Taken Over (Book 2 The Ravening Series) by Erica Stevens Page A

to her. It has to be good news, it has to be good news, I prayed silently . I twisted my hands eagerl y before me hoping that the note held something that would help ease the broken look on her face. Jenna frowned at me but slipped the now crumpled paper from my grasp. She pulled it open, her eyes widening as she spotted her name, and the words.
       “It’s from my mom,” she breathed.
       I inhaled a shaky breath, fighting back the sudden rush of tears that sprang to my eyes. Hope tore through me, happiness and relief filled me as Jenna’s face lit with pure joy and her bright green eyes shone with tears of happiness this time . “They’re alive, they both are. Or at least they were a week ago. She says they waited a week for me , but there were other survivors moving through and they realized they had to move also. T hey are heading into Boston, in hopes that there will be more survivors and protection there. S he’ s not sure exactly where they will be . N o matter what , as long as one of them is still alive, they will leave me a note either at my grandmother’s house, the science museum, Paul Revere’s house, or in a mailbox at a home on Beacon hill. She says t he y love me and miss me. There are tear marks on the paper.”
       Jenna was also crying by the time she was done giving us the details of the note. I didn’t think she realized this though as she was smiling radiantly and didn ’ t wipe the tears from her face. “Why so many places?” Bret asked softly.
       “In case one or all of the others are destroyed,” Lloyd answered. “Or in case they don’t make it near any of the others.”
       “They will go to my grandmother’s , no matter what,” Jenna insisted.
       “But there is no guarantee your grandmother’s house will still be standing.”
       Though the words were harsh and clipped, Jenna didn ’ t flinch from the truth of them. I felt she was too happy to acknowledge the pain those words would have normally inflicted . “It’s ok, they’re alive ,” she breathed. “I will find them, no matter what, and that is all that matters.”
       I nodded my agreement. She had come this far, he r parents had come this far, I firmly believed they would be reunited again, and I was going to do everything I could to make that happen. “I should have left a note,” Bret mumbled.
       I rested my hand on his arm, squeezing it gently. “You couldn’t have know n that your mother probably wasn’t affected. ”
       “I still should have done it; I just assumed that we would be able to g et back…”
       His voice trailed off, his strong jaw clenched as he turned away from me. I could sense his anguish, his frustration, even though he was trying to keep it buried. “There are plenty of us that wish we could have done things differently, unfortunately there is no changing the past. We have each other, we have our lives, and we need to keep moving forward,” Lloyd said briskly.
       I didn’t ask what had happened to his family ; he probably didn’t kn o w and none of us liked to be reminded of the loved ones we’d lost . “There’s always hope,” I whispered, briefly recalling my dream of Cade earlier.
       Bret’s forest colored, beautiful green eyes came slowly back to me. For one brief, highly alarming moment, I saw only despair in a gaze that had always been so full of wonder and joy. And then, much to my relief, he managed a small smile and squeezed my hand tightly. “Yes , there is.”
       I realized too late that he might have take n my w ords the wrong way. That he may think that I meant hope for him and I again , when that was the last thing in the world I ’ d meant . I glanced at Jenna, not wanting her to think I had changed my mind about Bret . We ’ d just become tenuous friends, I didn’t want to ruin that, but she was still staring in wonder at the paper in her hands. I jumped slightly when Bret’s thumb stroked over my hand.
       “Your