Read Awaken for Free Online

shouldn’t–”
    “I’m fine,” I told him. Drawing a breath, I
straightened and the shaky feeling in my legs faded. I took a step
away from the couch. “See?”
    He didn’t look convinced, but he let my arm
go.
    Baylie hopped down from the chair and I
followed her from the room with Noah a few steps behind. Diane and
Peter were about as reluctant as their son for me to leave the
house so soon after my lovely display in the kitchen, but finally
they agreed. Together with Daisy, the three of us headed out.
    As it turned out, the park Baylie mentioned
lay at the base of a gentle slope beyond the thick wall of bushes
that surrounded the Delaneys’ house, which meant we didn’t have
very far to walk at all. I tried not to be disappointed – if I’d
had my way, we’d have been on the other side of town, or maybe in
the next county or state by the time my parents showed up. But the
breeze off the ocean was soothing, and the grassy area near the
beach gave Daisy plenty of space to run.
    Sitting down on a bench close to the sandy
shoreline, I attempted not to fidget too uncomfortably as Noah
joined me. The smoothie I’d purchased from one of the carts along
the promenade sweated in my hand and slowly froze my fingers.
Several yards away, Baylie kept an eye on Daisy, and tossed her a
branch we’d picked up as we walked along.
    “So,” Noah began.
    I watched him from the corner of my eye.
    “Pretty crazy, that stuff on the boat,” he
continued.
    I looked down, embarrassed. “Thank you for…
you know.”
    He shrugged. “No problem.”
    Daisy ran toward a group of birds beneath a
palm tree a hundred yards away. Yelling at her, Baylie
followed.
    “So you really didn’t tell anyone you were
coming here?”
    I grimaced, looking away.
    “Sorry,” he said. “I just… that’s pretty
crazy too.”
    “It’s normal,” I replied.
    My tone sounded defensive, and my response
was too fast, and I could tell he heard it.
    “Going to visit the ocean,” I explained,
trying to keep my voice calm. “It’s normal to just take a vacation.
They’re the ones who’re crazy.”
    He paused. “They really hate water ?
Like, that’s why they didn’t want you to come?”
    I nodded.
    He thought for a moment. “They’re the ones
who don’t feel the same way you do about the ocean,” he said, as
though filling in a blank. “That’s who you were thinking of last
night.”
    I hesitated and then nodded again.
    His brow shrugged in amazement.
    I looked back at the water. Waves rolled
toward the shore from a horizon that was nothing but shades of
beautiful blue.
    “They’re missing out on so much,” I
whispered, watching the tide.
    I realized I’d spoken the thought aloud, and
I glanced to him hesitantly.
    He had that look in his eyes again. Like he
understood.
    “Yeah,” he agreed.
    I drew a breath, some of the tension leaking
out of me.
    “So… what happened?” he asked carefully. “To
make them like that, I mean. Did somebody in your family drown or
something?”
    “No. I don’t know what their deal is.” I
paused, working to adopt a lighter tone. “I mean, I do have
an uncle who thinks he’s related to the seahorses at the Mall of
America aquarium. But he also thinks he’s Napoleon, so that’s
probably not it.”
    Noah blinked. I watched him, hoping he’d find
it funny and not just wonder if the insanity was genetic.
    “You’re joking,” he said.
    I shook my head.
    He paused.
    “They’re just nuts,” I said more seriously.
“Protective, but on steroids. They wouldn’t let me take P.E. at
school, do sports, any of it. But water… that’s their big thing.” I
shrugged. “I don’t know why.”
    He was silent for a moment. “Must’ve been
hard growing up with them.”
    I tried not to grimace. I hadn’t intended to
sound like a victim. They were probably certifiable, it was true.
If it hadn’t been for Baylie and her family continually giving me a
place where I could hide from the crazy, God knew