Reawakened (The Reawakened Series) by Colleen Houck Read Free Book Online

do is to head back to the museum. It’s a straight shot down, six blocks or so. Ask for Tony. He’s a friend of mine. Tell him you’re trying to get to Thebes and they’ll help you out. He can get you another hot dog and put it on my tab.”
    “I do not understand, Young Lily. You wish for me to leave you?”
    “Yes. I need to go home, take a bath, and sleep for a long time.”
    “Then I will go with you.”
    “No, you—”
    “Hey, you coming or not?” the impatient driver asked.
    “Hold your chariot!” I shouted back, adding bellowing at cabbies to my new repertoire.
    The driver shut up and satisfied himself after that with giving me annoyed looks.
    At Amon’s expectant expression, I lost it. There was already enough pressure on me without adding this guy to the mix. It was time to get off the insane train. Last stop. Everybody off.
    Rubbing my temples, I explained, “I’m really sorry, but I just can’t do this, whatever
this
is, anymore. My head hurts. I was almost robbed. I had to eat lunch with the Three Weird Sisters. I channeled so much static electricity that my mouth tastes like the outside of a burned marshmallow. And to top it all off, I’ve been escorting the Captain of Crazytown around New York. Do you see why I need to go home?”
    Amon brushed a fingertip against my cheek, like he had earlier, and, with a very subdued demeanor, he nodded. “Yes. I understand. You must rest tonight.”
    “Will you be okay?”
    “I will not come to any harm, Lily.”
    “Good.” The weight of responsibility for him was like a heavy blanket that suddenly slipped from my shoulders. Still, I bit my lip and called out as he turned away, “Wait!”
    Riffling through my wallet, I pulled out several twenties and pressed them into his hand. “If you get hungry or thirsty, give the hot dog man one of these.”
    “Hakenew,”
he said as he tightened his fist, crushing all the bills in the middle. At my look of confusion, he clarified, “My thanks.”
    “Ah. Well, goodbye. And, good luck.”
    “May luck be with you as well,” he replied.
    Climbing into the cab, I shut the door, telling the driver to head to Central Park. As he waited for the traffic to clear so he could pull out, Amon gripped the frame where the window was rolled down and leaned closer to talk to me.
    “Young Lily?” he asked.
    “Yes?”
    He gave me one of his special sunlit smiles. “You have the heart of a sphinx.”
    I was about to ask him what that meant, when the driver pulled away. Amon stared after me as the distance between us increased, and despite the certainty of my decision to leave him there, I remained uncomfortably twisted in my seat, watching until he was swallowed up in the jumble of people moving like ants through the dark jungle of Manhattan.

As the driver turned the corner, bringing Central Park back into view, I asked him to drop me off at the Hotel Helios, my home. When I was young we’d lived in the suburbs and my parents would take the train into Manhattan every day. But as soon as my mother got her big promotion and my father scored a huge moneymaking deal, they traded in our upscale, more-rooms-than-we-knew-what-to-do-with suburban home for an even more upscale, snooty penthouse that was easily ten times the price and had even more rooms that we never used.
    There were definite perks to living in Manhattan, and even more perks to living in a hotel—like maid service, room service at all hours, doormen, valets, access to the hotel pool, the steam room, and the gym. Still, it was hard for me to think of this residence as a home.
    The streets of New York were constantly filled with noise. A drilling, jackhammering, honking, police-whistling, bus-squeaking, and exhaust-hissing cacophony that never faded. Then there was also the fact that “homes” in NYC came with apartment numbers and shared walls with various eateries, or, in my case, floor levels and room service. And then add to that, that my parents