The Lemerons (The Secret Archives Trilogy Book 2) by Valerie Puri

Author:Valerie Puri [Puri, Valerie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dark Crown Press
Published: 2020-10-01T05:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Three

Ethan

Sleep helped his tired body, but his heart was still broken. No amount of rest could heal that.

Ethan stared at the ceiling above him. The thatched roof was a welcome sight. It was nice to be in a treehouse again, only he wished he was in his own home.

When he knocked on Tulsi’s door the night before, she opened it. She jumped into his arms, gripping him tight. Her raven black hair was neatly combed and straight as one of his arrows. It flowed like silk over her shoulders.

“Ethan, I thought you were dead!” she said. “Of course, you can stay here.”

She gave Jennie a curious look, then raised her eyebrows at him. “Who is this, and what in the world happened out there?”

“This is Jennie.” He squeezed Jennie’s hand. She shied behind him.

“I can see you two have been through a lot. You can fill me in tomorrow after you’ve had some rest.” She stepped inside, letting them in.

Tulsi’s house was tiny, and situated towards the edge of Arborville. It was one of the newer homes. She was a couple years older than Ethan and wanted to move out on her own. People usually did that around here when they turned twenty.

She hadn’t decorated it much. There was a little wooden table, a chair, a kitchenette, and a sleeping loft.

“I just have to ask, why come here and not to your house?” Tulsi opened a tall cabinet and took out a couple blankets.

“I can’t go back there,” Ethan grumbled.

Tulsi hugged the blankets to her chest, studying him. “Right. We can talk about it later… only if you want, though. You can stay here, but the loft only sleeps one,” she held out the blankets, giving them an apologetic look. “Sorry, I don’t have anything more comfortable than the floor.”

“Trust me,” Ethan said, “it’s an improvement from where we have been sleeping. It’s better than the lemeron infested ground.”

Thanks to my father, I can’t stand to sleep in the same house as him. I had been looking forward to sleeping on my plush stuffed mat.

His father. Just thinking those words soured his mind. He let Ethan believe he adopted him, but he was his biological father. The lie hurt more than the truth.

Why couldn’t he have made something else up, like he really was his father and his mother died? Would that lie have hurt any less?

When morning broke, Ethan sat up. Jennie was still sound asleep beside him. Her deep breathing was calming. He wished he could have slept that well last night. He tossed and turned, reliving the night before.

He took the photo he once cherished out of his pocket. Unfolding it, he looked at the face of his mother, Marlene. She hadn’t aged at all since the day this photo was taken eighteen years ago. On her lap, she held Ethan as a baby.

He turned the picture over and read the note she’d written on the back.

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