Blood Price (The Blankenships Book 5) by Evelyn Glass Read Free Book Online

of the paparazzi one of the reasons she was concerned about this budding relationship? “So where are we headed?”
     
    “We’ll take the train to Paddington station, then walk just a bit, then take the Tube the rest of the way to Regent’s Park. It’s—different than my place. But I think you’ll like it well enough.”
     
    It had been a very long time since she’d been somewhere new. They’d packed light: it seemed like Sophia had approved of practically none of Zoey’s own clothes, so she had one messenger bag holding her electronics, a make-up and toiletries case, and at the very bottom, two pair of underwear and socks, neatly folded, which made a strange kind of sense that made her giggle. Alex had a small suitcase on wheels that he towed behind him, and his own messenger bag slung over his chest. The Tube station was well underground, and there was an odd echo to the old station that made her feel shivery and strange. An excellent setting for a horror movie, she thought to herself, and far too similar to V is for Vendetta . If someone in a Guy Fawkes mask came out of the corners, she was pretty sure she would scream. It was entirely too similar to the time she took a trip to DC after playing Fallout 3 when she was younger. She kept looking for Super Mutants.
     
    Was this what jet lag did to your brain? she thought. She was entirely too tired and disoriented, especially after her nap on the plane.
     
    The train pulled into the station, a modern silver affair not unlike the trains at home. The proper accent telling her to Mind The Gap made her giggle; she’d always figured that was just something that they did in movies, not in real life.
     
    They settled into seats; at this end, the train was about half full, and it stopped every few moments. She tried not to smash her nose against the window like a tourist, but it was inevitable. They were traveling through some of the less picturesque parts of London, but it was still fascinating to her. There was something so different about the city than anything she’d ever experienced, but she couldn’t lay her finger on what exactly it was. A sense of age, a sense of—patience, of more than she’d ever experienced, either in New York, or back home in any of the cities in the South.
     
    By the time they switched trains, it was verging on full dark, and her stomach was growling. As they stepped onto the second train, Alex gave her a long look. “How do you feel about Indian food?”
     
    Zoey grinned. “Great, as long as you get it from the place Claire told me about, and not one of the fancy restaurants she said you’d try to use to impress me.”
     
    She had a sense that if his complexion were lighter, he’d be blushing. “That sister of mine,” he said, his tone cheerful. “Fine, my secret is out. The best food is rarely the most expensive, no matter what the fancy chefs want you to think. Do you prefer meat or vegetarian Indian?”
     
    “Sag paneer’s my favorite,” she said. “After that, whatever you’d like.”
     
    “Excellent,” he said. He pulled out his phone and tapped away at a message for a bit, then smiled at her as the train jerked into motion again.
     
    “What was that? Do you order from them by text message?”
     
    His expression was genuinely confused. “No. I let the London housekeeper know we were almost there, and if he could send someone out to pick up my usual order, plus sag paneer, that would be our dinner.”
     
    It was another one of those disjointed moments she just couldn’t wrap her head around. “You even have someone to order take-out for you.”
     
    “Take away.”
     
    “What?”
     
    “When in London, you call it take-away.”
     
    “That’s…a very random cultural difference for you to point out.”
     
    He shrugged. “I studied at the London School of Economics for a semester abroad. It was the randomest thing, but when I came home, I couldn’t remember to say take out for months. Leo gave me