Echo Into Darkness: Book 2 in The Echo Saga (Teen Paranormal Romance) Read Online Free Page A

Echo Into Darkness: Book 2 in The Echo Saga (Teen Paranormal Romance)
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future? Did this mean the travel portal was no longer permanently shut down?
    Jaxon looked down from his six-foot frame. "Well, well. If it isn't the famous Butterfly."

Chapter 4
    Ratty brown hair hung in Jaxon's eyes. His cheeks were sunken and his jawline more defined than I remembered, like he'd missed a lot of meals recently. His oversized sweatshirt and jeans smelled like a burning heap of trash. And still, I threw my arms around him in a hug.
    "This is an unexpected pleasure," he said and wrapped a hesitant arm around me.
    I looked across the empty field for a second figure, one a couple inches taller, one that I ached to see.
    "Is Connor with you?" I asked, unable to keep the longing out of my voice.
    "Yeah, right. Like that's going to happen."
    My arms sagged to my side.
    "Oh, that's a nice reaction," he said off the pitiful expression on my face. He brushed mud off his jeans while dark patches of rain soaked his shoulders. Traveling through the portal was dangerous and unpredictable. My first trip had nearly killed me. Even though Jaxon and I had never shared niceties, I was relieved he'd come through unscathed. He was one of the lab workers who helped Connor travel to my time. That is, until Connor's dad cut us off.
    Across the field, teachers were turning off their car alarms and heading toward us, probably wondering about the explosion.
    "We need to go," I said. "Get in my car. It's this thing, here." I motioned to my BMW because West Region didn't use this kind of vehicle. Jaxon was in a foreign land now.
    "Does Connor have a message for me? Is that why you're here?" I asked after we'd driven a couple of blocks. It had taken that long for me to get over the shock of seeing him.
    He rolled his eyes sideways. "Everywhere I go, that's all I hear. Connor this and Connor that," he said under his breath. "What would we have ever done without Connor?"
    "What do you mean 'would have done'? Did something happen to him?"
    "Unfortunately, no. His Highness is back in West Region, in his comfy castle with all his servants, waiting to take over the region."
    I cut my eyes at Jaxon. Calling Connor "His Highness" was just a way to mock him. He wasn't royalty, and he didn't care about politics or taking over his father's role when he stepped down.
    "How did you get here? I thought the portal was shut down for good," I asked.
    "Short answer, because I'm smarter than the rest of them." He shivered and crammed his hands deeper into his soaking wet pockets. "If you want the long answer I'll give it to you, but can we go somewhere warm? It's been a rough trip."
    *******
    Jaxon and I sat in my car outside Tastee Burger with the heat turned on full blast. We'd gone to the counter to order, but one whiff of Jaxon's scorched, stinky clothes and the manager shooed us back into the wintery night. I kept my window open so I didn’t pass out from the smell.
    My time jumping passenger inhaled his third hamburger. "You don't find food like this in West Region. One of the downsides of a great civilization ." Sarcasm dripped from his lips. So did a dribble of grease.
    "You've got…" I motioned at my own chin. He wiped the grease with a napkin, giving me a clear view of swollen, purple knuckles.
    "Have you been in a fight?" I asked.
    He chewed methodically, offering a sideways nod that indicated yes, but he wasn't about to divulge any details. He obviously wasn't here on a pleasure trip, and I began to think his jumping to Portland had been hasty. Before getting into that, though, I had one not-so-minor request.
    "If Connor's not coming here, you have to take me to West Region. He and I will figure something out once I get there." The walk to his house was permanently etched in my mind. Finding him would be no problem.
    "Oh, yeah, that ain't gonna happen." Jaxon crumpled the burger wrapper and shoved it in the bag. He kicked back in his seat and quietly belched.
    I'd spent the rest of my allowance on enough burgers and fries for three people,
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