Awaken: Book 1 of the Dark Paradise Trilogy by Isadora Brown

Author:Isadora Brown [Brown, Isadora]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2014-04-26T04:00:00+00:00

22

Andie wasn’t sure what had happened that would cause everyone to leave the museum so abruptly. All she heard were the loud murmurs of the crowd, and when she picked up the phrase “Noir sighting,” her heart stopped. In that moment, the voices and the blaring alarm drowned out, she couldn’t feel the rain on her skin and completely forgot that Jack was less than a foot behind her. Her focus turned to running back to the museum and finding Keirah. Before she could, his arm locked around her waist and pulled her against his chest.

“Don’t even think about it,” Jack said, his voice a gritty murmur.

Before she could say or do anything, Commissioner Jarrett ran up to the pair. His hair was matted to his face and his suit completely soaked. His eyes were sad, his presence disheveled. The look on his face told her everything she needed to know; Keirah was gone.

From then on, everything was a blur. Jarrett said something about Keirah, Jack pressed her to his chest and held her tight but she didn’t cry. Commissioner Jarrett said he wanted to take her home himself so he could explain what happened to her sister. Jack assured Andie he would tell Miranda where she went and made her promise to call him tonight so he would know she was as okay as she could be.

Andie went through the motions. She got in the backseat of Jarrett’s car still bundled in Jack’s jacket, and the commissioner led her up the stairs to her second-floor apartment. When he told Judith, she cried and yelled and cried some more. Jarrett stayed for as long as he could before he had to turn his attention back to actually finding Keirah. The moment the door closed, her mother whirled around to face Andie.

“This is all your fault!” she exclaimed.

Judging by the rapid movement of Judith’s mouth, Andie knew there was more, something along the lines of how Andie should never have invited Keirah to the party, how Andie should have told her that Keirah left in the middle of the night, how she was the reason Noir was after her in the first place, etcetera. All Andie wanted to do was to take a hot shower, wrap herself up in blankets, and cry.

A stinging pain in the left side of her cheek made her feel again, however temporarily.

“Are you even listening to me?”

Andie blinked and looked back at her mother. She had slapped her. Judith had slapped her.

“Of course you’re not listening to me,” she said, dropping the offending hand so it smacked her pajama-clad thigh. “I can’t do this anymore. You need to leave, Andie. Right now.”

Andie pushed her brow together. “Are you kicking me out?” she asked. Now she could hear quite clearly.

“Yes.” One nod, firm and resolute. “For now. I need to worry about finding Keirah.”

“What about me?” Andie asked, all her pent-up emotions spewing out of her like an erupting volcano. “I’m your daughter. Where am I supposed to go?”

“I don’t care.

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