Arise (Awakened Fate Book 4) Read Free

family tried to reach us.
    But so far every call had been the same.
    “What is that?” he asked tiredly. “Forty?”
    “Forty-three,” Ellie supplied in a small voice from her seat on the far side of Zeke.
    Noah shook his head.
    I turned my gaze to the window. Land so flat it could have been ironed surrounded us, though I knew mountains couldn’t be much farther ahead. We’d entered Colorado not too long ago, and though the eastern portion of the state was flat enough to seem like Kansas all over again, the western would make all this feel like a weird dream.
    Or at least, that’s what I remembered from when Zeke and I had driven through an area not too far from here.
    The thought made me shift uncomfortably, bringing as it did a hot blush of memory and a nauseated feeling of worry all at the same time. On the seat next to me, Zeke had barely moved over the past several hours. Bandages covered his legs from where Ellie’s grandfather had cut him, and bloodstains showed through the gauze. The tendrils of scales that had dangled around the injuries were finally gone, but his skin still glistened in places, as if he could barely keep it from changing. Strange burn marks marred his chest and sides, though both were now covered by the shirt Noah had lent him. I had no idea what Harman had done to him – Zeke hadn’t spoken of it during the entire trip – but even all these hours later, he seemed like he’d scarcely gotten better.
    I didn’t know what to do to help him. We couldn’t take him to a hospital – Zeke wasn’t human, he had no ID, and Ellie’s grandfather or my parents would have the police looking for us besides – and none of us knew of a place to go other than where we were already heading.
    But if Ellie’s mentor, Olivia, couldn’t help him. If he died…
    The nauseated feeling grew. Just because I’d almost died last night after what that horrible little man had done, that didn’t mean Zeke would.
    Stomach churning, I pushed the thoughts aside. They weren’t helping.
    “How much farther?” I asked.
    When no one responded, I glanced away from the window.
    “A while,” Ellie answered apologetically.
    My fingers tightened on Zeke’s.
    He squeezed my hand back.
    I let out a breath, trying to allow the small pressure to convince me that everything would be fine.
    The phone buzzed.
    I closed my eyes.
    Time passed and the mountains arrived, swallowing us in shadows even though it was only late afternoon. Cars raced around us, their drivers moving faster for the comfort of not having police looking for them, and the road curved back and forth past slopes that felt surrealistically high.
    And the hours crept on.
    Stars shone by the time Ellie finally murmured for Baylie to turn off the state highway. The road delivered us into a low-lying city lost between the mountains and bisected by a river cutting a path through its downtown. Tourist traps, all of them long since closed for the night, fronted the waterway, while near the town center, strings of lights glowed around a stage in a park, revealing the trash-and-plastic-cup aftermath of what might’ve been a concert.
    Following Ellie’s directions, Baylie steered the car past assorted businesses and the little stands advertising tickets to various events, and into the neighborhoods hiding behind them both. The hilly terrain quickly blocked the lights of the main city street, leaving us winding along dark, narrow roads dotted with houses tucked at odd angles beneath giant trees.
    “There,” Ellie said, leaning forward a bit to point at a white-walled bungalow nearly lost between two large pines. By the screen door guarding the enclosed porch, a lamp glowed buttery and warm in the darkness, and when we turned into the gravel drive, I could see that the lights at the back of the house were still on as well.
    I swallowed hard. I’d known Olivia would be waiting. Ellie had called earlier today to tell her we were coming, and about an hour ago to