Free Awaken by Skye Malone Page A

let us go, if they were
only a few miles away, it’d all be a moot point.
    “No, not yet.”
    My brow furrowed. “Really?”
    “I’d feel better if you girls stayed here,”
Diane continued instead of answering.
    “It’s just a short trip,” Baylie argued.
“We’ll bring Daisy, I’ve got pepper spray, and we won’t talk to
anyone but Maddox.” She paused. “Please, Diane? This freaks me out
too. Really. But we’ll be super careful and if we stay here hiding
all day, it’s just going to drive me nuts.”
    “I–”
    Diane looked over as Noah walked into the
kitchen.
    “Morning,” he said, and then he paused as if
he’d picked up on the tension in the room. “Everything okay?”
    “You can go if you take Noah with you,” Diane
said to Baylie.
    Noah’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “Huh?”
    “Diane, we’ll–” Baylie started.
    “It’s that or you stay home.”
    Baylie turned away, grimacing.
    “What’s going on?” Noah asked cautiously.
    “Chloe and I were planning to head over to
the bookshop where Maddox works,” Baylie explained. “But–”
    “There was another kidnapping,” Diane cut in.
“And not to be anti-feminist or something, but I’d really prefer it
if the girls weren’t out there alone. So would you go with
them?”
    Seeming a bit uncomfortable, Noah looked
between us all and then shrugged. “Yeah, sure.”
    “Good. Thank you.”
    Diane went back to the sink and turned on the
water.
    Noah eyed her skeptically and then glanced to
me and Baylie. “You, uh, want to head out now?”
    Baylie nodded and rose from her seat by the
kitchen island. Not knowing what to say, I followed her and Noah
out of the room. It only took a moment for me and Baylie to run
upstairs and grab our things, and then we were on our way.
    The store was just opening as Noah pulled the
car to a stop, and the streets were mostly empty. In the park
across the road, a few people sat finishing their morning coffee or
talking on their cell phones. The bright sunlight made the shops
along the street seem lively and inviting, and cool shadows beneath
the store awnings added to the appeal. Leaving Baylie to tie
Daisy’s leash to a bike rack, I headed eagerly for the bookstore,
happily noting the books propped on display stands in the window
or, in one case, partially covered by the cat sleeping in front of
it.
    A ding rang out as Noah pulled open the door,
and behind the counter, Maddox glanced up.
    “Hey there,” he called, smiling.
    “Hi,” Baylie said. She slipped past me to
walk toward him.
    I trailed after her, my eyes scanning the
shelves.
    There was something magical about places
filled with books. An energy to being surrounded by so many words
and ideas that whispered with each other and shouted at each other,
that agreed and disagreed and contradicted each other. The
combination created a pressure, a weight of presence that hinted at
all the opinions and thoughts that made up the world, and that
would take so much more than a lifetime to fully appreciate.
    In a strange way, it bore a small similarity
to the sea.
    I wandered farther into the store, leaving
Noah and Baylie chatting with Maddox by the register. Used books
and new books alike crowded the shelves, and tables filled the
space between the rows. I wound deeper into the store, skimming my
gaze across the titles and covers and enjoying the fact that,
besides one other store employee putting away books nearby, the
early hour meant I was alone.
    “Um… can I help you find something?”
    I turned. One arm cradling a stack of books
from his shelving cart, the employee eyed me questioningly.
    “No thanks,” I said, smiling. The guy looked
like the staple of great bookstores everywhere: a pale-skinned,
grad student type with messy hair and a rumpled tartan shirt who
probably spent more time on books than personal grooming.
    “Okay, well just let me know if you need
anything.”
    I nodded and then went back to the books. A
hardback lying