Unlocking Adeline (Skeleton Key) Read Online Free PDF Page A

the birthmark that’s been on my wrist since day one. It heats immediately. “I would hate to bore ye with the details when ye already know,” he says.
    “That what, you’re a psychopath, who just almost killed two people and are now trying to kidnap me?”
    “Ye mean those hooligans who were about to rape and possibly kill ye? Should I have left ye there? Would that have been a better outcome? And him?” He nudges his head toward the poor store clerk. “He will be fine. Just a bump.”
    “Please, just let me go. I’m pretty sure you’ve got the wrong person. I’m just a normal girl. No one special, I swear. We can forget this happened. I won’t tell anyone, I promise.”
    He rubs this thumb once again over my birthmark, the heat almost scorching. “Do ye feel that? Do ye feel how the mark ye bear ignites when I touch it? That means ye are most definitely the right girl. And trust me, ye are very special.”
    The stories that I begged for my dad to retell, time after time, are coming to haunt me; the moment when the Prince of Wren comes to claim his princess. But in my dreams it is nothing like this. It is beautiful. He is kind and wistful. And I am willing. Right now I’m scared, and regretful that I ever wanted those dreams to come true, because this reality is anything but magical.
    “I won’t go with you. I owe you nothing,” I bark in his face.
    “It’s a shame yer father has already made that decision for ye.”
    Before I have a chance to argue back, he is sprinkling something sweet smelling over my nose, and everything goes black.

W hen I begin to come to, I hear the desperate pleas of my father.
    “Dad?” I groan, realizing I’m in my house, on the floor. I search for my dad and spot him sitting on the couch with his face tucked into his hands.
    “I’ve searched high and low for ye, Richard McAllister of Wren. I have to say, it took great courage to return home after all these years.”
    His words confuse me. Home? I whip my head toward my dad. If this is all true, that means home is Wren? “Wren is your home ? Dad, what’s going on?” I try and stand up, but I am dizzy on my feet. Hulk catches me, holding me steady.
    “Oh, Addie Bear, I’m so sorry,” he begins to cry into his hands now.
    “For what, Dad? What’s going on? Please tell me none of this is real. They were stories, right? You were just telling me stories!”
    He doesn’t speak. He dips his head in shame. “Dad, you said—you said in your stories, that the only way to return home is if the magical skeleton key appeared for you. But… but it would only appear for the princess. How did you get home?” I sound like a looney toon asking such things. I dare not admit any of this is happening, but if tidbits of my dad’s story are playing out, then that means…
    “Did the key appear?” I ask, my eyes going wider.
    He continues to weep. “I’m so sorry. I had to, Addie Bear. I had to use it. Yer mom. She was so sick. The doctors weren’t helping her. She was dying. And I couldn’t let her die. I know they would come for ye. I had to make a choice.”
    “To save Mom.”
    He nods.
    “Then I don’t understand. Why is he here?”
    “She doesn’t know, does she, Richard? Ye deny yer daughter the right to know her future? Her destiny?” Hulk’s anger sets a chill to the room. He takes a menacing step toward my father.
    “No, that’s untrue. She knows.” He turns to me, guilt pouring from his eyes.
    “Dad, I know what?” I plead to my dad as he dips his head.
    “Tell me!” I raise my voice, my heart beating like mad.
    Tears are streaming down his face, “The skeleton key appeared for ye, on yer nineteenth birthday. It came for ye, and I wasn’t ready to let ye go. Yer my little girl. I promised I was going to tell ye, but I wasn’t ready. I couldn’t let them take ye.” He pauses, choking up on his words, but the man glares at him to continue, “Instead of guiding ye home, I took it. I knew if I used the