Premonition (The Division Series Book 1)
Page 1
Table of Contents
SNEAK PEAK OF BOOK #2!
ABOUT THE SERIES
In Which My Mother Completely Loses It
The Cold Shoulder
The Cutest Boy Ever
The Invitation
Proper Motivation
That Sinking Feeling
WTF
No Pain, No Gain
A Walk To Remember
Stress Test
In Which I Seriously Consider Scaling The Fence
Meditate That
The Other Ninety Percent
Fact Or Fiction
All That Glitters
The Bright Side
Better Off Dead
And Now, For Something Completely Different
The Other Side
Follow The Leader
A Reliable Source
No Matter What
Me Vs. You
Checkmate
The Same Old Town
Dear Reader:
About the Author
Fresh Meat
PREMONITION
THE DIVISION #1
Leigh James
CMG PUBLISHING
Copyright © 2017 by Leigh Walker.
Published by CMG Publishing
All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions. V.7.14.2017.
Sign up for Leigh’s mailing list at www.leighwalkerbooks.com.
Contents
ABOUT THE SERIES
1. In Which My Mother Completely Loses It
2. The Cold Shoulder
3. The Cutest Boy Ever
4. The Invitation
5. Proper Motivation
6. That Sinking Feeling
7. WTF
8. No Pain, No Gain
9. A Walk To Remember
10. Stress Test
11. In Which I Seriously Consider Scaling The Fence
12. Meditate That
13. The Other Ninety Percent
14. Fact Or Fiction
15. All That Glitters
16. The Bright Side
17. Better Off Dead
18. And Now, For Something Completely Different
19. The Other Side
20. Follow The Leader
21. A Reliable Source
22. No Matter What
23. Me Vs. You
24. Checkmate
25. The Same Old Town
Dear Reader:
About the Author
SNEAK PEAK OF BOOK #2!
Fresh Meat
ABOUT THE SERIES
THE DIVISION
For fans of The Hunger Games and Divergent, this exciting new science-fiction romance series, filled with twists and turns, will take you for a wild ride!
When Riley heads off to boarding school for a summer work-study program, she knows it’ll be demanding. What she doesn’t expect? To be thrust into an intense physical training program described as special, exclusive, and—worst of all—top-secret. She signed up for tuition assistance, not to be held in a secret government facility for boot camp.
Welcome to The Division, the government agency that’s so classified, most United States senators have never heard of it.
The Division wants Riley bad, but she can’t figure out why. Skeptical of what she’s being told, Riley’s determined to uncover the truth. Boot camp is intense, physically and mentally draining. The upside? One of her new teammates is the cutest boy ever. Watching Finn hit the gym wearing a tank top doesn’t suck—although sometimes, his brooding attitude does. But when training forces Riley to confront her tragic past, even Finn’s big biceps aren’t enough to make her want to stay.
Beware: The Division isn’t something you just walk away from. You’d better run.
Riley realizes her capabilities and strengths are greater than she’d ever imagined. But she also learns she wasn’t just chosen for this special program…
She was made for it.
1
In Which My Mother Completely Loses It
I finished packing early. As a reward, I grabbed my blanket, a bowl of popcorn, a bunch of mini candy bars, and the remote control. Snuggled on the couch with my snacks, I turned on the television. For my last night at home, I planned to enjoy a Walking Dead marathon that lasted until my eyeballs popped out.
There was a sudden thud outside our apartment door. “Oh, crap!”
My mother’s words sounded slurred from in here—but they were still clearer than I wished they were. Oh crap, indeed. So much for my final cozy night on the couch…
My crazy, drunk mother was home.
She tried to shove the key into the lock, but she must’ve dropped it. She cursed and banged on the door again. “Riley! You in there? Open the door!”
I gave the television one last, longing look. I shoved a mini Twix into my mouth, braced myself, and headed to the door.
I opened it, and she fell through, landing in a heap on the cheap industrial carpet.
“Hey, Mom.”
She squinted up at me through her bangs. She was wearing a jean jacket, Capri pants, and rubber flip-flops. She would’ve looked almost normal, except for the fact that she was crumpled on the floor. Her toe nail polish was a bright, crazy blue, a color she never would have tried before…
Mom slowly picked herself up, her eyes trying to focus on my face. “I realized something tonight. Something big.”
I nodded, even though I had no idea what she was talking about. I gingerly took her arm and led her inside, trying not to breathe too close. She reeked of the VFW. Once we got to the couch, I dropped her as if she were a hot potato about to explode. “Okay then. Good night!”
