Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 116263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116263 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 581(@200wpm)___ 465(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
Not to wonder if they were currently being attacked.
Fed lies and wickedness.
Their spirits drowned in hurt, pain, and shame.
I swore I could almost hear the voices in their minds, a low hum of ambiguity that I’d never experienced before. I tried to shake it off, worried that maybe I really was losing a piece of my sanity.
Curling in on myself, I hugged my knees to my chest, with my backpack pinned between them, while I waited. Letting my mind go there wouldn’t do me any good.
I had no power here.
Awake, I was subject to every human weakness, just like Ellis had always warned. I possessed no extra insight or strength.
I was fiddling with the latch on my backpack to pass the time when I felt a sudden shift in the air.
Awareness spun, and it whipped the atmosphere into a dense, viscous dread.
My head snapped up to find my father standing just inside the sliding doors.
Staring directly at me.
In an instant, my throat closed off.
Shit.
He was here. He had found me.
His chest jutted in both anger and relief. He wasn’t wearing a suit like he typically did. He was in jeans and a poofy black jacket.
My heart began to thunder, a violent pounding in my ears.
Panic grew so fast and thick it obstructed the oxygen from flowing into my lungs.
His jaw was clenched, his stare unyielding.
I should have known he would hunt for me.
Find me.
“Aria,” he ground out, his voice hard and severe. He stretched out a hand in a placating fashion, as if I were a wild animal being backed into a corner. He took one step toward me. “Keep calm. I’m only here to help you.”
Alarm speared through my being.
That was exactly what I felt like. A caged animal.
One to be tortured and kept.
I’d been here before.
Had witnessed what that expression on my father’s face meant.
My attention darted right, then left as I searched, frantic, for an escape.
“I just want to talk to you.”
Except I knew he was lying. I could clearly see his intentions. They throbbed through the space like barbs that sank into my flesh.
One word blared in my mind.
Run.
Hopping onto my feet on the bench, I jumped over the back. My soles hit the tile with a thud. I shot toward the sliding-glass doors that led out to the buses in the back, running as fast as I could through the building.
I had to get away.
I couldn’t allow this to happen.
Not again.
If only I were half as fast awake as I was asleep.
“Aria!” My father’s shout echoed from behind as he gave chase.
I pushed myself harder, still hugging my backpack to my chest as I made it through the sliding doors and out into the icy chill of the Albany winter.
“Stop. Don’t make this harder than it has to be,” he shouted, his voice curling into a growl. His footsteps pounded behind me, and people jumped out of his way as he barreled through. Shouts of disapproval and surprise rang from those who were jostled to the side.
“Get out of my way. That’s my daughter. She’s a runaway. Someone stop her!”
Tears burned at my eyes, but I forced myself not to focus on what he was saying. The only thing that mattered right then was getting away.
“Aria!” His anger pierced the air when he made it out the doors.
I sprinted across the paved lot, the soles of my shoes slapping through the puddles, my face impaled by the freezing droplets of rain.
I needed to make it to the next building in the hope that there would be someplace I could hide.
Harsh pants ripped from my mouth as I pushed myself faster. The muscles in my legs burned as my Chucks pounded on the ground.
Dipping between two buses, I cut through the mess of people waiting in line to board. I could only hope to distract my father. Disorient him. Make him falter or lose sense.
Only I felt him gaining, and the panic rose to a frenzy with each thud of his boots against the pavement.
Jagged breaths raked from his lungs.
“Aria! Stop this madness right now. You aren’t helping anything. You’re only going to make it worse.”
I almost breathed out in relief when I skidded around the corner of the industrial building, only shock jutted out of me when his arms suddenly shot out to surround me.
He tackled me to the ground.
“No!” I screamed as I slammed against the cold pavement. My elbows took the brunt of the impact since I was holding my backpack to my chest, and pain splintered up my arms. “No!”
“I’m sorry it has to be this way, Aria, but you chose it.” His words were shards. Animosity and disappointment.
I managed to flip around onto my back, and I started to kick and scream and squirm. I lost hold of my backpack as I smacked and hit. He grabbed me by both wrists and pinned them to my sides.