Arise (Awakened Fate Book 4) by Skye Malone Read Free Book Online Page A

her,” she twitched her head toward me, “you offered to let the greliarans kill them after you got done experimenting. We’re not taking her anywhere – or Zeke either – just so you guys can treat them like lab rats and give them up to the greliarans when you’re done.”
    Olivia stared at her. “I don’t know what you heard, but we have no such deal. Greliarans are animals. They’re barely capable of being in the human world – at best, they’re barely even sane .”
    Baylie’s face darkened.
    At her anger, Olivia paused, a quizzical look in her eyes. “Now, I will admit,” the woman allowed, “that all those things aside, we have worked in favor of the greliarans in the past. We decided long ago that it was best to keep them contained on the coast. They don’t seem to react to us the way they do with dehaians, but that doesn’t mean we’re interested in having them around. Desperation could still drive them to try killing us. And they seem to prefer the area anyway. As such, we’ve used our influence to get zoning decisions in their favor, keeping them isolated and preventing humans from coming near their homes, and we’ve agreed to clean up minor crimes when their tendencies get the better of them. We’ve even helped those that do end up in prison by making certain they are isolated so their secret does not come out, all in exchange for their agreement to stay in coastal areas and away from us. That arrangement could be seen as regrettable and on some level, I would rather we had never created it, but,” she shook her head, “that’s still a far cry from what you’re talking about.”
    “You’re lying,” Baylie countered.
    “I assure you, I’m not.” Olivia’s hands moved in a short shrug, as though questioning why we were talking about this. “Dehaians almost never make it far enough inland to be in a place where landwalkers could meet them, and even if they do, they’re seldom in the best shape by the time that happens. It’s why children like Chloe are so rare to begin with. Only incredibly resilient people of either lineage can reach a location where they can be in contact for very long without one or the other of them subsequently needing to be hospitalized. And that’s the best case scenario. For someone to think they could make a deal with greliarans to bring dehaians anywhere , let alone here…”
    She trailed off, shaking her head again as though it was too absurd to be believed.
    “Zeke heard them,” I said. “Ask him.”
    Olivia watched me, still seeming incredulous. I waited.
    “I will,” she agreed after a moment. She glanced to Ellie. “But even if Harman was so misguided as to think that was possible, it doesn’t mean the rest of us have a similar arrangement. We don’t.”
    “Maybe just some of you don’t,” I said quietly.
    Olivia paused. “You can trust us. The elders I know, the ones to whom I want to take you… they would never agree to what you’re describing. I swear.”
    I glanced to Baylie. It was still a risk.
    But I didn’t know what else we could do. Olivia was still right, about Harman and my parents if nothing else. They wouldn’t stop trying to get me back. There was no chance they wouldn’t want to put me through those treatments again.
    And meanwhile, Zeke’s family was still out there with that Beast thing on its way.
    “Alright,” I agreed. “We’ll go meet them.”
    Olivia nodded and then rose, heading for the phone.
    I closed my eyes, hoping desperately that I wasn’t making a mistake.
     
    ~~~~~
     
    With the dishes delivered to the sink, Baylie and I headed back down the hall. On the couch in the study, Zeke appeared to be asleep and, rather than risk waking Noah if he was the same upstairs, we returned to the porch and sat down on the swing.
    I scanned the neighborhood, noting that most of the homes still had cars in the driveways. But then, maybe it was the weekend. I couldn’t know. I barely remembered the month anymore,