Uprising by Jessica Therrien Read Free Book Online Page A

fought fire with fire. But even as he pushed the flames away from us, the heat stung my face and the smoke burnt my lungs. I reached for my dart gun, ready to fight my way out of the raging flames. As I lifted it to my mouth, an unnatural feeling of heavy sadness weighed me down, and I lowered the weapon. I tried to ignore the oncoming waves of grief, but they had me.
    “Don’t let it get to you,” William said, reaching for my face. “The sadness. It’s just an ability. It’s not real.” But in my mind we’d already lost. I’d already lost William. Anna. Chloe. Everyone.
    I buried my face into William’s chest, but he failed to hold me the way he should. I could see in his eyes that he was giving up, too, sinking deeper into the hopelessness with me as the fire hissed and cracked around us. I wanted it to take me, to end the crippling ache of sorrow that had pulled me to my knees.
    We were already dead. Why fight it?
    My eyes lifted at the sight of someone new amongst the flickering flames. He wrapped Kara’s limp arm around his neck and shuffled toward us. I didn’t care who he was, why he was here to die with us. I was hypnotized by the flames and didn’t bother to watch him, but when I felt a hand on my shoulder the world disappeared.
    I was blinded by white, everything around me erased. Whatever had a hold of me knocked the air from my chest, and the pressure of the white space pushed in from all directions. Maybe this was finally it. Maybe this was death.
    ***
    I wasn’t the only one who woke confused. William gasped, and my eyes opened to darkness.
    “William?”
    “Are you all right?” His warm fingers grazed my arms and shoulders, searching me for injuries. “What happened?”
    “You got me,” Mac answered, sitting up. His heavy boots clanked against a metal floor.
    There was hardly any light, so I had trouble making out our surroundings. Once my eyes adjusted, leaving behind the blinding white, I realized we must be in the back of the van. In the blackness of the cab, with no windows and a cave-like feel, I assumed we were prisoners.
    “Where do you think they’ll take us?” I asked.
    “There’s nobody out there,” I heard Kara say, though I could barely see her sitting in the corner.
    “Dad?” William asked, realizing his father hadn’t spoken.
    “He’s not here,” Kara answered. “He chose to stay back and fight.”
    I heard William take a deep breath next to me.
    “He’ll be all right. He knows what he’s doing,” I comforted. He stayed silent at first. “If it wasn’t my dad, how’d we get here? What was that, the white?”
    “It was one of Christoph’s messengers. Apparently he helped us escape. I guess I’m not the only one rebelling against The Council,” Kara answered. She opened the rear hatch, letting sunlight spill into the cab.
    “All right, well, we need to keep moving,” Mac said, sliding out the door and closing it behind him.
    “Did you guys feel it too? The sadness?” I asked, remembering the ache in my chest. It still lingered.
    Neither one of them answered, so I took that as a yes. I heard the engine start as the three of us sat in silence, and when the van started forward my body bounced and shook with each bump on the uneven road.
    “I’m sorry, okay?” Kara said aloud. “There. Does that make you happy?”
    William sighed. “Come on, Kara.”
    “What are you sorry for?” I asked.
    “William thinks they followed me to the haven. That it was my fault they found us.”
    “Well, they showed up right after you,” he added.
    He was probably right. It was an unlikely coincidence. I closed my eyes, immediately regretting the thought. I wished she couldn’t hear what I was thinking.
    “Don’t worry. I’m used to it,” she said under her breath. If it was her fault they found us, I knew it wasn’t
    intentional. I’d been inside her head, felt her guilt at the loss of Anna and Chloe. She was with us now. I was sure of it.
    “Even if they did