She collapsed onto my blanket, probably crushing the remote. “Oh no you don’t. I said—I realized something tonight!”
“Oh.” Oh joy.
She scrunched up her eyes, waiting for me to say more.
“Yay?”
“Don’t you be fresh to me, young lady!” Even drunk, she managed to be irritated by me.
“Well, maybe you can tell me about it in the morning, when you’re feeling…better.” I knew she wouldn’t be feeling better, but it would be easy for me to avoid her as she slept it off.
I tried to escape to my bedroom, but she caught me by the wrist.
“Riley.”
I had to fake enough patience to avoid a fight. “Yes, Mom?”
She warily released me. “I know you don’t want to talk about it, but I had an epiphany.”
I wanted to ask how many drinks had brought it on, but I kept my mouth shut.
She leaned forward conspiratorially. “It has to do with your dad. Your sister.”
I recoiled as if she’d slapped me. She never mentioned my sister. As in, never. As in, not once since the memorial service. “What?”
She held up a finger, shaking it at me. “When you’re number’s up, it’s up.” She sat back, her glazed eyes shining in triumph.
“That was your big epiphany?”
“That’s right.” She nodded, two hectic spots of color in her cheeks. “Both of them—it was their time. It was fate. You can’t fight fate. When it’s your number come up on the wheel—BOOM!” She clapped her hands, making me jump. “That’s it. There’s nothing you can do.”
There was nothing I could do. It was official: the cheap Chardonnay had finally eaten her brain.
“Well. That’s—that’s deep, Mom.” I coughed “Really.”
“I told you not to be fresh to
me!” Her voice, thick and miserable with booze, carried the sharp edge I hated.
“I’m not being fresh.” I struggled to keep my voice from shaking. “It’s just that you never say anything about Katie, and when you finally do, it’s gibberish. I wish you’d respect her memory more.” I wish you would talk about her when you weren’t shitfaced.
She sat up straight. She’d become small, shrunken, her collarbones jutting out painfully from underneath her jean jacket.
I’d feel sorry for her, but I wasn’t big on feeling these days.
“I don’t talk about your sister because I can’t bear to,” she said, teetering precipitously close to tears.
Aw, hell no. “It’s okay, Mom! I’m sorry I said anything…I’m just being sensitive. You know—teenaged hormones.” I smiled at her brightly, knowing she would never remember this conversation tomorrow. Hormones, my butt. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d talked to my mother about something personal.
“Oh honey, I know. I mean, I don’t know…but you’ve been taking care of yourself, right?” In a rare moment of maternal concern, she looked me over. She must not have liked what she saw because she frowned.
“Yes, Mom. I’m fine.”
Her shoulders slumped. “You’re going to Hollingsworth tomorrow, and I don’t even know if you’re ready. You don’t have to go…”
“It’ll be good for me. It’s the best school in the state.” I fake-smiled so hard my jaw hurt. I’d applied to Hollingsworth, the town’s exclusive boarding school, when I realized my mother was never going to sober up. Number one in my class at my public high school, I’d received a full scholarship. I was moving into my dorm tomorrow morning to start my summer work-study program. My senior-year classes didn’t start until after Labor Day, but I’d jumped at the chance to move out of the depressing basement apartment I shared with my mother and work on the grounds crew all summer.
Anywhere but here sounded good.
“I need to go to bed. I have to get going early tomorrow.” Eager to flee, I backed toward my room.
She shook her finger at me. “You remember what I said. When your numbers up, it’s up.”
“Okay, Mom. Go to sleep.” I rushed to my room and closed the door, relieved to be away from her. I grabbed my headphones and flopped onto my bed. I turned my music way up, blocking out any other noise. If my mom fell on the way to her room, I wouldn’t hear it.
That was fine by me.
I must’ve fallen asleep with my headphones on because there was music in my dream, and then there wasn’t, and then there was someone sitting on my chest and yelling in my face.
“Jesus!” I yelled, coming awake all at once and knocking my mother onto the floor.
“I was trying to tell you the other thing,” she yelped.
I looked at the clock. It was midnight. My mother was slurring. I put my headphones on the nightstand and sat up a little. “Well, you’ve got my attention. Tell me then let me go back to sleep. Please—I have an early run.”
“Good girl,” she croaked from the floor. “You keep up the running. You’ve always been a good girl.”
This was news to me. “What did you want to tell me?”
“Don’t be a sheep.”
I opened my mouth but it just hung there, dangling from its hinges.
“I said, don’t be a sheep, Riley!”
“Okay…”
“Don’t just okay me—I mean it. Don’t follow directions blindly. Think about everything you do.”
