Page 20 of Visions of Darkness

Curling in on myself, I hugged my knees to my chest, with my backpack pinned between them, while I waited. Letting my mind go there wouldn’t do me any good.

I had no power here.

Awake, I was subject to every human weakness, just like Ellis had always warned. I possessed no extra insight or strength.

I was fiddling with the latch on my backpack to pass the time when I felt a sudden shift in the air.

Awareness spun, and it whipped the atmosphere into a dense, viscous dread.

My head snapped up to find my father standing just inside the sliding doors.

Staring directly at me.

In an instant, my throat closed off.

Shit.

He was here. He had found me.

His chest jutted in both anger and relief. He wasn’t wearing a suit like he typically did. He was in jeans and a poofy black jacket.

My heart began to thunder, a violent pounding in my ears.

Panic grew so fast and thick it obstructed the oxygen from flowing into my lungs.

His jaw was clenched, his stare unyielding.

I should have known he would hunt for me.

Find me.

“Aria,” he ground out, his voice hard and severe. He stretched out a hand in a placating fashion, as if I were a wild animal being backed into a corner. He took one step toward me. “Keep calm. I’m only here to help you.”

Alarm speared through my being.

That was exactly what I felt like. A caged animal.

One to be tortured and kept.

I’d been here before.

Had witnessed what that expression on my father’s face meant.

My attention darted right, then left as I searched, frantic, for an escape.

“I just want to talk to you.”

Except I knew he was lying. I could clearly see his intentions. They throbbed through the space like barbs that sank into my flesh.

One word blared in my mind.

Run.

Hopping onto my feet on the bench, I jumped over the back. My soles hit the tile with a thud. I shot toward the sliding-glass doors that led out to the buses in the back, running as fast as I could through the building.

I had to get away.

I couldn’t allow this to happen.

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