Free Tremble by Jus Accardo Page B

covers, sliding my feet into the sneakers at the base of my bed while flipping on the lamp. “What happened?”
    “Ashley. She called my cell. After we left, she did a drawing. It showed her parents—”
    A rush of guilt crashed through the room. “Where is she? Is she someplace safe?”
    “She called from her room. She was close to hysterical, Dez. Kept going on about how sorry she was for not coming with us earlier.”
    She was sorry? Great. Now I felt worse, if that were even possible. “Even if we leave now and with no traffic, it’ll still take almost an hour. And that’s doesn’t include waking everyone—”
    “There’s no time. It’s just you and me. We’re the cavalry.”
    Right. He was right. I shoved Alex from the room and threw on a pair of jeans and the first sweater I put my hands on. Ashley was terrified and alone and it was only a matter of time before the bad guys closed in.
    This was all my fault.

8
    I was sure we were going to get our asses handed to us for going alone—but we could deal with the verbal fallout later. I didn’t think I’d be able to forgive myself if something happened to Ashley. Alex had been 100 percent right to rib me for the way I’d acted. If I’d been less bitchy and more understanding, she might have come back to the cabin with us in the first place or, at the very least, been a little more careful.
    We were on the way to the elevator and were up and out the top front door no more than five minutes after Alex woke me up. It was going on two-thirty in the morning, and thankfully, the roads were empty. Unfortunately, a new, thin layer of snow had fallen in the last few hours, making travel a little slower than expected. The salt trucks hadn’t been through yet, and the car kept slipping and skipping all over the road. Alex refused to drive, so I took the wheel as he sat in the passenger’s seat looking pale. I was so focused on keeping the car steady on the road that I almost missed the exit.
    A half block away, I tucked Alex’s recently refurbished Chevy behind an old rusting Volkswagen van and we hoofed it the rest of the way. I’d rushed, not bothering with socks, and the snow had started to seep through my sneakers, numbing my toes. By the time we got to Ashley’s, I was convinced I had frostbite.
    Alex handed me the keys, then rubbed his hands together. “Keep the car running. I’ll be right back.”
    He turned toward Ashley’s and I grabbed his arm. “Um, excuse me?”
    “Dez, we have no idea what we’re walking into. And think about it. You were kind of a bitch yesterday. If Ashley’s scared, do you really think your face is the one she needs to see right now?”
    Wow. Ouch times ten. I took the keys from him and nodded like a good little girl. Not that I had any intention of letting him walk in there on his own, but if he needed to think himself the big bad savior, I could give him that.
    I counted to twenty once he’d disappeared around the bushes, then approached the front of the house with caution, keeping my eyes peeled for any signs of Denazen. The neighborhood was quiet, the soft sounds of light snow falling like miniature footsteps all around. I moved forward, alert and ready for danger. The front door was ajar, making me wonder if Alex had walked right in and left it that way or someone else had.
    A little voice inside my head told me to turn around. Run to the car and don’t look back. I couldn’t do it, of course, but I was human, and despite what Mom might think, I did have some small sense of self-preservation. But Alex was in here somewhere, and Ashley needed help. There was a good chance none of us would be in this position had I just approached things differently the first time we’d been here.
    I pushed through the open door, cringing when it creaked, and froze. The living room looked the same as it had earlier, shadows of the couch and lounge chair casting oddly shaped figures on the wall. With each step I took, the feeling of