Read Blind the Stars (Rose of the Dawn Series Book 3) for Free Online Page B

have nothing left. I turn back to the screen one last
time and my mouth drops open. There is something out there. Someone. He’s
crystal clear.
    “Ezekiel.”
    I
push out of the quarantine cellar and into the containment room. The door is propped
open with Pike’s radioactivity counter. I run up the stairs, two at a time. Why
is Ezekiel here? I reach down and pick up a shard of glass. What’s
broken? Out the front door, I race onto the lawn, following both Pike’s and
Dory’s footprints, but faster. Stray crows scatter and take flight. Their
ca-caw is incessant. Beady eyes stare with malicious intent and one swoops low,
just missing my head.
    “What
is going on?” Gripping the glass, my real hand starts to bleed. I switch hands
and the bionic fingers automatically curl around the tiny piece. I stomp across
to where the three of them have gathered. A car is parked in the distance. I
stop beside Pike.
    “What
the –” My mouth gapes. I step past Pike. Ezekiel has Dory. His arms wrapped
around her. Embracing her. Her arms are around his waist and her head is
pressed against his chest. One of his hands moves up from her back to rub the
side of her face, then smoothes hair away from her eyes. Just like Pike did.
    “Someone
say something!” My voice disturbs another distant bird and it flaps, this one
as angry as the first. It dives at me before flying away. I swat at it with my
artificial arm, still gripping the shard. I throw the glass to the ground. It
bounces, reflecting light for a moment before another cloud passes overhead.
    “You
knew about this,” I accuse Pike. “About them.”
    “No,”
he states. “I had no idea.”
    I
stare at my sister and Ezekiel. They don’t notice me or Pike or the crows that
have begun to resettle on the lawn. Branches of a nearby tree are heavy with
their weight and there are at least twenty or thirty still roosting. I look
around to see if anyone else is here with him, but I don’t see anyone. I can’t
even see the neighbors in this secluded neighborhood and I wouldn’t even know
if they’re still around or if their houses have suffered a similar fate to
ours.
    “We
better get back inside,” Pike says to me, taking my fake wrist. Electricity
surges up my arm and through my shoulder, stronger now than before. Back down
my legs. My fingers curl and my hand turns into his. I can’t be angry at him
even if he did know. “We better get inside,” he says louder, pulling me up the
steps and into the house. I glance back to see Ezekiel take Dory’s hand, so
small I can’t even see it. They follow as carefully as we did, up the front steps
and inside. I release myself from Pike’s grasp.
    “Someone
needs to explain something,” I say as soon as Dory and Ezekiel are in front of
me.
    “Is
everyone you were left with okay?” Pike interjects, speaking to Ezekiel. “My
mother?”
    “She’s
fine. They’re all fine. I got them close enough to the safe house to get there
without any harm. Where I left them it should only take them a few hours hike. Then
I turned around to get here. I had to see her,” he answers, glancing down at
Dory. Pike breathes a sigh of relief.
    “Rose,
this is Ezekiel. Ezekiel, this is my sister Rose,” Dory introduces, smiling.
It’s so out of place, the smile. “Rose, have you met Ezekiel? Ezekiel?”
    “We
know each other, Dory.” I glare at Ezekiel. He never mentioned anything about
knowing my sister. “How long have you two-” I point from my sister to
Ezekiel and back to my sister.
    “Don’t
be mad, Rose,” Dory begins. “Please. No one has done anything wrong. I
promise.” She smiles and winks Ezekiel’s way.
    “Mad?
I’m not the one that’s mad, Dory,” I say, but she ignores my attitude.
    “Ezekiel
and I have been acquainted for quite some time. I’ve known him longer than,”
she pauses. “Than the crows that litter the lawn.” Her laugh is big and bold
and loud. Very loud.
    “But
no one told me,” I spurt out and