Free The Other Side by Joshua McCune

you?”
    â€œDon’t talk about my mother.”
    â€œYou should learn to take compliments better.”
    â€œYou should learn not to kill people.”
    He drags a finger from his left ear to his chin, tracing the knotted edges of a scar that stands out pale and angry against his dark skin. “Considering what happened to you in Georgetown and considering your brother, I’d think—”
    â€œSam? What’s happened to Sam?”
    â€œKeith was always good at keeping secrets,” Oren says, but doesn’t elaborate.
    Sam is safe with my aunt and uncle in Michigan. He must be.
    So what if he never responded to any of the letters I sent via Preston? He’s probably still pissed at me about everything. If something had happened to him, Dad would have mentioned it in his letters to me, wouldn’t he? Unless Keith filtered them. I can’t put it past him; he hid his and Mom’s involvement in Loki’s Grunts because he wanted to protect me from the truth that my mother was an insurgent. Oren’sright. Keith was always good at keeping secrets.
    No, Keith wouldn’t do that to me. This is nothing more than a cruel lie from a cruel man. I can be cruel, too. “Do you know how much Lorena—”
    Oren’s hand flashes to my throat. “Be careful what you say about my daughter.”
    â€œHandcuffs and CENSIR not enough for you?” I say between gasps. “I see why Lorena despised you.”
    I expect him to crush my windpipe—a part of me hopes for it. But instead he releases me and leans back. “You even look like Olivia.”
    His words, spoken with sad fondness, hurt more than his hand ever could. “Did you come all this way so we could reminisce about the dead?” I glance at the CENSIR tablet and bite my lip. I will be strong. “You wasted your time. I don’t know where she is.”
    â€œWe already have what we want, Melissa. You just put on your big-girl face, act like everything’s okay, and say good-bye. Then we’ll be out of your hair.” He gives me an apologetic look. “Don’t worry, she’ll be safe with us.”
    â€œShe’s not even of breeding age. Please—”
    â€œThe Silver?” He squints. “Figured Keith was smarter than that.”
    He opens the door and speaks to someone in the hallway. “Make her presentable.” Then he looks back at me.“She thinks you’re coming with us, but I told her you’d have to wait until you’re healed. She insists on saying good-bye. A favor for you, Melissa, for the friendship you gave my daughter.”
    She? My chest tightens. They were never after Baby. “Allie? Why?”
    â€œMultichannel telepathy,” he says, as if that should mean something to me. “Cumbersome, isn’t it? I prefer what the dragons call it. ‘Tangled.’ Not quite right, but it has a certain simplistic elegance.”
    â€œPlease, she’s just a kid.”
    â€œYou should have seen her face when she saw all those dragons outside.” He beams as he rises. “Reminded me of the first time I showed my Lorie. Allie wants to come, Melissa. She wants to help us save her dragon friends.”
    â€œShe doesn’t know what that entails. Please.”
    â€œWe are not the enemy,” he says, and leaves.
    Evelyn struts in. Even with the bulky body armor, white cloak, and goggles resting on her dragon-print headscarf, she manages an annoying beauty and grace. Worse, she reeks of roses. “Hello, Twenty-Five.”
    I gape. “Real?”
    She pinches my arm, smirks when I grimace. “Guess so.”
    I don’t get it. In Georgetown, Evelyn was Talker One, the perky sycophant who did everything the All-Blackswanted her to do and shunned everybody who didn’t. I hated her and thought she was evil, but only in that high-school popular-girl sort of way. The only time I ever saw anything authentic from