Glimmer Read Online Free Page B

threat we pose.
    "Jax, you stay here, for the night. Pull out the bench to sleep on, I don't care. But don't leave them alone," Reagan commands.
    "Got it."  Jax sits down on the bench across the room from us; hand on the holster hanging at his hip, encasing a silver gun.
    Reagan exits quickly through the door Jax used, and I listen through the dark to hear if a lock is turned to keep us in. There isn't. Not that I need a key to open things these days.
    With Reagan gone, darkness hangs in the small space. I'm terrified to speak with Jax in the room. The intensity shifts as I think about him, about being left alone in a dark room with a strange man. I trust no one.
    Timid's fingers search for mine, and wordlessly she climbs into my bunk. I pull her to the side against the wall, using my body as a barricade to protect her from anything that might happen in the night. I huddle close to her as though she is truly my sister. She is now, in most every sense of the word. I listen to the long breaths from the man a few feet from us.
    "Don't try anything, tonight," he says loudly, filling the room with his clear voice. "There's nowhere to go out there. If you try to run, our patrols will find you anyway. Reagan won't like the wasted effort for a few girls. He gets real mad when he's drunk, and that's where he's headed tonight."
    We don't answer. I have nothing to say, and already I feel Timid's heavy breathing against me. She must be exhausted and her body has chosen sleep. A wise choice. This day is nothing we prepared ourselves for. All we thought when the power left the Refuge was simply, run.
    But our plans went little further than that. I'm overwhelmed, realizing how foolish Lukas and I were, how naïvely we fixed a plan. How terrible the cost of this plan might be.
    I might never see him again.
    That isn't something I can bear. I've already lost so much. We all have.
    I must figure out a way to see Charlie and ask for help. I never expected to arrive at the Safe House to be treated like a criminal with a rifle in my back. Yet here we are, lying on cots in a jail-like room, guarded by a man carrying a gun.
    As much as my mind fights to figure out the next step, my eyes resist. I'm surprised at the muffled sobs I release. My shoulders heave as the tears are shed. I try to fall asleep, unsure of what my life will be when I wake.  Comfort is found in the dancing lights under my eyelids, but I want more. I want more light.
    When I woke up this morning, I would have never guessed this is where I would end the day.
    Yet here I am. An orphan. And so very far from home.
     
     
     
    Lukas
     
    I make my way down the large hallway towards the Haven where the morning service is about to start. The Council has assured me that the Vessels and Humblemen have all settled down after last night's unprecedented event. It seems I'm the only one still shaken by what took place when the light went out.
    Each time I think of Lucy, I'm anxious once more. My lips tremble at the thought of her and Timid lost, searching for a Safe House that doesn't exist, or worse, being captured by people only wanting to hurt her. I promised her my love, I should be protecting her. Doubt covers me as I once again question if letting her go was the right thing. Was me staying here a cowardice choice? I won't know the answer until this whole plan plays itself out. At the moment my greatest fear is that at that point it will be too late to turn back time.
    Walking into the Haven, the voices of singing Vessels greet me. It's a sound that brings comfort; the music has been the backdrop to so much of my life. Everyone is seated and when I reach the front of the sanctuary, I close my eyes, focusing on the light within me, wanting it to radiate from the inside out, towards the Haven.
    I wish I knew how it worked, this light-coming-out-of-me. Not understanding my only valuable asset makes me feel more like a false-prophet than I already know I am. I want answers, but I