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

hour.”
    “Mom, does this have anything to do with my dream last night?”
    “Jacey, this is something Dad and I’d planned nearly a month ago. We forgot to tell you about it.”
    “I love you, Mom.”
    “I love you, Jace.” The line went dead. I looked over to Hudson.
    “Time to move, Jace.” He ran upstairs calling out, “Don’t just stand there, Jacey, move! Start packing!”
    I stood in the middle of the kitchen, numb and frightened. Move! Where to this time? It was happening again. Whether I wanted it to or not, we were leaving…again.
    I went on autopilot, packing up, leaving behind what wasn’t deemed important, and fleeing yet again.
    Two hours later, the robe Aunt Grace had given me was stuffed into my suitcase, everything else was stacked by the door. Hudson and I stared at one another, silently waiting. Time seemed to be the enemy today, passing slowly for the second time. Hudson, normally the calming beacon in any room, was getting fidgety. I swear he pretty much wore a hole in the living-room rug. At two o’clock we both jumped when there was a knock on our front door.
     
    Chapter Three

    Revelations,
From the enchanted family
To Hansel and Gretel in a flash.
    H udson moved first and opened the door before the person on the other side could finish knocking. Standing on the front stoop were two policemen. One was taller than the other with dark, cropped hair. The shorter one had brown hair and was standing slightly behind his partner, not making eye contact with either Hudson or myself. The taller one spoke first.
    “I’m Constable Grant. Is this the Adison residence?” he asked.
    “What’s wrong?” Hudson asked.
    “Can—” The buzz in my mind drowned out whatever the officer said next. It seemed like someone turned on the radio and it was stuck between stations. My ears were filled with a loud, unchanging static. Hudson was all I saw. The look on his face mirrored the emotions which had overtaken my mind.
    Both officers entered the house. I automatically followed them into the living room. Neither of us even dared to breathe. We knew having two policemen show up was not in Mom and Dad’s plan. Something was horribly wrong.
    Constable Grant broke the silence. “There’s no easy way to say this. We’re here to notify you about your parents. Today, around twelve–thirty, they were involved in an accident on Old Foundry Road, just east of the city limits.”
    “Are — are they dead?” Hudson stuttered.
    “No. They’re both at Our Lady of Saints Hospital, but it doesn’t look good.”
    “Can we see them?” I asked, finding my voice.
    “Of course. Is there anyone you want us to contact to take you? If there isn’t, we’ll take you there,” Constable Grant offered.
    “There’s no one,” I said, surprised I had a voice at all.
    We followed the officers to their car. Hudson and I sat in the backseat, and for the first time since we were children, we held each other’s hands. No questions filled the silent interior of the car. The only sounds were the steady hum of tires on the pavement and the occasional squawking on the police radio.
    When we reached the hospital, Hudson and I followed the officers through the entrance reserved for police and hospital personnel. We stepped directly into the emergency ward. Nurses and doctors attended to patients in curtained rooms and even in the hallways.
    Constable Grant approached a nurse and had a quick conversation with her. We were out of earshot, so I couldn’t make out their exchange. When Grant started back towards us, the nurse he’d been speaking to gave Hudson and me a sorrow-filled look. My knees went weak. If Hudson hadn’t been holding my hand, I would have fallen on my face right there.
    Constable Grant told us our parents were on the second floor. He guided us to the elevators. No one said a word during the ride. We reached the second floor and the doors opened. I hadn’t yet caught my breath. The most inexplicable feelings