Transcendent by Katelyn Detweiler Read Free Book Online

the content rosiness of her cheeks fading to stark white in just seconds.
    â€œMom?” Caleb asked, leaning in from behind me. “Are you okay? Do you know who Mina is?”
    She pressed her shaking hands against the desk and pushed herself up to stand. “Did he tell you his name?” she asked, her whispery voice trembling as she turned to face me straight on.
    I shook my head slowly, numbed by the shock of what I saw inside her cool blue eyes. Fear, anxiety, regret. Guilt. All of this from a random man asking about Mina Dietrich?
    The buzzer was still going off in the kitchen, my mom flinching with each frantic jab from the stoop below. She balled her fists at her sides as she pushed past me and Caleb and onto the landing. But then she turned back toward us, her fear replaced by a stony resoluteness that was at odds with her usually soft, contemplative face. “Please let me go handle this. I need the two of you to stay right here. Okay?”
    â€œBut, Mom,” I said, reaching out and protectively grabbing her elbow, “you don’t even know who it is. I don’t want you going outside all by yourself. Let me come, too. Please.”
    â€œNo, Iris,” she snapped, pulling away. Her eyes widened and she puckered her lips, glancing down the stepsand toward the front door. “I’m sorry, I’m just a little shook up. But I need to do this by myself.” She squeezed my shoulder and started down the stairs, giving us one last glance as she reached the foyer. “I love you two more than anything. And I’ll be fine.”
    She lingered in front of the first door before the vestibule, one palm resting on the ornate carved wood. I turned toward my little brother. “Caleb, go to your room.”
    He shook his head and frowned. “No, I’m staying out here with you. I’m not a little kid anymore, Iris. I want to help.”
    I wanted to remind him that he had only just turned ten, still technically “little” in my book, but I stopped myself. “I’m going to try to see what’s happening from Mom and Dad’s window, okay? I want you to stay here for now. I’m sure everything will be fine, though,” I added hastily, realizing how red rimmed and misty his eyes looked. “Mom wouldn’t have gone down like that if she didn’t think she could handle it. But still, I’m just going to quick check to make sure the talk is going okay.” I gave him a fast hug and headed toward my parents’ bedroom, with windows overlooking the street, and closed and locked the door behind me.
    Caleb could run up to my room, I realized, or downstairs to the living room, though that view was more obstructed by bushes—but if I knew him, he’d wait outsidemy parents’ door. He’d wait for me. I opened the window and leaned in close to the screen, which gave me a clear view of at least a small sliver of the stoop. A large, muscular-looking man in a faded leather jacket, dark jeans, and black work boots was pacing by the buzzer. I was certain that I’d never seen him before, and it was hard for me to fathom who in my mom’s life I wouldn’t already know. Could he be a fan? Most of my mom’s readers were middle-aged women, though, so it seemed unlikely, unless he was there on business for his wife.
    I heard the front door pull open, and the man halted, spinning around to face the entrance.
    â€œMina Dietrich,” he said, his deep, booming voice carrying so well to our second-story window that I might as well have been on the steps alongside him. “I can’t believe I’ve actually finally found you.”
    Who was this Mina? And why did he still think that he’d found her?
    My mom slammed the door and stepped out next to him, pulling her light cardigan tighter against the late September chill. “Kyle?” she asked, her pale face drawn in disbelief. I cupped my ear closer to the screen,