Ethereal: An Illumine Series Novella (The Illumine Series) Read Free Page B

one of those double-edge swords that gave her the freedom she craved, with the benefit of being able to lower her mental barriers. Losing herself in the music was the closest thing Rinae had to a drug to quell the whispers that danced in her head to a mean beat, lifting the blinders and showing her the truth to the disjointed world around her.
    Disjointed. Rinae laughed. She knew better- it wasn’t so much that the world was disjointed, but that she was horribly broken. Scratch that, broken couldn’t even cover just what she was. Monster, maybe. Unnatural, probably.
    Inhuman? Definitely.
    Thinking the word alone put a dent in her step as she crossed a pair of giggling girls dressed in skin-tight pastel dresses. She hadn’t known she was different at first. No one had exactly told her that kids couldn’t create fire... that was it unnatural to see horns and scales and wings on people who appeared perfectly normal to the rest of the world. It wasn’t until her ‘gift’ nearly killed someone that she learned to keep her mouth shut, and ignore the painful itch that danced in her veins.
    Rinae easily cleared several more rows of cracked and eroded homes, passing ancient-signed businesses, and tiny coffee shops to an unmarked iron door wielded into an intimidating marble pillar alongside a black building. Two symbols, both in the shape of capitalized V’s, were burned into the door.
    Three knocks, two pounds with a fist, and a whistle. The door inched open with a jolt, a dark skinned girl with blazing red hair to rival Rinae’s sticking out to peer around the frame.
    “Password?”
    “Black symphony,” Rinae said.
    With a nod, the redhead pulled herself back inside, leaving enough space for Rinae to squeeze in after her. The door shut behind her automatically, immersing the two of them in a purple light as they stood in a cramped, compact elevator. The redhead pressed two buttons on a control panel to her side, the sound of a buzzing hum filling the silence. Quietly they descended, Rinae ignoring the jerking of the elevator as it creaked and rattled in its drop.
    The door flung itself open as soon it came to a stop, screeching music and blood-pounding bass shocking her ears. Stepping free from the small space, Rinae barely had the chance to speak when the elevator sealed shut with the redhead still inside, and continued on its drop without her.
    Shrugging, Rinae pushed away the pounding sensation in her head to take in her surroundings. Being one of the newer underground clubs boasting a tight list for partying fanatics, it was a bit of a surprise when Rinae was first offered to check it out with Loyal. He’d made her promise, swear on the only valuable item she had, never to share its with anyone. So far, so good.
    Rumbling bass pushed against her ears sharper than she last remembered, but it didn’t take long for the music to fill her soul like it always seemed to. A hand reached out to her from inside the throng, and she happily took it. Once inside, it was like the world didn’t exist.
    Every step, every beat, it all flowed like some kind of erratic electricity that flowed in her veins. Rinae closed her eyes, letting her hands move freely in the air as her hips swayed to the beat. It felt like hours had passed under the flickering strobe lights and wild techno beats before she finally stepped away, slamming into the bar counter with an exhilarated grin plastered on her sweat-drenched face.
    “Ah, having a good night, I see,” the barkeep behind the counter winked. At first glance, she looked like any other girl slumming it in the underground; shocking electric blue hair, scrunched in tight curls, framed her heart-shaped face covered in varying tattoos of blooming roses on both cheeks. She had naturally bright green eyes, but preferred to wear contacts that colored them a deep, enchanting violet. Paired with a shoestring-laced secondhand corset, and some ripped leather leggings, and she was a beauty in a