Jade Moon (Celestial War Book 1) Read Free Page A

then there was another whimper. My whole body clenched.
    I crept out of the chair, trying to figure out where it was coming from.
    The voice shuddered, sobbed, then there was a sharp intake of breath that sounded like pain. A small, voice whispered, “No, please no.”
    The hair on the back of my neck stood up.
    I moved low and quiet, skirting the wall until I came to the next squiggy little hallway. It curved off into darkness, like the light at the end had totally gone out.  Hunched down, practically crawling along the floor, I was genuinely terrified of what I might find. Not, oh that was a great scary movie, terrified, but pee leaking out, whole body shaking, adrenaline pumping blind terror.
    The voice was crying, low but steady. A forlorn, heart shattering sound that tugged on every piece of my humanity. It was horrible, like accidentally tuning in to a torture session.
    As I crept forward, the sound began to echo. One small whisper became a thousand voices, jumbled mutterings of pain and horror. Disoriented, I rocked back as the chaotic noise filled my head. Body quivering like a tuning fork, my vision began to swim and a unnatural warmth spread across my skin. Then, like turning the dial on an old fashioned radio seeking a clear signal, the thousand cries blended into one, single coherent voice.
    “She’s listening!” rang in my ears, loud and menacing. 
    I was royally freaking out when the bell rang just above my head.
    “Aaaaa!” My scream was loud enough to call down the valkyries from on high. Once the bell finally stopped, my ears rang so I couldn’t hear much of anything for a few seconds. I was letting my ears adjust when the shadow loomed above me.
    Mrs. Louie barked, “What are you doing?”
    I screamed again, spinning, arms up in a defensive stance. Losing my footing, I hit a cart loaded with books. The stacks teetered for a second before crashing to the floor in an avalanche of fluttering pages. Mrs. Louie was not amused.
    “Harper Dae, it’s sixth period, you should be in class, not skulking around the library.”
    “Mrs. Louise,” I was panting with fear, “someone was making these terrible crying sounds. I think someone is really hurt.” The tears came and I felt like a total moron. Especially when Mrs. Louise cocked her head. Silence echoed down the little hall. We waited. And waited. Silence.
    “I certainly don’t hear anything.”
    “We need to check down this hall. I swear, someone is hurt.” I started down the hall, emboldened by the mere presence of another person.
    She reached out and locked an iron fist onto my arm. “What you need to do is listen when a teacher tells you to go to class.”
    I yanked my arm from her grasp. “No, I really heard something.” I couldn’t focus on anything but finding the crying girl.
    “That’s it. You will come with me to the principal’s office. Right now.” She grabbed my arm again and literally dragged me behind her.
    “Mrs. Louie, please, I’ll go to the office with you, but first will you just check and make sure. Please,” I raised my voice which did not go over well.
    She grunted with disapproval and yanked me out of the library and all the way to the front office where the secretary recoiled at the look on her face.
    “We need to see Mr. Beuterbaugh.”
    I let out a little laugh at the Principal’s name. It positively screamed for parody. To be fair, my laughter in that moment was more of an uncomfortable reaction.
    Mrs. Louie looked like she was actually going to punch me.
    I shut the hell up and went limp, totally giving in to the clearly psychotic woman holding me captive. Was her death-grip was even legal?
    The secretary gestured for us to go in. 
    The Principal’s office was small but the dark wood desk looked fancy. There was a wall of books which surprised me. For some reason I’d pegged him as one of those proud non-readers. Mr. Beuterbaugh gave off Ichabod Crane meets the Munsters vibe. He was gangly and so