AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her family had suffered through her death once.
She couldn’t put them through that again. No matter what came next, she couldn’t just turn her back on them and walk away, vanish into the dreamworld again without a single word—even if her only other option was to tell them everything.
And why hadn’t she? Why, if they’d been listening?
“I—I have to go,” Isobel murmured, the words meant more for her own ears than for Mr. and Mrs. Nethers.
Skirting past the pair, she hurried down the stairs.
Though Darcy called out to her, Isobel didn’t stop.
Without looking back, she tore open the front door and rushed out into the cold.
* * *
The bus lurched to its third stop since Isobel had boarded. Its doors slid open to let riders off and on.
“Eastern Parkway and Preston,” came the driver’s voice over the intercom, “Eastern Parkway and Preston.”
Isobel gripped her knees and thudded her heel against the floor. For the millionth time, she wished she had her phone. She also wished that there weren’t so many stops between the downtown preservation district and Cherokee Park.
Most of all, Isobel wished she was home.
Once or twice, she’d thought about asking to borrow someone else’s cell, deciding in the end to hold off. Another half hour and she’d be at her doorstep.
Though it was possible neither of her parents were home, Isobel still wanted to try the house first. She wanted to talk to her mom and dad in person without being overheard by a bus full of people, or having to field frantic questions about calling from a strange number. More than that, she wanted to speak to her mom and dad together.
Go home, Gwen had told her.
What had Gwen picked up on? And why hadn’t Isobel listened?
Thinking back to yesterday’s conversation with Danny, all that he’d divulged, she now wished she had followed Gwen’s instructions.
No doubt this latest disappearance of hers had triggered another blowup between her mom and dad. Had they caught wind of the rumors circulating around school about Varen’s return, too? Isobel wasn’t certain, but, at the very least, she assumed her parents were calling off their damage-control date. And what about Danny? Was he still in school, oblivious to her being missing? Or had her parents pulled him out?
Would she ever be able to convince him not to hate her?
A fresh wave of guilt fell heavy on her shoulders, but Isobel did her best to bear the weight, telling herself she’d deal with the fallout whenever and however it came. She didn’t have another choice.
She could only hope that, at this point, her parents would still want to listen. That they would believe her. That they might even understand.
“There. Sitting in the middle.”
Isobel froze, ears tuning to the static voice that had spoken from several seats behind.
“That isn’t her,” rasped a second voice.
“It is her. Can’t you feel it?”
Though her instinct was to turn and look, Isobel remained still, shoulders rigid, fingernails digging into her jeans.
Her eyes flitted between the other passengers.
Near the front, a businessman worked a newspaper crossword puzzle against one knee. Across from him, a woman holding a sleeping girl on her lap gazed distractedly out the window. Another woman sat with her head bowed, thumbing at her cell phone.
None of them had heard the exchange of whispers. Not that any one of them could have done a single thing to help her even if they had.
“Let’s move closer.”
