Read Online Chasing Before by Lenore Appelhans - Free Book Online

and begins to hum a low monotone.
    Neil twitches and then spasms so powerfully, I lose my grip on his wrist and it slams into my chin. The blow propels me backward, and my chair tips dangerously, but Kiara’s hold on me is like an anchor. She yanks me forward, and I fall across Neil’s bucking chest. “Pin him down!” Kiara shouts.
    I grit my teeth and position my knees against Neil’s side. Pressing my elbows against my body, I put my forearms firmlyonto his rib cage and throw my weight down as hard as I can. At the same time Autumn rushes over and holds down Neil’s thrashing legs to keep him from kicking us.
    Keegan jumps up to help too, but Kiara waves him away. “We’re fine.” He sits back against the wall again, but he’s alert, ready to pitch in if Kiara needs him.
    There’s an insistent knocking on the door. I’m caught off guard, and Neil’s next spasm pushes me forward into Kiara’s abdomen. She absorbs this blow as if I were as insubstantial as a pillow, and continues to hover over Neil and press her energy into his pores with the tips of her fingers.
    I scramble back to Neil’s side, and as I do, I catch Nate demanding to be let in. Cash strides out into the hallway and firmly shuts the door behind him.
    Kiara moans like an injured animal, and Neil goes deathly still. She removes her hand from Neil’s forehead, loosens her grip on my wrist, and slumps back into her chair.
    “What’s happening?” I ask frantically. Autumn should assure me that this is normal, that Neil will wake up. But her face only registers confusion, followed by pity.
    It may be only seconds before Neil’s body fades away from me forever.
    I gaze at his face, my fingers clutching at his dampened curls and my tears dripping freely onto his shirt.
    Then Neil’s eyes pop open and he sits up with a start, a look of horror on his face. “No! Gracie!” he shouts wildly. “Don’t do it!”

seven
    I SIT IN STUNNED RELIEF. Neil is alive.
    But who is Gracie? Apparently Neil has been so intent on hiding her from me that he’s repressed his memories of her. We shared so many memories after the collapse of the Morati architecture in Level Two, but I’ve never once seen Gracie.
    Neil’s expression vacillates between shock and confusion. And then he notices me. “Oh, Felicia—thank God! I’ve had the most terrible nightmare. There was an explosion, and you were hurt . . .” He reaches up to wipe the tears from my cheek.
    “I’m fine,” I say, trying not to cry all over again. “You were the one who was in a coma. Kiara”—I nod my head in the healer’s direction—“was able to revive you by bringing oneof your most repressed memories to the surface.” I stress the word “repressed” and note that Neil’s eyes shift downward for a split second.
    Neil drops his hand back to his lap. “Coma? What happened?” He looks frantically around the room. “I saw Megan get hit. Where is she? Is she okay?”
    The sadness of Megan’s death wells up inside me like I’m experiencing it for the first time, burying my questions about Gracie. “She . . . she didn’t make it.”
    “She died ?”
    I nod. “She disappeared from this level. Right in front of me.”
    Neil presses his balled fist against his mouth, as if to stifle a scream or keep from throwing up. His eyes are wild for a fiery moment, and I know he wishes that he could have done something to prevent what happened to Megan. But then he slumps into the headboard, and the fight fades from his face.
    I want to comfort him, but there’s nothing I can say or do that will make things better or bring Megan back. I don’t even notice how badly my legs are shaking until Neil stills them with a firm grip on my knee. “We’ll honor her memory,” he says with a quiet desperation, “by not letting the Morati kill us.”
    Megan didn’t think the Morati were a real threat, but Neil has seen their destruction firsthand. And he doesn’t even know about William or