Read Online Kindred by Adrianne Lemke - Free Book Online Page A

much trouble for sure. The kids were all used to taking care of themselves, and were plenty self-sufficient. Couple that with June's desire to care for people and there wouldn't be any problem. "Yeah, Jason could probably use some down time this morning."
    Sam frowned. "Should he be left alone? What happens if he forgets again?"
    "Forgets? Forgets what?" Alice asked in confusion.
    "Forgets where he is or what he's doing… like last night at Dan 'n June's. He was there with us, but he forgot when we got home," Sam seemed confused and worried, but he had a point. He also hadn’t completely understood what had happened with Jason, and I wasn’t sure if we should try to explain that Jason’s body had been with us, but his mind had been elsewhere.
    Alice must have seen my expression, because she was quick to respond. "Most likely he'll be sleeping for most of the morning. He and Dustin were up late, and he had a hard day yesterday. I'll leave a note to have him call me at work when he wakes up and that I want him to come in this afternoon. Hopefully that won't leave enough time for any further blackouts. He'll be fine, Sammy," she assured him, resting her hand on his shoulder for a moment before getting up and going to get ready for work.
    "I've gotta get going," I said, checking the clock. My friends would be waiting for me at the campus library.
    "What!" I heard Alice exclaim from her bedroom. "How?" She was silent for several seconds. When I peeked in her room I saw she was on her phone. "No. He'll come in this afternoon. It can wait. I'll be in shortly."
    "What happened?" I asked, pushing the door open the rest of the way.
    "You know that guy Jason caught outside our house yesterday?" I nodded. "He’s dead. They think it was Kindred."
     

FIFTEEN
    Jason
     
    After a long, nearly sleepless night, I woke to a silent house. The only thing I could hear was dripping from the faucet in the bathroom; something that would need to be fixed at some point. Alice was at work by now, and Hannah might have gone to school, but where was Sam? He wasn't one to sleep in, and school didn't start today, so where was he? With a deep sigh, I got up to head upstairs and figure out where my brother was, automatically sending tendrils of power around the house to make sure no one was around.
    I looked around the kitchen and noticed a note from Alice on the table. It said she had dropped Sam off at Dan and June's before she went to work, and that I should call her once I got up. A smile crossed my face. Sam would enjoy a visit with his friends. He needed to be able to spend time with the other kids and not feel so alone. I checked the clock; it was nearly noon, so I decided to eat lunch before calling Alice. After putting a pizza in the oven, I went back downstairs to shower and change clothes. So far, there was the normal flow of lunch hour traffic outside, and a few other people out walking nearby, but nothing suspicious. When I went upstairs again I allowed myself to sit in the soft recliner in the living room and relax for a few minutes while the pizza finished.
    Unfortunately, as I've stated before, wanting to do something and actually doing it are two different things. I found myself thinking about last night, and could feel the tremors of fear at the thought that Kindred had been nearby last night before my blackout, and I hadn't even noticed. Dustin had suggested that Kindred might have something to do with what was going on, since he didn't believe that my blackouts were simply results of PTSD. Was it even possible? How could he have gotten close enough to do anything to cause the blackouts? His footsteps were light to the point of being nearly non-existent. Did he have some sort of cloaking ability? Could that be how he’d gotten close to me? I had a suspicion that he had an ability, and that it had something to do with how Mason had gotten away with so many horrible crimes, but how? I wasn't sure.
    What was Kindred's plan? Would he