All The Pretty Ghosts (The Never Series Book 1) by Jamie Campbell (my miracle luna book free read .TXT) 📕

I was free.

Not really.

I looked to Oliver for some guidance, hoping he had a plan to escape now I was actually mobile again. He gave me a thumbs up. “I’ll create a distraction while you run. Don’t stop until you’re out. For anything. Got it?”

“What about if you-”

“Don’t stop. I’ll follow you and we’ll meet up outside.” There was no point arguing, we didn’t have enough time. I nodded. “Good. Wait for my signal.”

I didn’t get a chance to say anything further before Oliver melted into the shadows. I watched him out of the corner of my eye, trying not to give his presence or location away. It was difficult, I wanted to see his every movement to make sure he was okay.

The boys in the room were all intent on their assigned task, none of them paying me any attention. I knew that would change the moment I made a sound. It would only take one little thing and they would shoot over to my seat and dish out whatever punishment they deemed appropriate.

Oliver made his way closer to them – and further away from the door. My stomach was a bundle of knots as he entered further into the dragons’ den. My guilt at causing him to be in this situation was threatening to engulf me. I had to make sure he made it out alive.

I could not leave him behind, no matter what I had agreed to.

Suddenly a gust of wind helped Oliver knock a few crates over. The loud crash that followed bounced off the cavernous walls. He quickly looked at me, it was the cue I needed. As the boys were distracted by the noise, I stood.

And ran like hell.

I barreled toward the door, my only escape route out of the place. Every inch of my body protested against the haste. I was too starved of food, water, and peaceful sleep to move fast. Once, I used to be on the track team at school. Now, I could barely move without gasping air into my lungs.

“Get her! She’s running!” Taz was the first one to notice my absence. The moment the words escaped his lips, several sets of feet starting pounding the floor between us.

I forced myself forward. If I got caught again, they wouldn’t hesitate in killing me a second time. I was too much trouble to keep alive, they didn’t have the patience or desire to keep me around. Not when a few more blows to my head would turn off my lights forever.

Stealing a glance over my shoulder, four of the guys were only a few yards away from me. I frantically tried to work out where Oliver was in the melee.

I couldn’t see him.

My head snapped around just in time to see the door. I hurried through it, feeling like my legs were made of jelly. How long would it take for them to give out on me? It would only take one little trip up and I would fall to the ground, all hope lost.

But I had to keep going.

Even if Oliver wasn’t following.

He told me to keep going no matter what. Surely I had only just missed him when I turned to look? He said he would follow. I had to believe him. Even though every piece of my heart was telling me to stop and find him.

I couldn’t.

For him.

My arms flailed at my sides, keeping a rhythmic pattern with my feet. If I could just keep going, if I ignored the pain, if I switched off all my plaguing thoughts, I might just make it.

I rounded several corners, all them becoming a blur. I was completely lost again, but it didn’t matter this time. My goal wasn’t to get anywhere in particular, my goal was to get away from Jet’s gang. Even if I ended up in the middle of nowhere it wouldn’t matter as long as I was safe.

And Oliver, too.

A lump formed in my throat at the thought of him. He had to be following me, he just had to. He didn’t come to rescue me just to take my place. That wasn’t how things were supposed to work. Not for the good guys.

I had been too caught up in my own thoughts that I didn’t notice the footsteps behind me grow quieter. In fact, I couldn’t hear them at all anymore.

Slowing only slightly, I craned around to check. Nobody was following me.

Absolutely nobody.

I slowed down to a walk, fearing stopping completely would cause my legs to collapse and refuse to move ever again. Taking in my surroundings, I was in the middle of more buildings deep in the heart of the city. Instead of leaving like I had wanted to, I had run in the opposite direction and moved further into the city. My house on the hill would be miles away now.

“Hey, we did it.” Oliver’s voice gave me a coronary heart attack. My head snapped around to see him beside me. He was puffed, but nothing like I was.

“I didn’t… I was worried you’d… I thought…” All comprehensive words had completely fallen out of my head somewhere along the way. Perhaps they had been beaten out of me by Taz.

Oliver gave me the smile I questioned whether I would ever see again and laughed. “We’re here and safe, that’s all that matters. Now, do you know where we are?”

I looked around again, because that was something I could do. The buildings were grey granite, made out of large bricks of the material. I knew what part of the city we were in. At least I used to know where it was. It had been so long since I walked through the city most