Free Wide Awake - Academy of the Fallen Series by Daniele Lanzarotta Page A

I?”
     
    “You sure did!” Andrew said.  Wish I had caught that on camera.
     
    I smiled.  “So what you are saying is that I manipulated you into adopting me?”
     
    Andrew was really laughing now.  “Kayla, you were four- years - old …. Well, almost four.   I doubt that was the case.”
     
    After we were done talking, I honestly couldn’t tell if I felt better or worse.
     
     
     

 
    SIXTEEN
     
     
     
    I walked up to my room and stopped short of opening the door all the way.  The voices were muffled, so I couldn’t tell who was there until I was able to peek inside and see who it was. Hunter had a grip on Benjamin’s neck, pushing him against the wall.  As soon as I laid eyes on Hunter and Benjamin, their voices became clear.
     
    “I warned you to leave her alone!”  Hunter growled.
     
    “As you can see, I’m back and I’m not leaving.  No one orders me around!”  Benjamin tried to push Hunter away, but Hunter didn’t move at all.
     
    Benjamin glanced toward the door, stared right at me and laughed, then he looked at Hunter and in a sarcastic tone, he said, “Wish I could stay and watch you explain this, but time to go.”
     
    As he often did, Benjamin vanished and Hunter turned to find me, now inside of my room, with the door shut behind me, and completely speechless.
     
    Hunter still looking at me said, “Sorry.  I will go.  He should stay away for a while, and even if he doesn’t, seems like you are able to see him again, so you will be fine.”
     
    He walked toward me, well, really towards the door.
     
    “Wait!  You can’t go that way.  Kelly and Andrew are downstairs.”
     
    “They won’t see me leaving,” he assured me.
     
    “No, wait,” I practically begged him.
     
    “I asked them about… you know, my real dad.”
     
    “Good.  What did you find out?” he asked.
     
    I looked at him, sure that I had something to my advantage, something to bargain with, “How about you tell me what you are and I tell you what I found out?”
     
    He looked pale and annoyed.  He started walking toward the door again.  “You clearly don’t want my help.  I’m leaving.”
     
    “Ugh.  No, wait.”
     
    He stopped walking but didn’t say anything.
     
    “You know, you can’t expect me to trust you with this… stuff…if I know you are keeping secrets of your own.”
     
    “Well, if you want my help, it doesn’t really seem that you have a choice.”
     
    “Fine!”  I snapped.
     
    “Okay, so are you going to tell me?” he asked, so sure that I was ready to spill all my family secrets and beg for help.
     
    “No, I’m not.  But if you ever feel like answering my questions, I might answer yours.”
     
    “Alright.  Your choice!”
     
    He opened the door, but before he walked out, he turned to me and said, “Carolyn needs your help.  I’m sure you are not that selfish, to just leave her trapped where she is now, are you?”
     
    I just stared at him, not giving him the satisfaction of answering to that.
     
    He slammed the door and left.  He must have been more cautious once he actually left my room, because Kelly and Andrew had both still been downstairs and neither one of them came bursting through my door wanting to know what Hunter was doing there…
     
    Hunter was right though.  I wasn’t selfish, at least not to that extent. 
     
    This was a time I could have used Hunter’s help to keep Benjamin away while I summoned Carolyn.  It took me a while to focus on her, mostly because I was afraid that Benjamin would sneak up on me.  After a while, and I mean a loooong while, I was able to hear her, but not see her.
     
    “You are going to have to focus much harder than that,” she said in a weak voice.
     
    “But I put much less effort into calling you the other times.”
     
    She sounded desperate.  “The other times I wasn’t trapped like this.  This time, I just can’t find my way back to you or anyone else outside of the O