Betrayal (Vanish Book Two) Read Online Free Page A

I began.
    “What do you mean, stuck here? Most people
like us would kill to live here. Grace will come around, and you‘ll
have your two best friends here with you.”
    “Yeah, but she needs to talk about what she
went through that’s the only way she’ll feel better,” I
objected.
    “And when she’s ready, I’m sure she’ll come
to you,” he assured.
    “Yeah, I guess.”
    “We found her, Scarlett. Please just try to
be happy,” he begged.
    “You’re right,” I said, turning towards him
and putting my arms around his neck.
    He smiled and brought his lips almost to
mine. His face was flawless as the pink light given off by the lake
danced across his face.
    “Of course I am.”
    He moved a lock of hair out of my face before
kissing me. He ran his fingers down the back of my neck. For a
moment, I could feel what he was talking about before. I was
pushing him away because it felt wrong to go so fast from being
friends to this. I wasn’t quite sure what this was, but I
knew it was something that I couldn’t push away. I shook my head
and got up. He looked confused.
    “You want to go for a swim?” I asked as he
got up.
    “I don’t know. I wasn’t really planning on….”
Before he could finish his sentence, I pushed him into the
lake.
    When he surfaced, he had a huge smile on his
face. I returned the smile, and then did a huge cannonball right
next to him. When I came up, I had no time to gasp for air, I
couldn’t stop laughing. He swam up to me and went to dunk me under,
but I dunked him first; he didn’t put up much of a fight.
    “I’m going to get you,” he laughed when he
came up.
    “You have to catch me,” I yelled as I swam
away.
    He caught me, and I dunked him again. While
he was under, he grabbed my foot, and pulled me under with him. I
opened my eyes, and it was like nothing I’d ever seen before. I
used to swim in the lake by my house and look up at the sky from
under. That was beautiful, but this was amazing. You couldn’t tell
it was night under the water; it was lit up so bright, the pink
bubbles sparkled. I came up for air, and Dante grabbed me by the
waist.
    We both went under together, even though it
was awkward, we kissed under the water, both of us came up
laughing. We swam around for a while and decided to get out. I
imagined two towels lying on the beach; this power could really
come in handy. The air felt much colder than it did before we went
in the lake, I could feel my teeth chattering. He took his towel
and held it on his left side, then he wrapped it around his back
and then around me.
    I could get used to living here. It was
amazing, but I felt like I needed some time away. When I came back,
I would appreciate this how it should be appreciated.
    My eye lids got heavy; everything went
blurry, and soon I was sucked into another vision of the night
Grace disappeared.
     
    I was back in the woods, next to the bush I’d
hidden behind. My mother followed the men as they took Grace
away.
    “Why is she worth so much to you?” She asked,
curious.
    “Bait,” one man replied in a deep, unpleasant
voice.
    “Bait, for what?” She demanded. “Come on spit
it out.”
    “I think that’s her mom ,” the one man
said to the other.
    “Scarlett?” She said with fury. “Well that’s
going to raise the price quite a bit.” I peeked around the bush.
She had grabbed onto Grace refusing to let her leave until they
agreed.
    “How much are you thinking?” One man asked
with skepticism.
    “At the very least 500,000.”
    “We’ll see what we can do,” the man
agreed.
    “Wait,” the other man protested. “What if she
doesn’t come looking for her friend?”
    “Then if the price is right, I will deliver
her to you myself,” she snapped.
    “When will she be eighteen?” the man asked in
a low voice. He was intimidated.
    “I’ve been waiting for years, now it almost
feels like it was a waste. But hey, at least I’ll have money.”
    “Ahem,” one of the men cleared their