the damage.
    The muscles of her stomach trembled fiercely. She was too traumatized to even cry. Her hands shook terribly, and she noticed she had broken several nails, had nicks across her skin, and her knuckles were caked with mud and blood. They were suddenly frightening weapons. Her eyes found the discarded bow and the dead man lying in her periphery, but she was too weak to look at him. She couldn’t face what she had done.
    Destiny dropped onto her bottom, legs splaying in the snow, shoulders slumping, and stared numbly at the ground. She wasn’t sure how long she stared there. Eventually she reached into her pocket for her phone.
    The pain in her back was throbbing, and she wasn’t sure if she was still bleeding. The thick wool of her coat seemed to be fusing itself to her flesh at some parts and the slightest movement tore the material away, causing warm blood to flow once more. She was so tired.
    She held the power button down on her phone and prayed for the slightest bit of life. The moment the screen lit up she took a jagged breath and lost the battle against her tears. The settings of her smart phone loaded and beeped, warning her it was about to power down.
    Quickly, Destiny dialed 911. Her fingers trembled so badly she accidentally dialed an eight instead of a nine and an extra one. Her mistake cost her. The time it took her to clear away those four numbers was all the time she had. The phone shut down before the call was placed.
    Destiny squeezed the phone tight in her dirty hand and collapsed to her side. Her shoulder took the brunt of her weight, and the snow mixed with her warm tears against her cheek.
    She wasn’t blinking enough. The vapor from her breath began to form smaller and smaller clouds. She didn’t quite feel the cold so much anymore. This close to the ground, the snow smelled of ice. She thought of being a little girl and her father taking her ice-skating for the first time.
    There was a trace of earthy scent beneath the snow, and she had a vision of gardening with her grandmamma outside of her villa in Portugal. Her lips curved into a gentle smile that took little effort. The memory brought her peace.
    She thought of the tall, brightly tiled buildings butted together along the sloping, stone streets of Reiros. The monuments and idols crowded by blackbirds and tourists just as peddlers pushed their goods at the corner lampposts. Warmth and comfort spread through her, detracting from her fear, as she imagined her joy on the plane while flying over the terracotta roofs, streets and valleys cut deep in the mountains, and the peaks of cathedrals and castles dating back to a different time. That was her home. Perhaps she should have stayed there.
    She longed for even the less provincial areas where brightly colored clothing draped over strung lines connecting one balcony to the next. She missed the noncommercialized fruit stands just outside of a stranger’s vibrantly painted front door. She shut her eyes, and warmth filled her as she imagined she was back in Portugal.
    She forced her mind to happier times and grinned as an image of Vito riding beside her in a gondola as the warm, sultry air