The Other Side of Truth (The Marked Ones Trilogy Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

squeezed my eyes shut, but even that didn’t stop the pain. Didn’t stop the memories. They just flooded in like a wave. Soft and unfocused at first, but then searing and painfully raw. Like a monster of razor wire trying to rip itself free from my mind. Like it had just happened. Like it was happening right now. The memories screamed at me so loud they drowned out everything else.
    “ No ,” I choked out. No, it wasn’t true— couldn’t be true. But it was. The memories were blazing too brightly in my head for it to all be lies. But how could I have forgotten this? How could I have gone years and not remembered that we had…
    I couldn’t even say it to myself, within my own head. But that didn’t stop the truth of it. Because there was only one person—one person in this world—who called me Nulala . Travis Centrina.

    “Why the hell do you look so surprised? You’ve been here before.”

    Travis had known I’d been to his apartment before. So why hadn’t he said something? Why had he kept this from me? Why had he pretended like there had never been anything between us. Why had he lied to me?
    Why?

    TRAVIS

    M y phone started ringing and buzzing its way across the coffee table. I picked it up, and slid my finger across the screen. “Hello?”
    I was assaulted with loud booming dance music, and I pulled my head away from the phone to see who it was. Shawn? I could probably count on one hand the number of times Shawn had ever called me.
    “Hey, Travis—”
    “Where are you? I can barely hear you,” I asked as I cupped my hand over my ear to hear him better.
    “At Happy Hallow After,” he replied and I could tell he was practically yelling into the phone.
    “Okay… So what’s up?” Technically speaking, me and Patrick should have been there too right now, but…well… yeah .
    “Look, I know you’re already managing one of them, but…”
    I sat bolt upright when I realized what he was saying.
    Nualla.
    I shot Patrick and Connor a quick look, but they both still seemed to be engrossed with the movie that was playing on the TV. I watched them a second longer before I launched myself up onto my feet, and quickly retreated down the hall to my bedroom.
    After I closed the bedroom door quietly I slumped against it, my heart thudding against my ribcage. “How bad is it, Shawn?”
    There was a long pause and then he answered, “Bad. I’ve never seen her like this.”
    “Is she dancing on a bar?” I asked, running my hand down my face.
    “Not… exactly ,” Shawn said in an uneasy voice.
    “Shawn, what is she—?”
    “She’s been sitting in the bathroom crying for over twenty minutes and…well…we don’t know what to do.” He sounded so unbelievably defeated as he said it—so desperate.
    “She’s… crying ?” I repeated, taken aback.
    “Yeah,” Shawn answered with a heavy, disheartened sigh.
    “Text me the address. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. Twenty tops,” I said quickly before swallowing hard. Nualla crying in the first place was never a good sign. But Nualla crying in public, well…that was a hundred times worse.
    PATRICK

    T ravis came back into the room as he pulled on the long brown trench coat he had been wearing earlier.
    “Going somewhere?” I asked, arching my eyebrows.
    Travis paused and I could see a slight panic in his eyes. “I uh…have to go deal with an emergency at the lab. I’m not sure when I’ll be back,” he answered uneasily in a way that told me he was lying. And really, there was only one reason he would lie about where he was going. Which meant, for whatever reason, he was going to see Nualla.
    I looked back at the TV, at the holiday themed movie I wasn’t actually watching and took a sip of my pumpkin ale. “’Kay.”
    Travis made a sound like he was going to say something and then changed his mind. “Well, there’s more pumpkin ale in the fridge, and feel free to finish off the pizza.”
    “’Kay,” I replied again, not looking at