The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan Read Free Book Online Page A

I hear him back farther away. “Don’t touch me,” he growls.
    His words sting and a low rage begins to build inside me. “I was only trying to help,” I lash out at him, any relief at his recovery now gone.
    I grope in the darkness for my knife and when my fingers accidentally brush Catcher’s leg, he pulls away. “I said: Don’t. Touch. Me .” He grinds out the words, harsh and commanding.
    Every one of my scars feels like it’s on fire, a scalding blush burning my body. Angrily, I fold the remnants of the quilt and shove it back into my bag, yanking it closed.
    Without a word I stand, dizzy and disoriented, and feel my way forward along the wall until I find another set of stairs. My worthless eyes blur with tears at his sudden and unexpected censure but it doesn’t matter in this darkness. I fumble down the steps away from this stranger and his anger and heat. Away from the way he makes me feel.
    “Annah,” he says, a tinge of apology and wariness in his voice.
    I keep walking, my hip aching where I was kicked and my head throbbing from where I hit it during the fall. The pain becomes overwhelming and I stop and take a deep breath and then stagger away from the sound of Catcher.
    He shuffles around on the landing, muttering curses, and I hear him start after me. But I push deeper into the darkness. The stairs end and I stumble on solid ground, not knowing where to turn, where to go next. It’s disorienting having no idea where the walls are or where the platform ends—where the tracks are. I’m lost in a sea of black nothingness that crawls along my skin. Catcher trails after me, his footsteps never far behind.
    “You said Elias sent you. Where is he?” I hate asking but I have to know. I cross my arms, needing something to hold on to. The darkness makes me dizzy. My head throbs, pounding from where I hit it. I shake it, trying to stop the spinning, but it just makes my brain hit against my skull with an agonizing thud.
    Catcher comes near but doesn’t touch me. I hear his breathing, feel his heat. His earlier words echo in my mind, making me feel stupid and worthless, and I dig my fingers into my arms, fighting against the unwanted emotions.
    “He’s still with the Recruiters,” Catcher says. My heart jolts, a fluttering pain. My chin trembles.
    “He’s okay?” I can only whisper the words. If I say them out loud, I might scare the hope away.
    “He promised he was on his way to the Dark City,” Catcher answers, and I squeeze my eyes shut and press my palm to my mouth, trying not to let this stranger hear the way my body shakes with relief.
    I don’t say anything in response, wondering if I can trusthim. If Elias trusted him. The floor seems to tilt under me and I can’t tell if it’s because of the sparks in my vision or that the ground beneath us is uneven. My stomach starts to roil, my head throbbing harder.
    “I’m sorry, Annah,” he finally says, his voice softer. He moves closer to me but keeps some distance. Still, his warmth makes me shiver. My body starts to tip and I throw out an arm to stay steady and balanced.
    “It’s just …” He hesitates. I hear what sounds like him running his hands through his hair. I try to remember what he looks like from the brief glimpses on the roof. The gleam of the moon on his neck when he threw his head back to laugh. He’s taller than I am, I know that. I can picture his broad shoulders, long fingers that he cupped around the Unconsecrated women’s arms.
    Nausea inside me grows too full, the blackness spinning around me faster and faster. My stomach heaves and I swallow, press my palm harder against my mouth, trying to keep from throwing up. The dark is too heavy. I feel as though I’m drowning.
    I can smell his blood on my hand, feel it drying and cracking on my skin. It’s like a metallic sheen on the back of my tongue. I double over, retching.
    “Annah,” Catcher shouts, lunging toward me. He wraps his arm over my shoulder and I fall