Thanks for reading This Dreamer! Below, you can read a scene found near the beginning ofThis Moment: The Chronicles of the Marked Book Two, the next book in this series. (Tentatively set to publish at the end of 2025.) After you read it, sign up below, and I’ll send three more scenes. One from Adan’s point of view and two from Lena’s.
EVIE
Gripping the railing with pale fingers, Evie pulled herself onto a shiny silver fire escape. Fifteen stories of dead space opened to the cold street below. The darkness between these mid-rise buildings yawned like a giant’s mouth waiting to devour her. Though the height was unnerving, she’d risked the climb, wanting to see him one more time before leaving for Sector Two.
She peered in the large window and her breath caught.
There he was, Adan, sleeping, on the living room couch.
It looked as if he and some others had spent the evening playing on one of their gaming machines. The controllers snaked over the rug in a haphazard swirl.
Perhaps Adan fell asleep, and the others had padded off to bed, leaving him where he dozed. Her fingers itched to cover him with the blanket bunched around his feet, but she didn’t dare sneak in.
Watching him stirred feelings in her that she didn’t understand, and those same feelings kept her from approaching him these last few days as she’d gone over every inch of Joram’s hiding spot in the parking garage.
She imagined asking Adan if he would join her on her quest to find and stop the Deceiver. She was afraid he would say yes. She was afraid he would say no. But more than anything, she wanted him to be safe. There was a likely chance Adan would become the Deceiver’s target again. He needed to stay here in Sector Five under Uzziah’s protection.
It seemed, from the conversations Evie had overheard the last few days, that Adan and his friends still believed her to be dead.
Maybe it was better this way. But something inside her warred against this.
Adan shifted in his sleep, and his full mouth moved in a whisper as his dark lashes twitched. The Dreamer was dreaming, no doubt. Was it a good dream? Did he dream tonight of the future or the past? Or of nothing of consequence at all? His lips quirked into a soft smile.
Evie reached out and touched the window, laying her palm flat against the cold, smooth glass, and allowed her heart to ache.
His movements became more agitated. “No,” he called out. He shot upright, and Evie stepped out of sight, preparing to climb back down. “Evie,” he panted. It was almost a question.
Her eyes widened in the darkness at the sound of her name on his lips. She dared to peek around the corner. He faced away from the window, sitting up on the couch. He bent his head into his hands and pulled at his hair until his back stiffened.
Evie darted out of sight as he began to slowly turn toward the empty window.
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