Read Online Darkness Fades (Darkness Falls Series, Book 3) by Jessica Sorensen - Free Book Online

sleep.
    “We should get going,” I say as Nichelle
picks up her pack.
    “I agree, the sooner we get there, the
quicker Maci will get the help that she needs,” she says as she
crawls out of the hole with her fingers hitched through her
pack.
    I place my hands underneath Maci’s body and
pick her up in my arms. Her eyes don’t open and another moan
escapes from her lips as I carry her out of the cave and into the
light.
    “How’s she doing?” Nichelle asks as she
places a light kiss on Maci’s cheek. “She feels kind of warm. Are
you sure she didn’t get bitten?”
    “I’m sure,” I answer as Greyson and Aiden
walk out behind us. Greyson stretches his arms above his head and
yawns. Aiden has his hood over his head and his hands tucked up
into his sleeves, watching me like a hawk for some reason. “I
checked her over and there are only the cuts and a broken arm.”
    For some reason it looks like she doesn’t
believe me, however she still leads the way downhill and back to
the main trail we were on the night before while the rest of us
follow her. We hike down the curvy path for an hour or two until I
finally see the small area that looks like a town off in the
distance hidden in desert hills. There are buildings as well as
paths, and I can see people moving around the border of it. I
think, up until now, I wasn’t one hundred percent convinced it
really exists. Yet there it is; all green in the center of a lot of
brown sand and below the hazy sky, although it does seem less
hazy.
    As we get nearer, I notice that there are a
few bits and pieces of green popping up through the ground. I find
it fascinating. I haven’t seen any signs of life for a long time.
At least I can’t remember seeing any, but there it is, right in
front of me, so different from the town my colony is hidden
underneath.
    Aiden watches me while I trek up the trail
with my eyes fixed on the scenery. “You know you could let me carry
her for a while.” He nods his head at Maci in my arms. “I won’t
bite her or anything.”
    “I know you wouldn’t bite her,” I tell him,
“She’s not heavy. Besides, she saved me once and I promised myself
I’d do everything I could to protect her.”
    His eyes soften from below his hood. “You
really care for her, don’t you?”
    “If caring means that I feel responsible,
then yeah, I do.” I jump over a rock in the path, landing on top
and then leaping down while continuing to be careful not to drop
Maci.
    Aiden catches up with me, flying above for a
few seconds as he jumps to the ground. He lands in the dirt
effortlessly then glances over at Greyson and Nichelle just in
front of us. In a lowered voice, he says, “So have you mentioned
what happened last night to them?” He nods his head towards Greyson
and Nichelle.
    “You mean how the vampires were afraid of
you?” I keep my eyes on the ground as the trail rises to a slope
that ascends over a hill while bending my knees and keeping my
balance.
    “Yeah… I’m not sure I want to tell anyone
until we can figure out why or if Monarch made me this way,” he
whispers, seeming uneasy.
    “Don’t worry, I haven’t told them anything,
but I’m pretty sure Monarch made you this way. It had to be
him.”
    “What makes you so sure? They may have just
left because they fear you, like they usually do.”
    I hesitate for a moment, deciding whether I
want to share my memory with him, and finally decide that he needs
to know what Monarch told me about him. “Because of a memory I had
about Monarch. I remember him telling me that you were the only
other one like me, except—you were broken.”
    “Broken?” As his voice rises, Nichelle and
Greyson glance back at us. He smiles at them as they look away
puzzled then he leans in and lowers his voice. “What do you mean,
broken?”
    “He never told me how you were broken or
why,” I answer, working to keep my steps light at I walk around a
few small rocks in the way. “He just said that you