Thorns of Decision (Dusk Gate Chronicles)
Read Thorns of Decision (Dusk Gate Chronicles) Online
Authors: Breeana Puttroff
Copyright © 2012 Breeana Puttro
ff
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing
of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other
than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this
condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
ISBN e-book: 978-0-9839930-4-9
ISBN paperback:
978-0-9839930-6-3
2.25.13
The loud knocking on her bedroom door set the fierce anger rolling in Quinn Robbins’ chest again. “What?” she yelled; knowing, but not caring, that her voice was too harsh.
Her mother opened the door and came in, barely seeming to notice the way Quinn sat, rolled up in a ball near her pillows, still in her pajamas, even though it was almost noon.
“I’ve decided you’re not grounded from your phone,” she said, setting the small, black object on the nightstand. The little notification light blinked furiously. “You need to use it to call Zander yourself, get things figured out with him.”
She raised her eyebrows at her mother. “What did you tell him?” Last night, in the car, as they drove home from the river, her mom had told her that she had explained things to Quinn’s boyfriend, but Quinn had no idea what that meant, and her mother wouldn’t elaborate further.
Megan Robbins’ gaze was just as steely as it had been since last night, and she looked Quinn in the eyes when she spoke. “I told him that Dr. Rose had a family emergency and that since you were becoming good friends with William, you went along for support.”
Quinn’s eyes popped open wide. “That doesn’t even make any sense!” Of course, it was eerily close to the truth … but that was the problem. The truth didn’t make any sense.
“Well, if you have a better explanation, you’re welcome to share it with him. I’m headed down to Denver to pick up Owen and Annie from Richard and Denise’s.” Megan turned and left the room, closing the door behind her with an audible
clunk
.
Quinn only barely resisted the urge to pick up the phone and hurl it at the door. Instead, she flipped it open and began scanning through the messages – all forty-six of them. Almost every message was from her best friend, Abigail, or from Zander, although there were three from her mother, left on Thursday evening, just after Quinn had disappeared.
She opened the first one.
Where are you sweetie? Zander just called and said he saw you leaving work.
Oh. So Zander had seen her running away from the library with William? She closed her eyes, trying to remember that evening, which seemed so
long ago. Of course, nearly three weeks actually had passed for Quinn, even if it had only been just over two days for her mom.
Still, even if Zander had seen her, it didn’t explain how her mom had known where to find her. It didn’t explain why her mom had been sitting there at the bridge last night when Quinn had returned from Eirentheos. She had disappeared for two whole days without a word, and she’d come back to find her mother, not panicking as Quinn had expected, no police officers searching the river, or even dropping by her house for a chat. No, instead, her mother had been sitting, perfectly calm, on a boulder near the gate, just
waiting
, as if she knew exactly where her daughter had been.
Okay, so calm wasn’t the right word. Her mother had been furious, livid, as she still was today. But she hadn’t been
worried
, even in the slightest. And this was the source of Quinn’s wrath now.
Not that she’d
wanted
to worry her mother – actually she’d spent long hours during her time in Eirentheos fretting over what she thought she was putting her mother through. She hadn’t
meant
to disappear for so long without saying a word; it had just happened. When William had told her that Thomas was missing, she had just gone, without thinking about the consequences.
But when she'd stepped through the gate, and seen her mom there, Quinn had been rocked to the core. What was going on here?
How
? How did her mom know about the gate? What did she know?
Last night in the car, Megan had refused to answer any of Quinn’s questions, and even more disturbingly, she hadn’t asked any. She’d sat there in the driver’s seat, stone-faced for the whole drive. When they pulled into the garage, Megan had turned to Quinn.
“I explained things to Zander and to Mrs. Williams for you, so you still have a job. I picked up your stuff from the library. The perfect attendance at school you were so worried about is blown on that unexcused absence, though. You’re grounded from your phone, from everything.”
“What do you mean? What did you explain?” Quinn had asked. But Megan had just climbed out of the car, slamming the door behind her, and then disappeared into the house. When Quinn had followed her inside, she discovered that her mother was locked in her bedroom. After several failed attempts at knocking and yelling through the door, Quinn had given up and retreated into her own room, nearly breaking her own door in the process. She had noticed that Owen’s and Annie’s rooms were empty, and wondered where they were.
The phone in her hand buzzed loudly, and then began to play a tune that sent an electric jolt through her. It was Zander, again. She stared at the screen, at the picture that had popped up of the two of them. In the picture, Zander’s arms were around her shoulders, his cheek close to hers, both of them smiling widely. She
almost
answered it, but it stopped ringing before she managed to make her finger move over to the answer button. She waited for several minutes, but there was no notification of a voicemail message.