Ignited Read Online Free Page B

had the same thought moments ago. So far she’d listened when Asher or I had given her orders. We’d kept her safe, but this would be different. More dangerous. I wanted to hide her away somewhere, but there wasn’t a place far enough away where she would be out of reach from the people after us. She wouldn’t let me coddle her anyhow. Not when our father was held captive and we could save him.
    Asher nodded. “I’m in, too.”
    “Okay,” I said. “It’s a plan.”
    It should have made me feel better to have a strategy. Instead, a creeping sense of dread tangled with my nerves. Our time in California had brought nothing but pain and terror. What would our return bring? And why couldn’t I stop wishing that Gabe was here to help?

    Two towns over, we found an empty house with a F OR R ENT sign on the lawn. A little online research had helped us secure lodging more than once. Homes listed with descriptions of “available for immediate move-in” were right up our alley. That often meant that the house sat empty. If I felt guilty about breaking into somebody’s place, I got over it pretty quickly when I thought about what my enemies would do to Lucy if they caught her.
    At first, we’d stayed in motels, but we’d been too easy to track. People noticed three teenagers checking in without parents. Last October, we’d nearly been caught at a motel in North Carolina, and we’d had to adjust our strategy. If that meant my morals had adjusted, too, I could live with it.
    The vacant single-story Tudor-style brick house sat at the end of a long lane of similar homes. We were far enough away from the neighbors that we felt safe using our camping lantern to guide us through the dark, empty rooms. It wasn’t much: just two bedrooms, a bathroom, living room, and kitchen. Our quiet voices echoed, and shadows slid across the walls, as we unpacked the gear we traveled with.
    I picked a bedroom and unrolled my sleeping bag on the bare carpet. Usually, I waited for Asher to choose first and settled beside him, but that habit was quickly becoming pathetic considering how he avoided me. The white paint and lack of furniture in the room gave no clue to the type of people who had once lived here. In the living room, I could hear Asher greeting his sister on the phone before he handed it over to Lucy.
    “How is she?” my sister asked Lottie.
    A few seconds later, she asked, “Can you tell her that I miss her and I love her?”
    Every time we spoke to Asher’s sister, Lucy had the same questions. And always, the hope in her voice soured to overwhelming disappointment because Laura hadn’t magically woken up from her coma. I sank down on my sleeping bag and turned my hands over to stare at the useless limbs. I hadn’t been able to help my stepmom any more than I’d been able to save my mother. It was the head injuries. My mother had died of hers. What if Laura never woke?
    I stretched out, sliding into the sleeping bag to stare at the ceiling rafters, easing up on the reins I kept on my emotions. I wanted two minutes to hide and grieve. Two minutes when I didn’t have to pretend everything was okay for Lucy. Two minutes when I wasn’t trying to figure out how to be there for Asher when he hated being in the same room with me.
    I sensed him before he spoke, and I steeled myself for another un-confrontation.
    “You didn’t want to talk to Lottie?” he asked.
    Asher braced himself against the doorway, with a hand on each side of the frame. He wore an awkward expression on his face as if he couldn’t decide whether or not to enter the room. I couldn’t handle another rejection, so I didn’t extend an invite.
    I shrugged. “I overheard Lucy. Nothing’s changed?”
    He took one step into the room. “No. Laura is stable, but no change.”
    Four months of status quo. Lucy would cry herself to sleep tonight, and I couldn’t fix things or make her feel better. We fought against a tide that kept coming no matter what I did.