Before I Wake Read Online Free PDF

an indirect flight left her with two hours to kill in Cincinnati before the last leg of her journey.
    That had been the easy part. Now she had to get to Madeline, a West Virginia town that made Artesia look like a metropolis. There were no airplanes to Madeline. Few buses. From experience, she knew any kind of transportation to that remote locale was sporadic and tended to turn what should have been a two-hour drive into an all-day adventure. Renting a car seemed the logical choice.
    Approaching the baggage carousel, she spotted a young man with curly blond hair holding a sign with Arden’s name printed across it in large Magic Marker letters.
    They’d sent someone to pick her up.
    She gave the kid a goofy here I am wave.
    His mouth opened and he bobbed his head and grinned in acknowledgment. He lumbered over, still displaying the sign, realized what he was doing, and dropped it to his side. “Hey.” He held out his hand. “I’m Eli.”
    He had a firm but damp grip.
    He stared at her for too long, with an expression Arden would call hero worship if she didn’t know better.
    She had to recheck his sign to make sure her name was really on it.
    Her bag shot out of the hopper and she moved into retrieval position.
    “Yours?” Eli grabbed the handle of the large green duffel as it came around, letting out a loud, surprised groan as he hefted it from the carousel to the floor.
    Eli was one of those tall, thin, geeky types who was all skinny legs and arms. He wore jeans and a two-tone orange T-shirt that was too small. Ten years ago, he would have been into Dungeons and Dragons.
    “Sorry it’s so heavy.” She didn’t have much in the way of belongings, but when everything you owned went into one bag, that bag could weigh a lot. “Here.” She grabbed the nearest handle. “You get that end; I’ll get this one.”
    Together, the bag between them, they shuffled awkwardly toward the exit doors.
    His vehicle was a small, rust-tinged, cream-colored station wagon of some sort, the back plastered with band decals. Mostly Emo bands like Dashboard Confessional and Alkaline Trio.
    They hefted in Arden’s bag. Eli tossed in the sign with her name on it, slammed the back door, and they were off.
    Five minutes into the drive, they hit the hilly, rural landscape of West Virginia, driving down a narrow road that twisted back on itself, winding through thick stands of trees with warning signs that looked like question marks.
    Arden checked her watch, hoping her Dramamine hadn’t worn off.
    “You should have been here two weeks ago.” Eli braked for a hairpin curve. “The colors were awesome. But then it rained and now it’s over.”
    It was a gray day, the tree trunks black and glistening, their branches stripped except for a few of the more tenacious varieties. A deep layer of fallen yellow leaves covered the ground. Arden could smell the humid, mulched-earth scent seeping through the air vents.
    Eli was nervous and talking too much.
    He told her that he and his friends worked at the Hill doing odd jobs, trying to make money for college. He told her that people there were expecting her, and that someone would show her around and give her the scoop on everything once she arrived.
    “My friends and I… we aren’t involved in TAKE. We’re guinea pigs for an unrelated, unaffiliated side project.”
    “What kind of project?”
    “Listening to music to see if it improves memory. Stuff like that.”
    She nodded. He was so young. So enthused and energetic.
    About Daniel’s age…
    She’d tried to call her brother a few times. She’d picked up the phone and dialed. Dialed that number. A number from her past. From a world and a life that no longer existed.
    The first time, she couldn’t speak. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out—while Daniel was on the other end, getting more annoyed by the second.
    The next time, she was told the number had been disconnected.
    I’ll just go there , she’d thought. To Lake County,