Deceived Read Online Free PDF

for her during staff meetings. “Have you seen Eli?”
    The girl blinked at Sarah—well, at Luke, really—but finally seemed to snap out of it and nodded. “Uh, yeah. He went in, like, a few minutes ago, I think. Haven’t seen him come out yet. But, you know, I’m not like watching for him or anything.”
    Sarah bolted up the steps, ignoring Betsy’s protestations about tickets, and heard Luke’s heavy footfalls right behind her. “Eli!” she called when she burst inside. “Elijah!”
    Luke grabbed her arm and pulled her to a stop. “Sarah—”
    â€œLet me go, damn it,” she yelled over the spooky music and artificial sound effects of creaking doors and demonic cackles. “You told me my son’s in danger. Well, I’m going to go find him.”
    Luke pulled her a few steps toward the wall and deeper into the thick curls of artificial fog to let another group of people pass, then grasped the back of her neck and bent to speak directly into her ear, “We’re not the only ones looking for him, remember?”
    Sarah shuddered at the warmth of his breath on her ear and forced herself to focus on what he was saying.
    â€œWe don’t want to lead them to Eli.” He drew back just enough to peer down into her face, and his hand drifted from the back of her neck to cup her cheek. “Now, follow me—quickly, but calmly.”
    Sarah nodded and let him take her hand as they hurried through the darkness, lit only by disorienting strobe lights. They searched the faces of those they passed, looking for Eli in the crowd. Whenever she saw one of the children she recognized, she tried to ask if they’d seen her son. Those to whom she could make herself heard could do little more than nod and point, their voices lost to the noise.
    More than once, costumed performers dressed as gruesome zombies, mangled murder victims, or ghosts with hollowed-out eyes leapt out at them, startling a cry from her. But Luke barely flinched. It seemed the man was completely immune to fear. Which made Sarah wonder just how the hell her father knew him.
    The aura of danger that surrounded Luke was unlike any she’d seen before—and did nothing to assuage her fear for Eli’s safety. If her father had sent someone like the man beside her to protect them, then the people he feared were coming for them had to be pretty damned frightening.
    Her panic increasing with each passing moment that Eli wasn’t with her, Sarah tightened her grip on Luke’s hand. Finally, as they made their way through the crowded third-story hallway, she thought she had suddenly caught a glimpse of Eli. Without thinking, she bolted forward, squeezing her way through the crowds, frantic to keep him in sight as he and the Smith family made their way toward the back stairs.
    She was just about to dart down the darkened stairwell after them when a group of giggling girls emerged from the room to her right, clogging the passageway. Sarah elbowed her way through them, drawing angry protests that were thankfully drowned out. She raced down the stairs, which were dimly lit by a dull yellow bare bulb at the top landing and another, blinking, fizzling bulb further down below like something out of those creepy slasher films from the eighties.
    Her heart pounding, she took the stairs as fast as she could. As she made the first landing, she came to an abrupt halt with a loud scream, not having expected to encounter a performer sprawled on the floor as if he’d been shot in the head. A shockingly realistic splatter was painted on the wall a couple of feet above him and smeared down as if he’d hit the wall when the bullet struck him and slowly slumped to the ground.
    After the initial shock, Sarah moved to go around when something about the man’s face suddenly struck her as familiar. It was in the next instant that terror gripped her, making her knees momentarily weak. The