Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 88119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88119 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
“Hello?” I called, but the word echoed in the quiet. I poked my head into the living room.
The drawers were open and their contents littered the ground. My heart pounded in my chest. I hurried up the stairs and found the bedrooms in a similar state of disarray. The closets in the master bedroom and the rooms of Holly’s siblings were all empty. The furniture was still there, undisturbed.
“What happened here?” I whispered.
Devon poked a potted plant with the tip of his sneaker; it had fallen to the ground and scattered soil and dried leaves all over the beige rug. “Whoever was here, they were in a hurry.”
We went back downstairs. In the kitchen, a milk carton sat forgotten on the counter and gave off the rancid smell of spoiled milk. Through the window, I could make out a neighbor watering his tomato plants. I hurried out of the house and toward the man. He looked up when Devon and I approached, and pushed back the brim of the black hat that was protecting him from the sun.
“Where are…” I racked my brain for Holly’s last name. “Have you seen the Mitchells lately?”
The man’s eyes narrowed slightly. He put the watering can down and wiped his big hands on his blue overall. “I’ve never seen you around.”
“I’m a friend of their eldest daughter, Holly.”
“The boarding school girl,” the man said. Then he let out a sigh. “The Mitchells left a few days ago. We heard their car pull off in the middle of the night. Nobody knows anything about where they went. I know they were having financial troubles, but to run off like that.” He shook his head.
“That’s all you know?”
He nodded.
“Okay, thanks.” I took Devon’s hand and dragged him back to the car.
“What do you think happened here?” he asked as we got back into the car.
“Either Major brought them to a safe place—which I doubt, given the state of the house, or Abel’s Army kidnapped them to guarantee Holly’s cooperation. Or—” I racked my brain to come up with another solution. Either way, it didn’t quite make sense.
“We should leave,” Devon said, looking around the neighborhood nervously. “Now.”
I hit the gas and we barreled down the street. Panic clutched at my chest. What had happened to Holly’s family?
“We shouldn’t jump to conclusions. It makes sense that the FEA would bring them to a safe place, not just for their sake, but for the safety of the FEA too. They would have to protect them. Plus Holly will be less inclined to give away secrets if her family isn’t at risk,” Devon said in a calm voice.
I wanted to believe that. Devon reached over and plugged the address of the bar into the GPS. Suddenly an image materialized before my inner eye, almost like a vision. My fingers tightened their grip around the steering wheel as the road disappeared from my view. The image in my head was all I could see; a small boy with turquoise eyes stands on a wooden stool and bends over a crib, staring down at a tiny baby. He moves closer and kisses the baby’s cheek. The baby opens her eyes. They’re turquoise, just like his.
“Zach,” a man says. “Don’t wake your sister. She just fell asleep.”
“She’s awake,” Zach quipped.
The man comes into focus beside the boy and ruffles his hair. He too has turquoise eyes. He wraps an arm around the young boy and bends over the crib like the boy did. The man reaches out and pushes his finger into the baby’s tiny hand. She curls her hand around his finger.
“Tessa!” Devon’s voice burst through my vision.
I gasped and tried to blink away the images. The road came back into focus and the car swerved violently as Devon gripped the steering wheel to rip the car back to the right lane to stop us from colliding with oncoming traffic. A car rushed past us, honking repeatedly, and the driver gave us the finger.
“Tessa, what’s the matter?” Devon’s voice was panicked and he was still holding on to the steering wheel.
“I’ve got this,” I assured him, and he released his grip on the steering wheel.
The images of the baby girl were still in the back of my head, vivid as the road in front of me. They were memories, I knew that now. But how had they suddenly appeared in my head? I glanced into the rearview mirror and went cold. A black limousine was two car lengths behind us.
Another image burst into color behind my eyes. This time Zach was on the ground, cradling the baby against his small body, smiling up at someone.
I pressed my foot down on the gas pedal and passed the car in front of us with inches to spare.
“Tessa, what the hell is going on?”
“My memories, someone is manipulating them,” I yelled.