Read Online Return (Awakened Fate Book 3) by Skye Malone - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Skye Malone
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elsewhere,” he suggested, his eyes on me.
Linda nodded. She stepped forward even as her husband did the same, like they were closing ranks around their daughter with the full intent of forcing us apart.
Chloe stiffened. “Zeke’s coming too.”
They stopped. I saw the arguments forming.
Chloe moved closer to my side, almost putting me between herself and them. Without looking away from them, I reached down, taking her hand.
I could feel her shaking.
Her dad blinked and his gaze ran over me afresh, with a heavy dose of protectiveness and threat in there this time.
Linda just twitched as though restraining herself from snagging Chloe’s arm and yanking her away from me. Breathing hard, she seemed to flounder for a moment, and then she made an aborted motion to the sedan.
Sticking to my side, Chloe headed for the car. At the rear passenger door, she climbed in and then scooted to the other seat, leaving me to follow.
I got in and shut the door, feeling her parents’ eyes on us the whole time.
“You okay?” I asked her.
She gave a tight nod, watching them walk toward the car.
They sank into their seats and didn’t say a word while they closed the doors and then put on their seat belts. Her dad turned on the engine and gave the road a brief glance before pulling back onto the empty highway. In short order, he’d spun the car around, sending us eastward once more.
And no one spoke. The tension in the air was so thick, even breathing felt like it would trigger some kind of explosion. On the edge of the passenger seat, Chloe’s mom perched and cast strange, truncated looks back to me for no reason I could determine. Behind the wheel, her dad seemed focused on the road, though I occasionally caught him glancing to his daughter in the rearview mirror.
And Chloe never quite looked at them. She never quite looked at anything. Her gaze darted across the middle distance like a fighter expecting an attack and trying to watch every direction at once.
Corwin fell behind us. Fields swept by and so did time. A sign flashed past, notifying us we were entering Kansas, though otherwise, nothing in the landscape changed.
I wondered if anyone planned on making a sound for the entire trip back to their home.
The sun crept toward the horizon and gradually painted the sky with brilliant colors of pink, purple and gold. Shadows stretched from the tall crops lining the highway, growing darker while the twilight deepened.
In the distance, a town came into view, like another island of trees in the midst of a flatland sea. Bigger than Corwin, but still small by far compared to Santa Lucina, it seemed mostly made up of houses, with scarcely a building taller than two stories to be seen.
I glanced to Chloe, curious if we were finally there.
Her expression answered me. It was definitely Reidsburg. She was watching the town roll toward us with a look somewhere between desperation and that of a convict staring at their prison cell.
Minutes crawled by. As the sun sank over the horizon completely, drowning us in shadows, the sedan passed the first buildings at the edge of the town. More roads followed, each of them seeming identical to me. Houses upon houses, with the odd smattering of businesses and bars, restaurants and rundown motels between them. A monolithic high school interrupted the endless neighborhoods at one point, its old brick construction towering over the homes facing it from the other side of the street, and every few blocks seemed to reveal another church.
At a road like any other, Chloe’s dad turned the sedan. He continued on for a few moments, and then he thumbed a button on a small box clipped to a visor above his head.
On a two-story, pale brown house with white shutters and a covered porch, the garage door began to roll upward. A yellowed light bulb came on when the door finished opening, illuminating the random assortment of tools, cleaning supplies and metal shelves inside. Flicking the turn signal
Linda nodded. She stepped forward even as her husband did the same, like they were closing ranks around their daughter with the full intent of forcing us apart.
Chloe stiffened. “Zeke’s coming too.”
They stopped. I saw the arguments forming.
Chloe moved closer to my side, almost putting me between herself and them. Without looking away from them, I reached down, taking her hand.
I could feel her shaking.
Her dad blinked and his gaze ran over me afresh, with a heavy dose of protectiveness and threat in there this time.
Linda just twitched as though restraining herself from snagging Chloe’s arm and yanking her away from me. Breathing hard, she seemed to flounder for a moment, and then she made an aborted motion to the sedan.
Sticking to my side, Chloe headed for the car. At the rear passenger door, she climbed in and then scooted to the other seat, leaving me to follow.
I got in and shut the door, feeling her parents’ eyes on us the whole time.
“You okay?” I asked her.
She gave a tight nod, watching them walk toward the car.
They sank into their seats and didn’t say a word while they closed the doors and then put on their seat belts. Her dad turned on the engine and gave the road a brief glance before pulling back onto the empty highway. In short order, he’d spun the car around, sending us eastward once more.
And no one spoke. The tension in the air was so thick, even breathing felt like it would trigger some kind of explosion. On the edge of the passenger seat, Chloe’s mom perched and cast strange, truncated looks back to me for no reason I could determine. Behind the wheel, her dad seemed focused on the road, though I occasionally caught him glancing to his daughter in the rearview mirror.
And Chloe never quite looked at them. She never quite looked at anything. Her gaze darted across the middle distance like a fighter expecting an attack and trying to watch every direction at once.
Corwin fell behind us. Fields swept by and so did time. A sign flashed past, notifying us we were entering Kansas, though otherwise, nothing in the landscape changed.
I wondered if anyone planned on making a sound for the entire trip back to their home.
The sun crept toward the horizon and gradually painted the sky with brilliant colors of pink, purple and gold. Shadows stretched from the tall crops lining the highway, growing darker while the twilight deepened.
In the distance, a town came into view, like another island of trees in the midst of a flatland sea. Bigger than Corwin, but still small by far compared to Santa Lucina, it seemed mostly made up of houses, with scarcely a building taller than two stories to be seen.
I glanced to Chloe, curious if we were finally there.
Her expression answered me. It was definitely Reidsburg. She was watching the town roll toward us with a look somewhere between desperation and that of a convict staring at their prison cell.
Minutes crawled by. As the sun sank over the horizon completely, drowning us in shadows, the sedan passed the first buildings at the edge of the town. More roads followed, each of them seeming identical to me. Houses upon houses, with the odd smattering of businesses and bars, restaurants and rundown motels between them. A monolithic high school interrupted the endless neighborhoods at one point, its old brick construction towering over the homes facing it from the other side of the street, and every few blocks seemed to reveal another church.
At a road like any other, Chloe’s dad turned the sedan. He continued on for a few moments, and then he thumbed a button on a small box clipped to a visor above his head.
On a two-story, pale brown house with white shutters and a covered porch, the garage door began to roll upward. A yellowed light bulb came on when the door finished opening, illuminating the random assortment of tools, cleaning supplies and metal shelves inside. Flicking the turn signal
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