Awakenings (Elemental Series - Book 1) Read Free Page A

I was up and out of my seat. “See ya at lunch.”
    I knew Hudson had a spare second period and he’d be in the cafeteria. I scanned the room quickly. He wasn’t there, but Carrie was. I went over to her.
    “Have you seen Hudson?” I asked, hoping the panic in my voice wasn’t evident.
    “No, is everything okay? You look kind of pale.”
    “Yeah, everything’s fine. I just need to talk to him,” I replied, taking three deep breaths to calm myself. The tension of not telling my family everything this morning was having a sickening effect on me.
    “There he is.” She nodded toward the main doors as Hudson came into view.
    He made his way over to the table and looked at me. “What’s up?” He knew it was odd for me to come and see him during spare. I had a second period class, which he knew I was skipping right now.
    “Hudson, I need to talk to you.” I waited. He didn’t say anything. “In private.”
    “Okay, Jace, where to?”
    I grabbed him by the shirt sleeve and led him to the back doors of the cafeteria. Outside, I turned to him. The confusion on his face was more than I could handle, making me wish I’d listened to my inner voice earlier.
    “Remember this morning when I told you about my dream?”
    “Yeah…”
    I paused and felt stupid for making a big deal about leaving out the blackness part.
    “Jacey, you’re freaking me out. What else did you see?”
    “I was honest about the field and Mom and Dad being all over one another.” My head was swirling and I felt like I was going to puke. “But what I kinda left out was a wall of…blackness. It completely blurred out Mom and Dad until I couldn’t see them anymore. They started screaming for one another and I tried to follow, but I couldn’t keep up and lost them.”
    “Was there anything else?” he demanded.
    There was. But I didn’t want to tell him about the blue eyes I’d seen. There were no ominous feelings when they appeared and I’d been dreaming about them for some time now. “No,” I snapped back.
    Hudson stood motionless. His silence made me feel uneasy.
    “Hudson, what’s wrong?”
    “We need to go home. I forgot my third-period trig books.”
    “Give me a minute. I’ve got to go tell Jen I can’t meet her for lunch.”
    “Jen can wait.” He left no room for argument.
    The walk home was quick and silent. When we got to our driveway, neither of our parents’ cars were there.
    In the house, Hudson called, “Mom, Dad, you guys here? Mom…? Dad…?”
    “Hudson, they’re at work. Didn’t you notice their cars weren’t here?”
    “Yeah, but Mom said she and Dad had planned on being home ’til twelve today. I have to get my books. Back in a sec.” He went to his bedroom and was back in a minute.
    “You couldn’t find them?” I asked
    “I think they’re downstairs.” He left and came back, empty-handed again.
    We went into the kitchen and he grabbed the phone. “I’ll try them at work and on their cells.” He called both of their work numbers. Neither one had been in today. He tried Mom’s cell phone. “Mom—hey, it’s me. Did you happen to see my trig books anywhere?”
    I couldn’t believe the relief I felt when Hudson got a hold of her. He took the phone and started to move away from the kitchen. I wasn’t sure if he was doing it because he was pacing or if he was trying to get out of earshot, but before he got out of the room, I overheard him say, “Blackness…”
    Blackness? Blackness! Why did Hudson choose that word to emphasize?
    “Is Dad with you?” Hudson asked, returning to the kitchen.
    “Okay, we’ll get everything ready and wait for the two of you here.” He handed me the phone.
    “Hi, Mom.”
    “Jacey, we’re going on a road trip. Dad and I were going to surprise you guys this morning with it, but we were running late. As luck would have it, you’re home, and Dad just called the school and told them you won’t be returning. We’ll pick you up at home in about an