Ensnared Read Online Free PDF Page B

have it.
    Dad slips out his wallet and sifts through receipts, money, and pictures. He pauses at the family portrait we had made a few months ago and traces Mom’s outline with a shaky fingertip. “I can’t believewhat she did for me,” he murmurs, and I wonder if I was supposed to hear, or if it’s a private moment. I’ve never doubted how strong Dad’s love is for her, but only recently did I learn how strong hers is for him.
    I’m curious how much he’s remembered, if he understands that she was going to be queen before she found him.
    Dad’s jaw clenches as he slides the picture back into its sleeve. “We don’t have the right currency. We’ll have to use my credit cards. It should be around dinnertime when we arrive. While we eat, we’ll discuss things.” He looks tired, yet more alert than I’ve seen him in years. “We’ll plan our next move. But it’s important we lay low and try not to draw attention to ourselves. Considering my family’s profession, they could’ve made some very dangerous enemies.”
    An uneasy knot forms in my throat. “What profession?”
    He tucks his wallet into his pocket. “Gatekeepers. They’re the guardians of AnyElsewhere.”
    My knees wobble.
“What?”
    “That’s enough discussion for now. I’m still processing.”
    His curtness stings. But what right do I have to feel wounded? I made him wait seventeen years to learn the truth about me.
    “Okay.” I stifle an apology and study my ragged gown. “It won’t be easy to stay under the radar while wearing asylum clothes. You’ll need to change, too.”
    “Any ideas?” Dad asks, then holds up a hand. “And before you say it, we’re not stealing something off a clothesline.”
    It’s like he read my mind. “Why not? Motivation always justifies the crime.” I clamp down on my tongue. That’s Morpheus’s reasoning, not mine. It’s both frightening and liberating that his illogic is starting to make perfect sense.
    Dad narrows his eyes. “Tell me you did not just say that.”
    I push away the desire to argue my point. Justifying crimes may be the law of the land in the nether-realm, but that doesn’t make it lawful to my dad at this moment. “I just meant it would be
borrowing
, if we bought new clothes later and returned the others.”
    “Too many steps. We need a quick fix. Makeshift clothes.”
    Makeshift clothes.
If only Jenara were here with her designer talents. I miss her more than ever. Over the past month in the asylum, I wasn’t allowed any visitors other than Dad. But Jen sent notes, and Dad always saw that I got them. Jen didn’t blame me for her missing brother, in spite of the rumors that I was in a cult that victimized him and Mom. She refused to believe I’d be involved in anything that would hurt either of them.
    If only I deserved her faith.
    I wish she was here. She’d know what to do about the clothes. Jenara can make outfits out of anything. One time, for a mythology project, she transformed a Barbie into Medusa by spray-painting the doll silver and crafting a “stone” gown out of a strip of aluminum foil and white chalk.
    Dolls . . .
    “Hey!” I shout up at the closest Ferris-wheel-firefly chandelier. “Could you guys give us some light, please?”
    They roll across the ceiling and stop overhead, illuminating our surroundings. This place was once an elevator passageway where train passengers would wait for rides up to the village after arriving on the train. Distracted parents and careless children left behind toys which are comparable to our size: wooden blocks that could double as garden sheds, a pinwheel that could pass for a windmill,and a few rubber jacks bigger than the tumbleweeds I’ve seen bounce alongside the roads in Pleasance, Texas.
    A sign hangs over the toys. The words LOST AND FOUND have been marked out and replaced by TRAIN OF THOUGHT .
    Past a pile of mildewed picture books, there’s a child’s round suitcase propped up so the front is visible. The