Across The Divide Read Online Free PDF

person who trusted, no matter how kind a person was. It was not how you survived on the streets. You always needed to be watching out for yourself and skeptical of everyone.
    “Come with me. I’m going to take you to the showers so you can get cleaned up.” She motioned me to follow her out of the room.
    I silently obeyed. My bare feet shuffled across the cold floor. I still wore the hospital gown I woke up in weeks ago, my hair knotted and filthy, and my dirty skin bruised from the shots. The last time I had a shower was in Peru…that I was aware of. Who knows what they did to me unconscious.
    The moment we left the room, I noticed Liam following behind us.  So Delaney was not my only babysitter . He didn’t hide the fact he was there to guard me, and he sighed and huffed to let me know how he felt about it.
    Delaney took me to a shower stall and sat outside the curtain. Liam stayed outside the door. They weren’t ready to leave me alone, especially when handing me a razor. The hot water gushed down my skin, massaging my stiff muscles and washing away the grime of the prior weeks. It took two washes and double conditioner to untangle my hair. Finally I emerged from the stream when the warm water faded and turned to icy liquid.
    “Here are your clothes and undergarments.” Delaney patted the fabric folded on the counter. Gray scrub-style pants and top, white underwear, socks, and a sports bra. I didn’t miss the slight to me. The staff here wore blue or green scrubs. Fae wore gray. Rapava was making it clear I was not one of them.
    Under the counter, on the floor, sat a pair of worn black boots. Boots DMG issued to me six months earlier when my last ones fell apart. Emotion came out of nowhere, blinding and blurring my eyes.
    “My boots.” I dropped to the ground, touching them like long-lost friends.
    “Uh. Yeah.” Delaney seemed unsure why I was getting weepy over a pair of boots. She had no idea what these shoes meant to me. What they had been through. They were the only thing I had left. The dirt and scuffs were like a timeline of the past events of my life. Ryker. Sprig. Croygen. Even that bitch, Amara.
    “Dr. Rapava thought you might like something of yours. Also, they were still in okay condition, and even though Seattle’s getting a lot better, it’s still tough to get certain items.”
    Right. Seattle was trying to recover from the big electrical storm.
    “It’s getting better?” I turned to Delaney.
    “Slowly, but yes. I’m one of the lucky ones. My house actually has water and electricity most of the time now. Downtown is still a mess and gangs have gotten worse, but it’s better than it was.” She shrugged. “I will let you get dressed.”
    Delaney picked up my shower stuff, cleared the room of anything I could use as a weapon, and exited the small bathroom. She left a disposable toothbrush and cheap comb.
    I quickly got dressed but took my time lacing my boots. They felt good on my feet. Like they had come home. Maybe I had been in the dark by myself too long, but I felt this strange connection to them, like they really were old friends. I brushed my teeth and hair then went out to where Delaney and Liam waited for me.
    As we walked down the corridor, I kept scanning my surroundings, taking in anything helpful. Every room we passed that I could see into, a fae was curled on a cot, sleeping.
    I was also fighting a sluggish, lethargic sensation. Paint laced with goblin metal and iron coated everything down here. I hated it, but I couldn’t deny it was ingenious. Along with being surrounded by poison, they were also injecting us with small doses—robbing fae of their will to fight or the ability to control their magic. A perfect weapon.
    Liam and Delaney led me down a network of hallways, where the rooms didn’t have windows, and it grew more and more silent.
    “Rapava thought it best for you to be separate from the fae.” Delaney keyed a door, opened it, and flicked on the lights.