The Powerful Pride of an Immortal (Immortal Supers Book 4), Kurtis Eckstein [books to read for self improvement .TXT] 📗

box elevated off the floor. The smells in the room were probably indistinguishable to most, but to Rose it smelt terrifying.

Because it smelt like death.

This was where they brought the children they didn’t want anymore.

Immediately, she began to panic, trying to pull away from the man holding onto her, but his grip was absolute.

“Get in,” he demanded in an empty emotionless voice.

She continued to struggle, but she was no match for his strength. He didn’t wait for a response, instead dragging her closer and lifting her up, tossing her inside. Suddenly surrounded by metal walls, she immediately rushed for the door, smashing against it as he slammed it shut.

“No! Let me out!” she begged. “Please let me out! I’ll be good! I promise I’ll be good!”

But no one listened.

A sharp blast of heat erupted behind her, making it so hot.

Too hot.

Panic clawed into her chest as she banged on the door harder.

“Please!” she pleaded. “Please let me out!”

Unexpectedly, another voice screamed, young and terrified, like she was.

“Daddy, it hurts! Please make it stop daddy! Please! Daddy!” the girl shrieked.

Rose whipped her head around to see someone else trapped in here too – a girl about her age, and a man who looked really familiar.

“Daddy!” the girl shrieked one last time, as they both disappeared in the brilliant orange flames.

The world went black.

Rose immediately sat up in bed, her heart racing, her pulse throbbing, her mind panicked.

She looked around her room, focusing on the electronic picture of her mommy, daddy, and auntie hanging on her wall next to her nightstand. She then focused down on the plush white teddy bear, holding a small red heart, that Heidi got her for Valentine’s Day, finally registering where she was – that she was safe in her bedroom.

This wasn’t the first time she’d had a horrible nightmare of where she used to live.

This wasn’t the first time she’d woken up, feeling like her fingers had been chopped off, or that someone had put fire in her arms.

But this was the first time she’d startled awake, only to realize her nightmare wasn’t entirely her own.

She had been sharing it. With someone else.

Rose gasped, bolting out of her bed.

❖               ❖               ❖

Sam Archer

April 10, 2735 – 5 Minutes Ago – Early Morning

It was that time of the night again. The time when I used to work on my pain tolerance as an excuse to try to get through the most difficult hour of the day, usually falling just a few hours before I’d have to leave for work every morning.

But thankfully, the reason for my recurring distress was somewhat mitigated by the little baby sleeping peacefully in her crib.

Somewhat.

The memory had still been haunting me these last few weeks, especially the last couple of days, with Eden’s literal resurrection giving me both relief and anxiety.

I was thankful she was alive again – that the impossible had miraculously been made possible. But also terrified of her dying a second time.

No one wanted their kid to suffer. No one wanted their kid to die. But especially, no one wanted their little baby to suffer to death in one of the worst ways possible.

How I wish I could undo the past. How I wish I could have protected her.

If only I had tried harder. If only I had known I could do something. But I had been clueless. I’d been helpless.

And, there was something else too.

As Eden got older, would she eventually remember? And if she did remember…would she hate me for it?

Would she hate me for not protecting her? For letting her die in such a horrific way?

Taking a deep breath, I did my best to focus on my tablet again, trying to continue ironing out the questions I wanted to ask and the points I wanted to make, like I was preparing for an interview. Because, in a way, I was preparing for an interview – one in which might help me eliminate the threats in our lives.

This was really important – important enough that I was probably going to divulge some pretty personal information in order to effectively convince them that I could be trusted with the resources and information I was asking for. And I only had a few more hours to prepare for this life-altering meeting.

But in this moment, at this exact time, the guilt was eating me alive. Even as important as this meeting was, I couldn’t seem to focus. I stared at the wall of text on my tablet and all I could see was a terrified pair of teal eyes.

Unexpectedly, I nearly jumped out of my skin as Eden shrieked, a blood-curdling cry like someone was torturing her.

I couldn’t even react before Freya was flying out of bed, having gone from sound asleep to wide awake in less than a second.

As I urgently rushed to get out of bed myself, Freya carefully scooped the little girl up, trying to gently shush her in a soothing tone.

It didn’t help.

“Sam,” she hissed in alarm. “This isn’t normal. Something’s wrong with her.”

Lily was awake now too, looking just as panicked by the shrieking coming from our tiny daughter.

Freya was totally right. This absolutely wasn’t normal. I wasn’t sure I’d ever heard a baby scream like this. Not ever.

Without hesitation, I held out my wrist, knowing Freya would be able to see the problem with her third eye.

Suddenly, our bedroom door slammed open so violently that the walls shook, a panicked Rose rushing in, her eyes black and red, the tan skin on her face turning grey, her hands slightly larger than usual.

“I’m here, Eden!” she said urgently, rushing up to her.

Freya immediately shot out her hand, alarmed by Rose’s obviously transforming body, causing Rose to bump into it, only to finally focus on her mother.

“Mommy, she remembers!” she exclaimed. “She remembers the fire!”

Freya immediately lowered her hand as she looked at me in alarm, followed immediately by agony, all while our older daughter pressed her forehead against Eden’s temple, the shrieking so loud I was sure it