Eragon, she thought. She took a moment to bring herself back to reality. Putting the book done was getting harder and harder. Every moment she read it was a moment she treasured.
She took in the real air. It filled her nostrils, cold and biting. It was winter holiday and she was sick. It was probably only a cold, but still... it wasn't pleasant. So she stayed in her room reading one of her Christmas presents. If she had been sick any other time it would have driven her crazy. But she had the book.
Eragon, she thought again. She loved reading its pages over and over. The pages themselves felt like silk against her skin and the words were music. Rich, enticing music. Oh how she loved it! She simply couldn't get enough.
She fingered her necklace as she thought. Her mom had given it to her for her 16th birthday as a surprise. It looked old but she wasn't sure. Her mom wouldn't have bought something she thought was old and useless. She just wasn't that way. But she thought that it had an eternal quality, it seemed like it had been around forever. It was a locket in the shape of a heart. It was rather plain in the front, but on the back it had a word- Death.
"Death," she repeated as she opened it.
*****
He felt a tug inside him. It had to be the necklace. Someone had opened it. It was out there somewhere. He let out a scream that terrified the poor soul next to him. He glared at the soul. He didn't mean to scare it. He called one of his daughters.
"Find it," he said in a dark, desperate voice. She nodded and began her search.
*****
She closed the necklace and wondered why someone would inscribe such a dark word on it. Many possibilities went through her mind. Maybe someone had once been in love and then when he or she was about to die they bought this necklace to tell them that they were dying. That would be a funny thing to do. She rather would have told them face to face, but maybe they lived many miles apart. She laughed to herself. Yeah, right.
All the sudden, she felt something inside herself- something cold and filled with longing. It wasn't cold like the weather but something else. Something deeper.
She stood up. What was it? She glanced around her room. Something was wrong, very wrong. She looked to the corner of her room. Was there a white face or was she imagining it? And then it was gone, along with the feeling.
"Hmm. Whatever," she said to herself. There probably wasn't anything. She was just imaging it. Like always. Maybe the book was getting to her head. It was planting crazy stuff. Or maybe her eyes were just sore. She glanced at the book and left her room.
*****
He watched one of his daughters come back to him. The soul was gone, already taken Home. And he was getting ready to get another.
"Heather Doodhart," she told him as he was leaving.
He turned to her and nodded. He would find her. Yes, he would get that necklace.