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.Jensen, but I didn’t have the time or the energy to figure out how to use it yet.And I wasn’t even sure I wanted to keep a gift from a guy that was probably involved in some kind of shady business deal with my worst enemy.I glanced down at the screen on my phone and found a text message from Heather which said, Sleepover at my house tonight!I wrote back, Sounds fun, but I have to work at the yogurt shop.Just come over when you get off, she wrote back.It’s called a sleepover for a reason.We’ll be here all night :)I was still staring at the screen on my phone when I entered the kitchen.“Morning, honey,” Mom said from the table.“I hope you’re okay with cereal for breakfast.I didn’t really feel like cooking today.”I glanced up from my phone briefly.“Um, sure.That’s fine.”My feet hesitated for a moment while I contemplated Heather’s invitation for later tonight.Should I really go hang out with my friends? At least if I was with people, I wouldn’t be alone, but I had so much on my mind.I probably wouldn’t make for very good company.And somehow it felt like I needed to take some kind of action, do something about my situation to protect myself and my mom, and maybe even Rayne.Of course, I had no idea what that possibly might be.What could I do? There was no way I was any sort of match for Ash, and definitely not for Voss, if my suspicions were even correct that he was alive.I was pretty sure Rayne would know what to do.Or at least, he had a better chance than I did, but for some reason I couldn’t bring myself to tell him.I was just plain scared.I knew if I told him what had happened, he would have to do something about it.He might try to track down Ash and confront him, or go back to wherever they were from to enlist help.I didn’t want him to get involved, or put himself in any sort of danger.Instead, I did the only thing I felt was currently in my power to do.“Mom,” I said, sitting down at the table.“We need to talk.”“What is it, sweetheart?”“I really don’t think you should go with Dr.Jensen out of town next week.”“We’ve already talked about this,” she said impatiently.“I know,” I whined.“But it didn’t feel like you were listening to anything I said.Just hear me out.”Mom took a deep breath and placed her hand over mine.“Sadie-bear, this trip isn’t going to change anything.Mark and I are taking things slow.It’s not like we’re going to run off and get married in Vegas, and I’ve already told him that moving in together isn’t even an option until you’ve left for college.You don’t need to worry.I know Mark isn’t your father, and never will be, and I understand that it will be an adjustment for you to have a male figure in your life, but if you could just give it some time—”“This has nothing to do with my father,” I complained.“Mom, you’re not listening.I don’t care about you dating someone new, or getting married, or moving in with someone, or whatever.I’m trying to warn you about Dr.Jensen.I think he’s involved in something bad, maybe illegal.I don’t trust him.I’m worried for your safety.”“You’re being ridiculous.Mark is a good man.” She grabbed her bowl and stood from the table without finishing her food.“Sadie, I need this right now, okay? I know I hide it well, but I’ve been really stressed out and tired lately.I need a vacation.I have no energy to deal with this right now.It almost reminds me of how I felt when I had…” Her voice grew quiet.“When you had what, Mom?” I said coldly.“Why can’t you just say it? You had cancer.You almost died.Then you met a guy, my father, who you thought would make your last fleeting moments of life worthwhile, and he left you helplessly alone and in the dark, for the rest of your life…because my father was a big, stupid, horrible jerk.”Mom banged her bowl back to the table as she said, “That’s enough.” Then she stormed out of the room.I was hit instantly with regret.I called after her, “Mom, wait.” But she was already gone.The front door slammed around the corner behind her.Why was I fighting with her? All I wanted to do was keep her safe.Somehow I had let the bitterness I felt toward my father take over and come between us.I pulled up my mother’s cell phone number immediately and sent her a text.I’m sorry.I didn’t mean it.But even by the time I had pulled my car into the parking lot at school, I still hadn’t received a reply.I didn’t think I remembered my mother ever being so angry with me that she wouldn’t at least reply.It was just one more thing to pile up on top of my mountain of frustrations.Heather was waiting at my locker when I approached through the crowded school hallway.“What’s wrong with you?” she said as soon as she caught a glimpse of my brooding face.“I had a fight with my mom,” I said, turning the knob on my locker door.“Now she won’t even talk to me.”“Well, if it was my mom, I would just shrug it off, because, you know, fighting with my mom is like a daily ritual, but you guys hardly ever fight.”“I know,” I said.“And she seems really mad this time, like crazy mad.”Heather shrugged.“Oh, just give it a couple of days.She’ll forget all about it.”I shut the locker door.“Maybe.By the way, I was kind of thinking…I don’t know if I’m going to make it to the sleepover tonight.”“No, you have to,” Heather complained.“You’re like, the guest of honor.”“The guest of honor?” I repeated.Heather’s face beamed.“Yep.Well, I know you’ve had a rough week with the whole thing breaking up with Rayne and the weird first kiss and all that.And I know sometimes I act kind of selfish, like I don’t care, which is totally not true.So, I just wanted to come up with a way to make sure you know how much I really do care.That’s when I came up with this sleepover idea.No boys allowed.At first I wanted it to be a big surprise party, and I was going to have Nicole find a way to bring you over to my house after work, but knowing Nicole, she would probably mess it up or forget or something.So anyway, now you know and there are no excuses.You are definitely coming.”I smiled.How could I say no after an explanation like that? “Wow, thanks, Heather.That’s really sweet of you.”“Well, I’m pretty much the best friend in the world,” she joked.“You totally are,” I agreed.I gave her a little hug and left for my first class.The day itself was basically normal.Nothing strange or out of the ordinary happened in any of my classes or at lunch.Yet, I couldn’t shake the fear hiding just below the surface of my thoughts all day, wondering what Ash was really up to.According to the files I came across in Dr.Jensen’s office, it seemed like Ash was using the doctor to treat people with Healing Water and record the results.But why? The Healing Water healed people.Wouldn’t Ash already know what the results would be? And even if he didn’t, why would he care one way or the other?Was this about money? Was Ash involved in some kind of scheme to sell Healing Water to doctors to make a huge profit? Last I heard, Ash came from a very wealthy family, so that wouldn’t make sense unless there was any chance their money was all gone, but it didn’t seem likely.If Ash’s father, Voss, was really alive like I feared, was he actually telling Ash what to do? I never fully understood why Voss abducted me in the first place, and I had tried very hard over the last five months to erase that day from my memory—which wasn’t too difficult considering I’d spent at least half the time during that experience passed out and on the verge of death.But now, I wanted to remember every detail I could.I wished I had asked Rayne more questions, pushed him for an explanation [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]