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

let alone the day. I was so out of touch with everything, it was laughable.
    And now some woman I’d just met was going to take me to a secret society that hopefully could stop what I was from destroying the world.
    Really, laughable didn’t even come close.
    “Chloe?”
    “Huh?”
    I glanced over to find Baylie studying me.
    “You didn’t hear a word I just said, did you?”
    I ran the past few seconds through my mind and came up blank. I winced. “Sorry.”
    She sighed. “I asked if you were sure about this. And I’m going to guess that’s a no.”
    I shook my head. “Not really. But I don’t know what else to do.”
    “We could come up with something. I know we could. Something that’d keep your parents away and that Beast thing too. We don’t have to go–”
    “We can’t just run away, Baylie. I mean…”
    I looked down. The problem was the same as it had always been – where would I go? I couldn’t return to the ocean; the Sylphaen would find me, and that was if that Beast thing didn’t get there first. I couldn’t take off on land either. Olivia was right; I’d surely run into a cop sooner or later, and they’d only try to force me go home.
    And meanwhile, Baylie had a life. We’d joked about running away together when we were little, but that’s what kids did. It bore no connection to reality. She couldn’t simply go be homeless with me for however long it took this mess to end.
    “There aren’t really any options,” I said.
    Baylie grimaced. “Maybe not many , but that doesn’t mean–”
    The door opened and she cut off.
    “You guys alright?” Ellie asked.
    I nodded.
    With a glance to the house, Ellie stepped outside and then shut the door behind her. “Listen, I just wanted to say I think you’re doing the right thing. Olivia can help.”
    I didn’t answer. Biting her lip, Ellie hesitated and then sank down on the porch. Leaning back against the rails, she drew her legs up, hugging them close.
    “You okay?” I asked.
    She nodded.
    I waited, but nothing else came.
    “You didn’t tell her about Noah,” I said, a question in the statement somewhere.
    She shifted position. “Well, he…” Her gaze twitched back to the house and a weird look flashed over her face, almost like a tremulous smile, swiftly smothered when she dropped her gaze to her knees. “Secrets, right?” she finished with a tiny shrug. “It’s not mine.”
    Baylie’s eyebrows rose slightly. “Well, um… okay.”
    “Thanks,” I added.
    Ellie nodded again, not looking up at us.
    I glanced to Baylie. Her brow hadn’t come back down.
    And my own expression probably wasn’t too different. Ellie liked Noah.
    I wondered if he knew.
    “So,” Baylie tried. “Where are these people Olivia wants us to meet?”
    “She’s setting up a place,” Ellie said, giving no sign she’d noticed our surprise. “Probably her office. They’re scattered, though. It’ll take a few hours for them to get here.”
    “Office?”
    Ellie shrugged at Baylie’s question. “She’s an insurance broker. She’s got an office close to downtown.”
    I paused. I’d always associated insurance salespeople with being only slightly less scaly than snakes. After all, the one insurance guy in Reidsburg had always looked like he had some kind of profit-sharing deal with the used car salesman next door.
    Olivia didn’t seem like that at all.
    At least, I hoped.
    “What do you know about them?” I asked.
    Ellie hesitated. “Not a huge amount,” she allowed awkwardly. “Like I said, the elders are kind of scattered. They want it that way so, if anything happens like a fire or whatever, we don’t lose all the stuff from our history. The stuff that can’t be put on computers, anyway. But I mostly work with Olivia. I only started helping Grandpa this summer, and I’ve met just a few of the others. They don’t get together more than a couple times a year in person, and usually just talk online using code language and other stuff