Crimson Dahlia Read Online Free PDF Page B

a grunt, he rolled up his sleeping bag and
unzipped the little door to the tent.
    “You
okay?” Dexter asked.
    Ramsey
glanced up from tying his shoes. “I’m fine.” He stood up and gave them both a
hug.
    Charlotte
handed him a bag full of food, clean clothes, and a charged cell phone. There
weren’t a lot of outlets in the woods. Not that he got a signal most of the
time out here anyway, but it was better than nothing.
    “Thanks,”
Ramsey said. He glanced at the dying campfire and tossed a few small branches
on it. Then he went about getting his breakfast started. Charlotte insisted on
helping him, so he let her take over and settled on a nearby log.
    “So
how are things at Castle Werewolf? How’s Mary doing, Dex?” Ramsey asked. Until
just recently, Dexter had thought that his mother was dead. When Maddox had
attacked the castle and revealed a set of dungeons, they’d found his mother in there.
    Dexter
shook his head. “She remembers more every day, but so far nothing significant.”
    Charlotte
patted him on the knee. “At least she’s alive and well.”
    “How
are you getting along with your new mother-in-law?” Ramsey teased Charlotte.
    She
playfully threw a handful of pine needles at him. Dexter had found Charlotte,
his te’sorthene , after his mother had disappeared many years before.
    “You
know my mother died giving birth to me,” Charlotte said. “So I love having a
mother, even if she can’t remember the past three hundred years very well.”
    “Is
Mary sleeping better?” Ramsey asked. He knew that Dexter’s mom had nightmares that
kept her up nights, all about being kidnapped again.
    “Now
that we’ve moved her into the same room as Angelica, she’s doing better. As
soon as Angie got near her, Mom conked right out.” Angelica was one of Selene’s
Vyusher who had the gift of soothing anyone in close proximity to her.
    “I
thought Angelica never left the side of our little sleeping girl,” Ramsey said.
    “That’s
our big news,” Charlotte said with a smile. “The little sleeping girl has woken
up.”
    Ramsey
was shocked. The girl had been unconscious, yet inexplicably still functioning
for almost a year now. “When was this?”
    “Just
today,” Charlotte said. “Her name is Talia, but she doesn’t remember much
else.”
    “What’s
odd,” added Dexter, “is that Talia’s symptoms – loss of memory, for example –
are all very much like Mom’s. Griffin has been poking around in both of their
minds and also sees similarities. We think they may have been affected by the
same thing, or person.”
    Ramsey
nodded. “Makes sense. And it means that someone with Maddox’s crew has the
ability to put people into some kind of hibernation.”  He frowned, remembering
his odd dream. The fog surrounding Lila was concerning.
    “How
have you been doing?” Charlotte’s soft voice interrupted his train of thought.
    “Frustrated,
as usual.” Ramsey ran a hand through his hair. “I feel like I’m close. She’s
somewhere in this area, but there’s nothing but trees and rocks as far as I can
tell. I haven’t found any kind of structure or sign of anyone.”
    “But
you can still feel her?” Dexter asked.
    With
a nod Ramsey thought about the strange link he felt with Lila. Nebulous and
uncertain, the connection wasn’t something he could control. All he could feel
was her presence, and sometimes her state of being. For instance, he knew she’d
been injured when she was kidnapped. But he also knew that the wound had
healed.
    “Anything
we can do to help?” Charlotte asked.
    Ramsey
shrugged. “What you’re already doing.” He nodded at the bag they’d brought him.
“Not having to stop for supplies or lug a ton of them around is huge—”
    “Bit
of an emergency going on here,” Griffin’s voice suddenly interrupted.
The three heard his voice in their heads as clearly as if he were standing
right there, even though he was still at the castle. Charlotte glanced at the
two