For an instant she thought earthquake or tsunami, but then the pain stabbed through her head- much, much worse than a migraine- and the lights flashed brighter and longer and fused to blot out her room as her knees gave way and she dropped to the floor.Īs she lay there shaking, shuddering, writhing with the pain that suffused her, a tunnel opened through the light, revealing. This wasn't the sparkle she usually saw, more like wavy lines, but she knew the sooner she dug out her bottle of Imitrex and took one, the better.Īnd then the room tilted. The flashing lights always preceded her migraines. She realized it wasn't in the room, but in her eye. She turned to look but it flashed again, still to her right. Why was she thinking of Alarms to night? She hadn't. She'd seen her father when he'd received Alarms and it didn't look pleasant.

These black eyes were supposed to allow her to see things regular eyes were blind to, warnings from Outside. It was rare- only a few Oculi left around the globe- and it was definitely a condition. And she'd have a true excuse for wearing wraparound sunglasses all the time instead of lying about a rare eye condition. Yeah, she'd be blind, but at least then she could go to school instead of having tutors. With their black pupils, black irises, and black everything else, they looked like ebony marbles stuck in her sockets. She stared at the reflection of those eyes now. She chatted online all the time, but that wasn't the same as having another flesh-and- blood fourteen- year- old girl in the same room.īut that flesh- and- blood girl wouldn't stay long once she got a look at Diana's eyes. She could talk to them, as in have conversations, but couldn't really talk to them about things that mattered. She shared this big house with three men- grown men, sworn to protect her with their lives- but they weren't friends.

Ground zero f paul wilson