Free Between Shadows by Chanel Cleeton Page A

Alexandra?”
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    I had a different life once. I may only remember pieces, but I remember enough. I remember Sunday mornings with animal-shaped pancakes. I remember lying in bed with my sister, telling stories and making funny faces with a flashlight. Pieces—stray images that hit me at random times. Sometimes it’s as though those pieces belong to someone else, as if I am watching a movie of my own life. I suppose in some ways they do. I can never be Alexandra again. Because I also remember other things—
    Darkness. Pain. Fear.
    I was already broken before I came to the Academy. I just don’t remember it. Correction—I don’t remember most of it.
    Everyone knows better than to call me that. Even my sister has taken to calling me X. Though to be fair, she was too young to remember me as anything else. As bad as my life may be as X, life as Alexandra, what I remember of it, at least—was far worse.
    “How do you know that name?”
    He just stares at me.
    My heart pounds, anger building. “Did you look at my file? Is that what this is about? You trying to take me down?”
    I was such an idiot for letting my guard down with him. For helping him. He’s used my two biggest weaknesses against me—my past and my sister. I only hope he doesn’t realize my third weakness.
    I stand, fury coursing through my body. I grab my bag and Luke tugs on my elbow, pulling me down against him, my hip brushing against his.
    “Let me go.”
    “Not yet.” It’s as if he’s immune to the rage radiating off of me, his voice perfectly calm. “You still don’t remember, do you?”
    “Leave it alone.” I struggle, trying to pull my arm away from him. He doesn’t even budge. He’s like a rock—hard, unmovable.
    “You’re scared.” This time there’s no taunt, no challenge, just an almost gentle curiosity that takes me back.
    “I’m not the one babbling about conspiracy theories,” I snap.
    “It’s not a conspiracy theory.”
    “Prove it.”
    “I’m trying to. That’s why I came back. If there really is something going on at the Academy, if information on this Ares organization exists, the best place for me to find it is inside the school. It’ll give me a chance to get a look at the Director’s files. I came back because I’m sick of living my life with a noose around my neck. I need answers, and if they won’t give them to me, I’m going to take them.”
    This isn’t just risky—it’s suicide.
    “You’re using this assignment to get dirt on the Academy. I was just a way to get close to the Director.”
    He doesn’t even bother looking guilty. “You owe me.”
    “Not that much.”
    “You killed me.”
    “Attempted to kill you. And I just saved your life.” I gesture toward his bandaged stomach. “We’re even.”
    “Like hell we are.” 
    “I’m not helping you.”
    “Too scared?”
    “I have too much to lose.” 
    “You’re almost out.”
    Her name hangs between us, and I watch the moment Luke realizes he failed to account for the most important person in my life. 
    His voice gentles. “Is this the life you want for her?”
    “Don’t try to use my sister against me.”
    “Isn’t that what they’re going to do? Isn’t that what they’re doing?”
    I flash back to the Director’s questions about my sister. “You heard her.”
    “Yeah, I did. It’s not just your sister. You have no idea of what it’s like out there. Assets disappear all the time. Why do you think they encourage us to keep from forming bonds with each other?”
    It’s not enough to risk everything. I need more.
    “What’s your endgame in all of this? You want to make plans? What’s your plan? You can’t just storm the Academy and call it a day.”
    He just stares back at me, his eyes unflinching. In some fucked up way, his arrogance is both his biggest weakness and his greatest strength. He thinks he’s invincible, and at times I can almost believe that he is, but then I remember he’s not , no one is, and