Page 83 (1/2)

Chapter One

I couldn't breathe

There was a hand coveringhts dashed throughMy worst night true

They're here! They've come for me!

My eyes blinked, staring wildly around the dark room until , thoroughly confused He let go and stepped back to regard

'Dad?'

'Sydney You wouldn't wake up'

Naturally, that was his only apology for scaring me to death

'You need to get dressed and make yourself presentable,' he continued 'Quickly and quietly Meet me downstairs in the study'

I felt my eyes widen but didn't hesitate with a response There was only one acceptable answer 'Yes, sir Of course'

'I'll go wake your sister' He turned for the door, and I leapt out of bed

'Zoe?' I exclaimed 'What do you need her for?'

'Shh,' he chastised 'Hurry up and get ready And remember - be quiet Don't wake your mother'

He shut the door without another word, leaving an to surge within ht wake-upto do with that Technically, neither did I anymore, not since I'd been put on indefinite suspension for bad behavior this summer What if that's what this was about? What if I was finally being taken to a re-education center and Zoe was replacing me?

For a ht hold of my bed to steady ht Alcherew too close to vaed off to learn the errors of their ways What exactly went on there was a secret, one I never wanted to find out I was pretty sure 're-education' was a nice way of saying 'brainwashing' I'd only ever seen one person who had come back, and honestly, he'd seemed like half a person after that There'd been an almost zombielike quality to hiht have done to make him that way