Mindsiege Read Online Free Page B

grabbed onto a piece of metal on the open door of the car. With a giant burst of adrenaline, I sped up. I squeezed the metal and, in one motion, leapt from the gravel, lifting and swinging my legs onto the moving car. Thankfully, the rest of my body followed.
    Lexi.
    I’m sorry, Jack. Even my thoughts came out in panted breaths.
    Where are you? What do you mean you’re sorry? What did you do?
    I grabbed my backpack and hugged it to my chest as I crawled over and leaned against the wall of the car. I know who is inside my head. They want something from me that I will not give them. Not until I know why.
    Tell me where you are so we can talk. Please don’t run from me.
    I’m already gone.

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Five
     
    The train rattled and quivered as it crept along railroad tracks on the outskirts of the University. Though I was less than twenty minutes from Midland, Kentucky and Wellington Boarding School, I felt thousands of miles away from anyone who could help me.
    I wanted Jack with me, but I wouldn’t deter him from checking on Addison. I, too, wanted to know how she was and whether I had healed her. Maybe by returning to Wellington, he and Kyle would learn more about Cathy DeWeese’s and Roger Wellington’s intentions for the school. And for the cloned humans who lived there.
    A shiver moved down my spine at the thought of a group of crazy doctors having that kind of control over a group of humans with supernatural abilities. What exactly did they hope to gain from me and the other clones?
    If they hoped to use these abilities to their own advantage, why was someone hell-bent on killing Jack and me? Did someone think we knew too much? Because of Dad's journals? No one but Jack and me knew the journals still existed, even if only virtually.
    God, I missed Dad.
    The breeze blew wisps of hair off my face as I stared out onto the side streets of Lexington. The air smelled of dirt and gravel, and the rickety train stirred up dust.
    I decided I was far enough away from Jonas. I grabbed my bag and jumped from the train, landing with a jolt and tumbling to the ground. After gaining my footing, I made my way down a side street in the direction of campus and in search of Wi-Fi.
    Fifteen minutes later, I slid into a booth in the back corner of a coffee shop. The busy in-and-out-the-door activity of professors, students, and businessmen and women calmed me rather than added to my anxiety. Their comings and goings grounded me into a sort of normalcy. One could get lost in the “normal” of others’ lives.
    But could one also hide there in plain sight?
    A short, stocky waitress approached my table. She was dressed head to toe in black and adorned with two nose rings and an eyebrow ring. “How are ya?” she asked in a high-pitched southern accent.
    “I’m okay.” I guessed that was true. I was more okay at that moment than I had been.
    “What can I get ya?”
    “Chai tea latte and a yogurt with granola?” I said in more of a question than a statement.
    After writing down my order, the girl with the piercings stuck a pencil behind her ear, then eyed me curiously before spinning on her heels and skipping off.
    I pulled my phone out of my back pocket. Five missed calls from Jack. He would understand why I ran—as soon as I found the right opportunity to tell him. I rubbed the spot over my heart that throbbed anytime I considered how I might have to live without him. On the run, even. I could barely swallow past the ginormous lump in my throat. I wouldn’t go back to Wellington.
    I had to focus. I texted Marci McDaniel. “Marci, need your help. Can u come get me?” Dad trusted the reporter enough to leave the puzzle box with her—the box that had contained instructions for finding his journals. Surely I could trust her.
    After I hit send, I pulled out my laptop and connected to the Wi-Fi. I glanced around the coffee shop. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry to get their order, or was otherwise engrossed in