Out Of The Ashes (The Ending Series, #3) Read Online Free Page A

camp, toward
Becca.
    Dani was watching me, idly patting
Jack, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. She gave me a reassuring nod—the nod
that I’d grown used to over the past twelve hours—before I followed quickly
after Jake.
    Feeling inadequate in our silence,
I occupied my mind with observations of the rest of the campers, busy in their
various stages of getting situated.
    Chris, just finished setting up a
tent for Camille and Mase, was pulling her blonde hair up into a ponytail,
while Mase, huge, dark, and imposing, stood in front of the tent with Camille
in his arms, her head resting on his shoulder. They’d been inseparable since
she’d awoken right before we stopped for the day, and despite being unconscious
since before they’d found me, she still looked exhausted. Mase stared at the
nylon dome like it was from another dimension. He seemed constantly confused—even
more than me, which I thought a little strange—but after a brief moment of
hesitation, he ducked inside the tent with Camille.
    Gabe, the tall, blond man who
seemed to keep to himself, was setting up another tent beside theirs.
    “What’s his Ability?” I asked
Jake. When he peered back at me, I pointed to Gabe.
    Jake’s jaw clenched, and I
immediately regretted asking him. “He can manipulate people’s dreams,” he said.
I didn’t need to know the history between them to know it wasn’t a good one.
    “Oh.”
    Sanchez, who seemed to be leading
the group with Jason, was stacking wood next to the campfire, while Sam and
easygoing Tavis hauled over bunches of kindling. I enjoyed watching Sam and
Tavis interact; they acted more like brothers than father and son—though I’d
been told they were neither—and they laughed more than the others, which I
found comforting.
    But as much as everyone seemed to coexist easily enough, a cloud of tension hung over the group. I wasn’t sure
I wanted to learn the cause yet. Trying to remember everyone’s names, their
Abilities, and my relationship with each of them was chore enough.
    Jake stopped short in front of me,
and I ran into his back.
    “Sorry,” I said, unable to stop a
nervous laugh from bubbling out of me. “I got distracted.” I dropped the load
in my arms on the ground near Becca.
    Jake set my saddlebags down as
well. “I’ll be right back,” he said and headed back toward the horses.
    I watched him for a moment—watched
the way he rubbed the back of his neck and the way his shoulders relaxed the further
he was from me.
    I turned to Becca, who was attempting
to finish setting up our tent. “Thank you, Becca. I appreciate you offering to
stay with me tonight.”
    When I realized she was
practically wrestling with the tent poles, I crouched beside her to show her
how they worked. “It’s pretty easy once you get the hang of it,” I said. I was
surprised I remembered silly things like that—how to set up a tent, how to
excuse myself when I sneezed and cover my mouth when I coughed. Why can I
remember those things but not others?
    “You have done this before,” Becca
said quietly, watching the way my fingers moved and how I maneuvered the fabric
of the tent as I pushed the poles through the red nylon loops.
    “Yeah, I guess I have. You’ve
never been camping?” Slowly, I forced one end of the pole into the corner of
the tent, and watched as Becca mimicked what I was doing.
    “Not that I remember, no.” Her
voice was distant, as if her mind was somewhere else.
    “Yeah, me neither…at least, not
that I can remember.”
    Jake returned, dropping two more
stuff sacks on the ground, what appeared to be another sleeping bag and pad. He
looked at Becca. “Those are mine, but you use them tonight. We’ll stop
somewhere tomorrow to get you your own gear.” Becca watched Jake, her mouth
pulling into a barely-there smile. “Thank you, Jake.” The way she spoke to him
seemed deliberate, like she meant more than what she said.
    He watched her for a moment, his
head tilting slightly