Shattered Read Free Page B

want to deal with it.”
    What I really meant was: I can’t sit
through a poorly attended funeral.
      “Of course, dear. I’ll handle it.” The
elevator opened to another silver hallway. At the end of it, Sophia pressed her
hand against a sensor on the wall.
    “Door opened. Sophia Ewing,” a robotic
voice said.
    We stepped into a lobby with several
different flags from around the world on the walls. Out of a window, I saw New
York City. The people below us looked like ants. Ants and yellow boxes that had
to be taxis.
    I followed the scent of sweet spice to an
office at the end of the hall. I turned to Sophia when the scent led me to
believe Christine had walked through a wall.
    “Just a second, dear,” she said. She
punched a code into the keypad, and the wall opened like another elevator.
    Christine’s scent was strongest here. It gusted
into my nose and wrapped me in a peace only she could bring. I started jogging
when I heard footsteps coming closer. She must’ve heard me. Her feet sped too.
    Behind me, Sophia sighed. “I told her to
stay in the lounge,” she said. “Agents have access to this hall.”
    I ran then. I needed to see her after all
of that, and I wanted to get her out of the hall she wasn’t supposed to be in.
I turned a corner and saw her. In my fragile state, it was like I had never seen
her before. Her beauty stunned me, and in the next moment, I remembered she was
mine, and was stunned again.
    She ran and jumped into my arms. “I’m
okay,” I said, managing to suck the teary sound out of my voice. “It’s done.
Devin’s done. It’s over.”
    Saying that out loud broke me, and the
tears flowed out too fast to stop. It was over. The culprits were being punished, but my past was in a morgue, my past
was dead. I couldn’t stop crying. I told myself to pull it together, but
nothing worked. Chris held me tight like she was afraid I’d fall to shreds
without her arms. I probably would have.
    I composed myself enough to follow Sophia
into a gym with Chris in my arms. From there, like she was hiding her magic
from possible witnesses or cameras in the hall, she took us to our kitchen in
California.
    Chris still didn’t let go. After a while,
Sophia’s heartbeat disappeared, and Chris and I just stood in the middle of the
kitchen, crying and hugging.
    I loved that she didn’t address the
elephant in the room– that I was crying over
people I supposedly didn’t care about. She just let it happen, let me cry, and
let me not tell her why.

Chapter Two – Christine
    I was at the pool again, standing on the
ledge, about to jump in. Mom was there. She was always there. And Kamon. The
red water churned and begged me to jump, and I … woke up.
    “Sweetie,” Nate said. His eyes were glued
shut as he turned off the alarm on his phone. “Are you up?”
    “Yeah. I had the nightmare again.”
    “Are you okay?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Good. Get out.” We laughed, and he
pulled his comforter over his head.
    “She has to know we wouldn’t sleep apart
after last night,” I said, and met him under there.
    He groaned and got out of bed. Just as I
burrowed deeper into the warm sheets, he snatched them off of me and swept me
up in his arms. “Nate, stop,” I said. “I’m tired.”
    He didn’t respond. He carried me to the
house and balanced me on one arm as he opened the door. With his eyes still
half closed, he kissed my cheek and placed me inside. My skin tingled as I
passed through Sophia’s protective magic.
    “See you later,” he grumbled.
    “Nate,” I whined.
    “ You have nightmares about portals. I have
nightmares about Sophia killing me. See you later.”
    He closed the door behind him, and I
flipped on the lights in the kitchen. The sun was barely out and I wanted to
get back in bed, but Nate was right. Sophia would be here any minute, and it
was in my best interest to be away from Nathan and in the kitchen preparing to
take my meds.
    After the portal, I’d asked my mother to
remove