Stolen Away Read Online Free

felt my forehead. I was kind of warm; it could be a fever-induced hallucination. Of course, the stifling heat inside the apartment could explain my clammy skin just as easily. So maybe it was heatstroke.
    Which still didn’t explain the very solid presence of the iron pendant.
    I scrubbed at my face, as if that could wipe my brain clean.
    Lucas had mentioned my aunt Antonia. I had her cell phone number, but she only ever answered it during the winter. She traveled out of the country during the summer months. I dialed it just in case, but there was no answer.
    I put the kettle on for rose hip tea. My mom always made it when she was stressed out. An impending psychiatric breakdown was stressful. I was adding three spoonfuls of honey when Mom came in. She raised her eyebrows at the tea, tossing her keys in the ceramic bowl by the door. She’d made it during her pottery phase, and it was painted with pirate skulls. “Bad night, honey?”
    I wasn’t sure how much to tell her. I didn’t want to end up in a doctor’s office until I figured it out. Because I didn’t feel crazy. Then again, wasn’t that a sign of
being
crazy? The iron stag slipped under the collar of my shirt when I movedto put the kettle back on the stove. The cold iron brushed my skin, grounding me. No, there was definitely something going on. It wasn’t as simple as a hallucination. Besides, I reminded myself, Jo and Devin and even Bianca had seen Lucas at the ice cream parlor. If nothing else, he was real.
    “There’s the weirdest thing outside,” she said, crossing to the window and climbing out onto the roof. “Come and see.”
    Oh my God. Lucas’s broken body really was on the sidewalk.
    I dashed past her and slammed into the railing in my haste to look out. My brain kicked in belatedly. If Lucas was down there lying in his own blood, not only would there be ambulances, but I was pretty sure Mom wouldn’t want me to see that kind of thing.
    “Look,” she said softly, pointing to the telephone wire across the street. Bright red cardinals perched on the line, watching us. Another landed on the corner of the building next door. “Aren’t they beautiful?”
    We watched them for a long time, their feathers red as raspberries.
    “Have you heard from Aunt Antonia lately?” I asked, in what I hoped was a casual, normal tone.
    She shook her head. “You know how she is.” Her gaze slid away from mine.
    “She’s not in trouble, is she?”
    “Why do you ask that?”
    I shrugged. “Just wondering. Her cell phone’s off again.”
    “She’s probably out of range. Or she’s avoiding collection agencies.”
    It was a logical explanation.
    But it didn’t ring true for some reason.
    Especially when Mom hurried inside to fill a water bottle for the empty birdbath on the roof. She refused to meet my eyes, rushing so that she sloshed water on the floor. She didn’t even stop to wipe it up. She
always
wiped up spills and messes, even the dust visible only to Mom-eyes.
    And she was dismissive of Antonia, even though I knew they were close. Whenever Antonia came home for Christmas, they whispered late into the night, as if they were at a slumber party. But neither of them answered direct questions. Why hadn’t I noticed that before? I felt strange, as if I were waking up from a convoluted dream I could only half remember.
    There was definitely something going on.
    Especially when she went straight to her room after a quick good night. She shut the door firmly behind her.
    I focused on the few details I had. Lucas. The pendant. Antonia. Antonia was the only mystery I could work on right now. Though I did check the phone book for Lucas Richelieu. Not a single person with that last name in Rowan. I’d have to go to Jo’s and use her Internet to google him. In the meantime, I gathered up the family photo albums, even the small one Mom thought I didn’t know about. It was the only one with photos of my father.
    I went into my room and sat on the bed,