Read Online The Awakening by K. E. Ganshert - Free Book Online Page A

inconvenience.
    My stomach knots into a small, tight fist as I dig through my backpack in search of an ID that is right there. The feigned flightiness is all part of the plan. Luka thinks that looking unprepared will make us appear less suspicious. I pull it out after a couple seconds and hand it over with a breathless apology. I make brief eye contact with the lady, then quickly retreat to my phone, letting my short hair fall in front of my face.
    Seconds upon seconds tick by.
    I imagine her looking from the IDs—to us—the IDs—to us. The fist in my stomach clenches tighter. What if she’s an avid news watcher? What if she’s been on the lookout for Teresa Ekhart—a deranged and dangerous fugitive. What if, after all this work, we’re caught before we even escape? I’m positive she’s on to us. I’m sure she’s pushing some sort of emergency protocol button beneath the counter and at any second we’ll be surrounded by police wielding guns and shouting for us to put our hands up. And all I can do is stand there, typing fake texts into a cheap phone.
    Finally, the woman speaks. “Cash or credit?”
    Luka slips some bills from his wallet and slides them over the counter.
    She hands him the tickets, the change, and our IDs.
    Luka thanks her, then takes my hand and leads me toward the bus we will be boarding, casually swinging my arm back and forth. As if we don’t have a care in the world.
    *
    The further we get from Eureka and Thornsdale, the more the fist in my stomach loosens. We do a fair amount of paranoid scanning, checking to see if any passengers are on to us. All of them are either sleeping or fiddling around on their iPads. I find myself relaxing into the seat. After such an onslaught of adrenaline, my eyes grow heavy. I rest my head against the cool window, ready to let sleep take me. But Luka gives me a gentle nudge.
    A small, white pill sits in the center of his palm.
    It looks all too familiar. “What’s that?”
    “I want you to take it.”
    I pull away from it as if it has venomous fangs. How could Luka ask this of me? How does he even have one? We flushed the entire bottle down the toilet, together, before we made our plans to break into Shady Wood. I look up into his face and notice the stress around his eyes. The deep knit of his brow.
    “Dr. Roth has a theory,” he says.
    “About the medicine?”
    “He thinks the pills mask your gifting.”
    Is this why Dr. Roth warned me against taking them back in November?
    “He thought that was why you never had any dreams when you were on them. And why those white-eyed men never bothered you.” Luka runs his hand over his short hair. “The meds close whatever window there is between the physical and the supernatural. They can’t get to you and you can’t get to them.”
    “Which is why Pete got into that car accident. It’s why we decided I can’t take them anymore.” I don’t understand. I thought we were on the same page.
    “I don’t want you to take them either. Not permanently. Not even long-term. But it’s the only way I know how to protect you.”
    “Protect me from what?” I look around. “There’s nothing here.”
    “I have this feeling I can’t shake. And tonight, when I took that nap …”
    “What?”
    He shakes his head, frustrated. Or maybe it’s not frustration—maybe it’s fear.
    It makes me afraid too. “Luka, you have to tell me what you saw.”
    “The man we fought in your brother’s hospital room is after you. He wants you locked up like your grandmother. And Tess, I don’t know how to protect you. I can’t figure out how to throw out that force field. I’ve tried and tried, but it’s not working. Dr. Roth thought the pills would work as a type of camouflage. Before we broke you out of the Edward Brooks Facility, he gave me some in case we were in a bind, or needed help.”
    I look down at the pill in his hand.
    “I think it will camouflage you. Just until we find these other people in Detroit.”
    I