Gone (Gone #1) by Stacy Claflin Page B

the Eiffel Tower—eating cold pie for breakfast—while Macy was forced to be the fill-in daughter.
    She climbed into bed and pulled the covers up. She looked around the room before lying down. If she wasn't able to make her escape soon, she would go through the room to figure out what she could. She turned off the light on the nightstand.
    As her head hit the pillow, she fell right to sleep. She dreamed of her family and Zoey. In her dreams, she was back home and everything was back to normal, except for everyone asking her where she had gone.
    Macy sat up in bed, clutching the blankets. She didn't know what had woken her. She couldn't remember any bad dreams, nor did she think she heard any sounds. The house was quiet, so much so that she could hear some of the animals from the barn. Maybe that was what had woken her.
    She certainly wasn't used to those noises when she slept in a bed.
    The sun was starting to come up.
    Could this be her chance? She climbed out of bed, holding her breath, fearful to make even a small noise. She tip-toed to the door, cringing each time her foot found a squeaky board.
    Macy took a slow, quiet, deep breath before grabbing the doorknob. Should she get dressed first? In case she was able to make a run for it? She shook her head, holding her breath. She needed to check everything out first.
    Turning the knob as slow as possible, she was relieved to find that it made no noise. She pulled the door open, silent except the noise of it sliding over the carpet. She stepped out of the room and gasped, covering her mouth.
    Leaning against the wall, on the floor in front of her was the picture he had stolen from her house. Her parents, her brother and herself all smiled from the frame. She stared at it for a moment before closing the door as quietly as she could, her heart pounding nearly out of her chest.
    She leaned against the closed door, trying to catch her breath.
    He was reminding her of his threat to kill her family if she tried to get away. He was letting her know that he had gotten into her house once, and he could do it again.
    Her heart sank. She couldn't risk the lives of her family.
    What if she ran away, and then he went straight to her home and killed them?
    She looked around the room. What if Chester had killed Heather and her mother? Someone crazy enough to kidnap would be nuts enough to kill.
    Shaking, she climbed back into the warm bed. Even with the covers pulled up, she couldn't stop shivering.
    What was she going to do? She couldn't live here, pretending to be Heather. Someone would have to figure it out, wouldn't they? He had said something about grandparents. Surely they would know Macy wasn't their granddaughter. They would have to. Even if Macy looked exactly like her, there was no way she spoke and acted like her.
    Heather had to have gone to school and had friends. They would know she wasn't Heather. Zoey would know right away if someone posed as Macy.
    Pulling her knees to her chest, Macy held her legs close, and took deep breaths. She couldn't stop shaking, nor would her heart slow down.
    Even though she had called Chester "dad," he didn't trust her yet. How long would that take? When would she have enough trust to be able to sneak away?
    She sighed and looked around the room, which was slowly getting lighter. If she stayed up a little longer, she'd have enough light to go through the room and see if she could find anything out about the girl who had lived there.
    Hopefully, Heather was in Paris with her mom, but what were the chances of that? Who was Macy kidding? She couldn't imagine Chester leaving without them. He would have insisted they come with him, even if he had to threaten them. Either they had run away, like Macy wanted to, or Chester had done something to them, like he had threatened to do to her family.
    She had finally stopped shaking. Even though she knew she would have to get up soon, she still felt sleepy. With a little more rest, she would have the energy