Free Destined for Dreams: Book One by Ginna Moran Page B

brushes it against mine.
    A small group of people loiter near the apartments and we sneak past them and head in the direction of the back gate. When we get there, Alyssa swipes the talisman from the tree and we take turns going through the gate and run through the trees and to the beaten path where she keeps her car. I get in after her and Jacqueline slides onto the backseat.
    “Where are we going?” Jacqueline asks.
    Alyssa starts the engine. “You’ll see,” she says, eyeing me in her peripheral vision.
    I grip Alyssa’s knee. “Are you sure we have to ever go back to the compound?” I don’t know why I ask. The compound is the safest place for us to live, but it always seems so complicated. I’d love to live somewhere where I don’t have to worry about my nightmare inflictor side.
    Jacqueline laughs nervously. “Maybe I should stay here.”
    I turn in my seat and grin. “It was just a thought.” I laugh and shift back to look at Alyssa.
    Alyssa raises her eyebrows and smiles. “It’s funny how you can still surprise me,” she says. “We can do whatever you want, Nadia.”
    I’m tempted to really go through with it. I’d love to see what the world has to offer and I wonder how long I could survive before having to call the council for help—if they’d even help me. And then I think about Hunter and the urge to runaway subsides. Jacqueline would never agree to go with us. “It’s tempting, but let’s see how the city goes first.”
     
     
    HUNTER
     
    “I can’t believe you’re leaving,” I say.
    Jacqueline wrings her hands together in her lap. “Alyssa is a seer. She can keep us safe,” she thinks.
    “What if she can’t?” It’d be perfect for Jacqueline to get caught again by the HPA. It’d serve her right for tormenting me with her desire to settle down at the compound.
    “She can.”
    Nadia laughs at something Alyssa says, but I can’t hear them over the radio. She’s happy and carefree, and I wish she were laughing with me. Watching Nadia makes me regret my desire for Jacqueline to get caught. It’d put Nadia in jeopardy and I don’t want her getting hurt. I still haven’t had the chance to get to know her.
    “But if she can’t? What’ll you do if you’re caught by an HPA agent?”
    Jacqueline taps her fingers on the door panel. Her annoyance is tangible. “They won’t hurt us. I’m working for them, remember? Your mom has given me two months to find out information.”
    “Whatever you say, Jacqueline. Just don’t let them get hurt.”
    “Hunter, you know I always come first.”
     

9 . I AM A MONSTER
     
     
     
     
     
     
    NADIA
     
    I stand near the edge of a gleaming reflection pool in front of a monstrous mausoleum. The block-like building is a dark gray granite masterpiece with a small set of stairs leading up to double doors. Giant rectangular stained glass windows are evenly set apart and I bet they’re more beautiful from the inside.
    Alyssa came up with the cemetery idea shortly after we left the compound and she figured going to one with such history and beauty would be a lot cooler than the small one we passed the last time we were out. And she was right. This cemetery is so peaceful and beautiful with meticulously cared for gardens, sprawling green lawns, and fascinating human memorials.
    I smile and step toward the entrance of the mausoleum. Jacqueline waits next to Alyssa and we step inside through the double doors.
    Cold, deathly silence surrounds us. I gape in awe at the gleaming Italian marble floors and the warm wooden walls. The giant windows let in pale light and the main entry is adorned in cream colored furniture and a tan rug. If I took a picture, no one would know I was at a place where the dead go to rest.
    A short glass wall surrounds a set of stairs that descend deeper into the mausoleum. Textured granite walls complement the Italian marble floor and the temperature lowers as we enter a long hallway.
    “I brought you here because I