Clara Kensie - Run to You Part Five - Fifth Touch

Part Five in the riveting romantic thriller about a family on the run from a deadly past and a first love that will transcend secrets, lies and danger...

Tessa’s nightmares feel all too real, and the hope of getting her family back together has never seemed so slim.

Although a psychic warns her that leaving town may mean her death, Tessa cannot stay when she uncovers a new lead to her brother and sister. Not even if she must go alone and risk losing Tristan forever.

Run to You Part V: Fifth Touch

Clara Kensie

www.miraink.co.uk

Dedication Dedication Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-One Chapter Twenty-Two Chapter Twenty-Three Chapter Twenty-Four Chapter Twenty-Five Chapter Twenty-Six Chapter Twenty-Seven Chapter Twenty-Eight Chapter Twenty-Nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-One Chapter Thirty-Two Chapter Thirty-Three Chapter Thirty-Four Chapter Thirty-Five Chapter Thirty-Six About the Author Excerpt from Run to You Part Six: Sixth Sense Excerpt from Foretold Copyright

To J

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text Part Five in the riveting romantic thriller about a family on the run from a deadly past and a first love that will transcend secrets, lies and danger... Tessa’s nightmares feel all too real, and the hope of getting her family back together has never seemed so slim. Although a psychic warns her that leaving town may mean her death, Tessa cannot stay when she uncovers a new lead to her brother and sister. Not even if she must go alone and risk losing Tristan forever.

Title Page Run to You Part V: Fifth Touch Clara Kensie www.miraink.co.uk

Dedication Dedication Dedication Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-One Chapter Twenty-Two Chapter Twenty-Three Chapter Twenty-Four Chapter Twenty-Five Chapter Twenty-Six Chapter Twenty-Seven Chapter Twenty-Eight Chapter Twenty-Nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-One Chapter Thirty-Two Chapter Thirty-Three Chapter Thirty-Four Chapter Thirty-Five Chapter Thirty-Six About the Author Excerpt from Run to You Part Six: Sixth Sense Excerpt from Foretold Copyright To J

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Six

About the Author

Excerpt from Run to You Part Six: Sixth Sense

Excerpt from Foretold

Copyright

Chapter Seventeen

I was going to die.

Inside a little house with silver walls, I was going to bleed to death.

Because Deirdre had a dream.

“How will it happen?” An anxious dread settled in my stomach like a rock. From the counter, the knife flashed again.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I just know that it will.”

“What kind of house has silver walls?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Dennis said solemnly, “because you’ll never be in a house like that. Deirdre’s dreams always happen, Tessa. The only way to keep them from happening is to change the course of events. She dreamed that you left Lilybrook because of your brother and sister. So, to change the course of events, you won’t leave. You’ll stay in Lilybrook.”

“Tristan changes the course of events with his warning premonitions all the time,” I said. “So if he has one about me, I’ll listen. I won’t ignore him anymore. I’ll do what he says. Immediately. I promise.”

“That’s not good enough,” Tristan said. He put his hands on either side of my face and caressed my cheeks with his thumbs. “You almost got hit by that ambulance in Tennessee because you had lifted the fog so high that you were lost in the visions. You walked right in front of it, even though I was yelling for you to stop. It wasn’t that you ignored me; you didn’t hear me. Or what if...” He grimaced, guilt shadowing his face. “What if something like Twelve Lakes happens again?”

My shame was my parents; Tristan’s shame was his failure to keep me safe from Kellan in Twelve Lakes.

“But what about Jillian and Logan?” I asked. “I can’t let a dream stop me from finding them.”

“Aaron Jacobs is looking for them,” Dennis said.

“I’m looking for them too,” Tristan said. “I may not be a human computer like Aaron is, but I’m still searching for matches for Brinda’s drawings, and I’m still contacting psychics around the country. I’ll find them for you, like I promised I would. I’ll bring them to you, here, in Lilybrook.”

The tightness in Deirdre’s face turned from worry to anger. “Dennis spent eight years looking for you,” she said. “Tristan moved away his senior year and put off college for you. They risked their lives to bring you to safety. That you would even consider—”

Dennis took her hand. “You can’t be with your brother and sister if you’re dead, Tessa.”

From atop the fridge, Marmalade mewed.

I stared at the Connellys, and they stared back at me. Deirdre: hurt and resentful. Dennis: decisive and stern. Tristan: distressed and determined.

Tristan and Dennis were almost killed because of me. I owed it to them to stay alive.

And despite the shame that crawled around inside me like a disease, despite my tainted blood, despite being Killers’ Spawn...I didn’t want to die. I wanted to live to see my brother and sister again. I wanted to give them happy, stable, peaceful lives.

I couldn’t give Jillian and Logan happy, stable, peaceful lives if I bled to death inside a little house with silver walls. I needed to live.

For the past eight years, I’d fled from town to town to stay alive. And now, to stay alive, I needed to stay put. I could not change my past, but I could change my future.

“Fine,” I mumbled. “I’ll stay in Lilybrook.”

* * *

As I stood at the mirror in the guest bedroom and brushed my hair for school, Tristan came up behind me. He put his hands on my hips and drew me against him. “I have to leave for class, but I want to let you know that you don’t have to worry about a thing,” he said. “Nothing’s changed except you can’t leave Lilybrook. You’ll still get Jillian and Logan back.”

“What do you think it means, though?” I asked. “A silver room?”

“My mom’s dreams can be symbolic. She dreamed that you had wildflower eyes, remember? You do have wildflower eyes, but not literally. The silver room can be anything. I think the silver is your fog. Maybe it means that instead of lifting it too high, you bring it down too low and pass out again, like you did in the Underground.”

“Hmm. That could be. But the red? The blood?” I asked.

“I don’t know. You’ll hit your head on something when you pass out? You’ll get hit by a car?” He shuddered.

“What if it means someone’s going to kill me?”

“Don’t even talk that way. Who would want to kill you?”

I met his gaze in the mirror. “Nathan.”

A muscle pulsed angrily in his jaw. “I told him to leave you alone. Has he threatened you?”

“No. He hasn’t even spoken to me. But he still hates me. He’s in my nightmares. His eyes become part of the Nightmare Eyes.”

Tristan considered it, then shook his head. “I don’t know what’s going on with Nathan, but he wouldn’t hurt you. He’s a safeguard, Tessa. He protects people. I’ll call him on my way to class this morning and talk to him again. Besides, my mom’s dream will only happen if you leave Lilybrook. And you’re not going to do that. You are going to stay here, where it’s safe. I will bring Jillian and Logan to you.”