Eden Read Online Free PDF

not just flipping, but turning big chunks of
pages.  I sigh as I turn over the final page.  Notes that just come to an end. 
There's no goodbye.  I can't help but find that symbolic.  Now I'm wondering if
I'm disappointed that she left me this—a safe book, as she called it.  I
suppose I thought that coming here would mean finding myself, as much as I deny
that I want to.  I sigh, letting the disappointment drain out of me, and run my
fingers over the sketch on the inside of the back cover.
    It's kind of cute—a little book, open.  More a doodle than
anything else.  Turns out, Lily was a doodler.  There are a lot of random
doodles on the edges of the pages, here and there.
    "Anything good?" Jonas mumbles.  I look up to see
his sleepy, blinking eyes fixed on me.  I must have woke him with my sigh.  But
he lays still, like he might just close his eyes and drift back into his
dreams.
    "It's pretty boring," I admit.  There's a hint of
bitterness in my voice.  What did I expect?
    "I knew you'd go for it first thing."  He sits up,
stretches, and yawns.  Who knew a yawn could be so sensual—the muscles in his
arms revealing themselves, the tiny peek of skin at his belt as his shirt
lifts.
    I open my mouth to say something back to him when a
thunderous noise shakes our building, sending us both jumping to our feet.
    "What the hell?"  Jonas is already to the door,
throwing it open, running down the stairs.
    I'm right behind him.
    We emerge into the open air on the terrace to see a
billowing cloud of smoke rising from a few blocks away.  People are running,
scrambling.  There's some sort of semblance of organization to their motions. 
Most of them are toting large, automatic rifles.
    Jonas stops, turning, taking it all in.  For a second, I
think he's looking for a weapon.  My stomach lurches.  I'm so sick of all the
bloodshed, but it looks like Miami offers no escape.  Jonas grabs me by the
arm.  "Go back inside."  Clearly he does not mean to follow his own
advice.  I look up at him and start to shake my head.
    " Both of you go back inside."  It's Kobee,
striding by us carrying... is that a rocket launcher?  "You'll just get in
the way."  He marches on without so much more as a glance at us.
    Not far behind him is Spec.  "He's right," he
says, not taking the time to slow down as he passes us.  "Don't worry. 
We've got this covered."
    Jonas and I watch them march off, down the stairs to the
street.  When we look at each other, I realize that we're both doing the same
pose—annoyed faces, tapping fingers.
    Jonas looks me over and cracks a grin.  Then he grabs my
hand.  "Come on."
    We jog toward the stairs and take them down two steps at a
time.  We really have no reason to be inserting ourselves into a battle—and I'm
pretty sure that neither of us want to be in one again—but it's a small,
glorious act of defiance.  Maybe we don't even have to get into the battle. 
Maybe it's just the little escape....
    Jonas pulls me onward, and we run down the street toward the
billowing black smoke.  I take stock of the weapons in my possession as we run—the
knife that Coyote Dan made for me, and another small blade, stuck in my boot. 
I'm not really equipped for a battle involving automatic weapons, and neither
is Jonas.
    I think we're still at least two blocks away from the
ratt-a-tat-tat of the main fighting when a puff of air bursts against my cheek,
displaced by the bullets that just missed me.  Jonas' arm slams into me,
knocking my breath away, taking me down to the pavement before I even have time
to react.  We're on the ground, and whoever is firing at us emerges from behind
a wall.  Scanning across the broken pavement as I roll, I just see boots and
legs running across to the other side of the street.  Jonas flicks his arm; his
knife plants itself in the man's shoulder.  Crying out, stumbling, our attacker
makes it to the opposite wall.
    Jonas turns to help me up, but I'm on my feet and