Preda's Voice (Guardians of Vaka Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

the purring cat and placed him onto her shoulder. Fiver perched there with one paw latched on her hood while she sifted through her pile of clothes at the bottom of her closet.
    She was not a messy person by nature, but this had been the only way she could keep her cat supplies hidden from her father. It wasn’t long before the pastel blue plastic corner was revealed, and she pulled the carrier out. Fiver obediently jumped down and waltzed into it as though it was his idea, and he immediately curled up inside. Preda stuffed the carrier into a cardboard box—they never got rid of those—and looked around one last time.
    She shuddered at the thought that she had killed a man there that morning. Preda pushed down a fresh wave of nausea as she wondered if the bodies of her father and his killer were still in the shed in the backyard where she had frantically dragged them that morning before getting on a bus to go to school. They couldn’t be if Detective Fox knew what had happened. They must be gone and being autopsied as part of some investigation.
    There was nothing else for her here.

4
    P reda again contemplated running as she was walking out of the front door with Fiver. Her hand lingered on the door handle, and she glanced at Detective Fox’s face. He was standing nonchalantly, leaning against the outside of his car with his hands in his pockets and watching her every move. There was no escape. She sighed and walked slowly toward her fate.
    Detective Fox glanced at the box in her hands and opened the car door to the backseat to indicate she should place it there, but Preda wordlessly shook her head and held on tightly to her heavy burden. She could have sworn his lip curved up ever so slightly into the semblance of an amused smile, but it was gone as quickly as it had come. He shook his head and quietly opened the front door for her and her charge.
    Preda sat anxiously and held the box with Fiver inside. She prayed the cat would be just as silent as he had been on past car trips. She didn’t know if he knew he was in her lap, but he had been there for every other car ride with her father, and she hoped he would feel safe.
    For his part Detective Fox looked straight ahead as though he was alone in the car, and he left Preda to her silence. She had a million questions swirling through her head, but every time she opened her mouth to start asking them, the words caught in her throat. After a lifetime of silence, the urge to speak was unfamiliar.
    Preda resigned herself to waiting to see what her fate would be. She shifted her legs under Fiver’s weight and questioned the wisdom of her decision to take him. Every time her thoughts returned to leaving him behind, though, she felt in her gut that taking him was the right thing to do. Someone would have to take him from her if they were to separate. She was sure someone would. At least this way, though, she had a chance of knowing where he would end up. It certainly couldn’t be with her—in an institution or prison. Preda swallowed back tears at this thought but refused to succumb to panic.
    Detective Fox was all business as he merged onto Interstate 95 northbound. Preda knew this road well from trying to navigate a route for the move down to Miami for her father. She tried to re-create the map in her head as they sped along. From what she could remember, this highway traveled north through the entire state. She burned to ask where they were going, but knew she couldn’t. She instead occupied herself by memorizing the exit numbers and landmarks as they passed them.
    Hours went by, and it was dark outside before the detective abruptly pulled them off the highway. Within minutes of the exit, he pulled onto a side street too quickly for Preda to make out the name on the sign. There were no streetlights, and they were in a residential area. This was particularly concerning for Preda. She had envisioned their destination as some government-owned building complete with barbed