Collide (Entangled Teen) (The Taking Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page A

Vill’s and Gretchen’s thoughts, both so obvious they might as well say them out loud— Why didn’t you do something?
    “I couldn’t, all right?” I shout, causing them both to jump. “I can hear you loud and clear, so you might as well just ask me what you’re thinking. But you know I wouldn’t have left him if I could have done anything at all. We were outnumbered.”
    “That doesn’t matter,” Vill says. “You could have taken them. What really made you hold back?”
    I release a breath, my bottom lip shaking again, so I clamp down on it, this time drawing blood for sure. It doesn’t feel right, me here, him there. I should be receiving the same torture, the same pain. I should—ugh! “I don’t want anything to happen to him, okay? I was afraid if I fought them, they’d kill him, and I couldn’t take the risk. Not until I have a plan. But I don’t even know where we are or how to get out of here. The halls all look the same. I’m not sure I could even get back to the interrogation room if I tried.”
    Vill stares at me, then sighs and starts for the door.
    “Where are you going?” Gretchen and I ask together.
    “I’m going to eat. There’s nothing we can do right now. Besides,” Vill says, turning to me, “there’s someone dying to see you, and she said she’d be in the cafeteria if you were up for a visit.”
    She? A smile stretches across my face. It’s the first moment of happiness I’ve felt in a long time.
    Emmy.
    …
    We make our way down the hallway to an elevator and then down two levels. The doors ping open to a giant room with composite-steel walls and tables, people already seated at most of them. I start forward, eager to ask how they have this much real food and why they aren’t just handing out pills for our nourishment, when I notice something. A single row of empty tables slices the room, set there like a giant divide. My eyes dart from one side to the other, confused, and then Vill speaks up. “Ancients on one side, humans the other. They’re divided.”
    “Obviously. But why?”
    “Fear, I suppose,” he answers.
    After everything that has happened, humans and Ancients are still this full of hate for one another? When are they going to see that their similarities outweigh their differences now? Sadness finds me as I realize it may never happen. We may forever be two instead of unified as one.
    We continue on into the room and suddenly a hush spreads from table to table, everyone’s eyes—human and Ancient alike—now on us. A gasp comes from the far right and then I see Madison rushing over to us, wrapping me in a tight hug. “I’ve been so worried! Where were you? We’re all here, but we didn’t know what happened to you or Jackson.” Then her expression changes. “Have you seen my mother, Ari? I can’t find her. Did she get stuck on Loge with Zeus?”
    Lydian, the traitor. I remember her expression when I shot her, her body as it slid down the wall. I can’t tell Madison that her mother is dead, and certainly not that I’m the one who took her life. Not now. Not when we need to be strong to face whatever is coming.
    I shrug, guilt weighing on me. “I’m not sure,” I say with as much conviction as I can, though I feel Vill shift beside me. He knows, of course. He was there.
    My eyes travel beyond Madison, in search of the one person beyond my mother who brings me instant comfort, and then I’m the one running. Emmy breaks into a smile and stands as I reach her. “My child,” she says as she pulls me into a hug. She looks exactly the same, except for her eyes, which hold sadness, and I know she must still be mourning Mami’s death. It can’t be easy to lose your only sister, but Mami was married to Zeus, abused for much of her adult life. Her death, while horrifying, wasn’t a surprise.
    My parents walk up then and tell us to sit while they fetch us food. I try not to notice the looks from those around us, the attentive ears, the swirls of