Free Lies: A Gone Novel by Michael Grant

was instantly a foot from Caine, face-to-face.
    â€œTry something,” Caine snarled. “It’ll be a long drop for your idiot brother.”
    Emily looked up, and Caine saw the fight go out of her. Brother was still rising, higher and higher. The fall would maybe kill him. It would at the very least cripple him.
    â€œSee, I haven’t been spending my days and nights here on the farm,” Caine said. “I’ve been in a few fights. Experience. It’s kind of useful.”
    â€œWhat is it you want?” Emily asked.
    â€œWhen the others get here, you let them walk on in. I have to have a little conversation with them. Your shotgun has had it. And your little tricks won’t save you or him.”
    â€œI guess you really want to talk to those boys.”
    â€œYeah. I guess I do.”
    Â 
    Lana heard the knock at the door and sighed. She’d been reading a book. Meg Cabot. A book from a million lifetimes ago. A girl who became a real-life princess.
    Lana read a lot now. There were still plenty of books in the FAYZ. Almost no music, no TV or movies. Plenty of books. She read everything from fun chick lit to heavy, boring books.
    The point was to keep reading. In Lana’s world there was awake time. And there was nightmare time. And the only thing keeping her sane was reading. Not that she was at all sure she was sane.
    Not sure of that at all.
    Patrick heard the knock, too, and barked loudly.
    Lana assumed it was someone needing healing. That was the only reason anyone came to see her. But from long habit and deeply ingrained fear, she lifted the heavy handgun from the desk and carried it to the door with her.
    She knew how to use the weapon. She was very accustomed to the feel of the grip in her hand.
    â€œWho is it?”
    â€œSam.”
    She leaned in to look through the peephole. Maybe Sam’s face, maybe not: there were no windows in the hallway outside, and so, no light. She threw the dead bolt and opened the door.
    â€œDon’t shoot me,” Sam said. “You’d only have to heal me.”
    â€œCome on in,” Lana said. “Pull up a chair. Grab a soda from the fridge and I’ll get the chips.”
    â€œWell, you still have a sense of humor,” Sam said.
    He chose the easy chair in the corner. Lana took the chair she had turned around to face the balcony. She had one of the better rooms in the hotel. In the old days it must have cost hundreds of dollars a day with this great view looking out over the ocean.
    â€œSo, what’s the emergency?” Lana asked. “You wouldn’t be here if there wasn’t some kind of problem.”
    Sam shrugged. “Maybe I’m just here to say hi.”
    It had been a while since she had seen him. She rememberedthe awful damage that had been done to him by Drake. She remembered all too well placing her hands on his flayed skin.
    She had healed his body. Not his mind. He was no more completely healed than she was. She could see it in his eyes. It should have created some sympathy between them, but Lana hated seeing that shadow over him. If Sam couldn’t get past it, how could she?
    â€œNo one ever comes just to say hi,” Lana said. She pulled a pack of cigarettes from her bathrobe pocket and lit one expertly. She inhaled deeply.
    She noticed his disapproving look. “Like any of us are going to live long enough to get cancer,” she said.
    Sam said nothing, but the disapproval was gone.
    Lana looked at him through a cloud of smoke. “You look tired, Sam. Are you getting enough to eat?”
    â€œWell, you really can’t get enough boiled mystery fish and grilled raccoon,” Sam said.
    Lana laughed. Then she sobered. “I had some venison last week. Hunter brought it to me. He wondered if I could cure him.”
    â€œDid you?”
    â€œI tried. I don’t think I helped much. Brain damage. I guess it’s more complicated than a broken arm or a bullet