“You’re seriously giving me this advice? You can’t even talk straight.”
She sat up a little. “I’m not online. There’s that.”
“You’re not a sheep because you’re not on Facebook?”
She either shrugged or her neck lolled. “If you’re online, they can find you.”
I smacked myself in the forehead. “Who? Who can find you?”
“Are you online?”
“No,” I admitted. It’d be pretty sad to have an Instagram feed filled with…my drunk mother, my homework, and my runs because that’d be about it.
I flopped back onto my bed, studying the water-stained popcorn ceiling. “Why are you telling me this?”
She sighed. “Because even though I haven’t helped you in a long time, I want you to be safe.”
“Okay…I think I’ve got it. (A) When my number’s up, it’s up, and (b) don’t be a sheep—in other words, stay off Snapchat. Are we good?”
“No, we’re not. But you remember what I told you.”
I started to drift off, trying to get away from what she’d said. I didn’t understand it, but I didn’t think that was a failure on my part. It was a cardboard box of Chardonnay talking, disguised as my mother.
She snored from her spot on the floor.
Oddly comforted by the sound, I finally drifted off to sleep.
2
The Cold Shoulder
I woke the next morning feeling vaguely annoyed, and then I remembered what’d happened. I rolled over, but she was gone.
I’d slept in my sweats on top of my comforter. Even though it was early June, I shivered, feeling stiff. New Hampshire was like that: sweatshirt weather until late June, followed by three months of ninety-degrees and one-hundred-percent humidity, followed by winter. Rent was cheap in Hanover for a reason.
I changed quickly into my running clothes, wanting to be safely out of the house before she woke up. She might’ve staggered back to her room, or maybe she’d passed out somewhere in the kitchen-slash-living room. If I had to step over her on my way out the door, that would be bad. A pang of guilt hit me. I shouldn’t have left her like that last night, passed out on the floor.
But it was the fact that she’d mentioned Katie… She must have been off-her-rocker drunk.
I cautiously left my room, but she was nowhere in sight. Relieved, I went and made myself a piece of toast, drinking some orange juice out of the carton while I waited. When it was ready, I slathered butter on it, folded it in half, and popped most of it into my mouth on the way out the door. I might choke, but I was in a hurry for a good reason. I wanted to get a decent run in before I headed to Hollingsworth. Nervous and excited about going to the dorm and meeting the other students, I knew nothing could calm me down like running.
I put my ear buds in as I started the loop around Occom Pond. There were a few other runners out, getting their miles in before it turned unbearably humid. I wondered if my mother would wake up before I left for Hollingsworth—probably not. Her weekend ritual involved drinking until she passed out, sleeping till noon, rinse and repeat.
During the week when she worked at the laundromat, she skipped the sleeping-till-noon part.
I couldn’t wait to get away from her. This made me a bad daughter, but I needed to get the hell out of Depressing Central, where every day was a hung-over memorial service for the people we’d loved, lost, and didn’t dare talk about.
I rounded the corner on the path. A tall, sinewy man with a silver crew cut ran toward me, and it was too late for me to get out of the way. I bumped into him, and he glared at me, his lip curled into a nasty sneer.
“Why don’t you take out those ear buds?” he yelled without stopping.
“I’m sorry.” My voice probably came out too loud because I was blasting my music.
The man didn’t turn around again.
I hurried through the rest of my run, wanting to get home and take a shower, eager to put the last twenty-four hours behind me.
My mother snored in her room. I snuck to the shower. It would be so nice to avoid a messy scene, especially after last night. I rushed through the shampoo and conditioning process, impatient to finish and finally get out of there.
As I towel-dried my long, thick hair, there was a familiar snuffling outside the window. One of the quirks of our basement apartment was a window located in the shower. I stuck my head around the shower curtain and was greeted by the friendly face of my landlord’s bulldog, Ernie.
“Hi, buddy.”
He snuffled in approval and scratched at the screen.
I reached out my hand, and he put he put his face down so I could pet him through the dusty screen. “I was going to say goodbye to you, you know. And I’m only going to be on the other side of town. I’ll come back to visit you.”
He sneezed, blinked at me then went to roll in a patch of mud. My eyes burned with tears as I watched him get filthy. Ernie had been the one bright spot of moving here. “Don’t get too dirty,” I warned him, “or you’ll have to take a bath.”
He ignored me, gleefully rolling on his back.
I went back to drying my hair, which took forever. I peeked back through the screen, but Ernie had gone inside. I quietly grabbed the things I’d packed and literally snuck out of the apartment to the sound of my mother’s snores. I went around the side of the building, hopped on my old mountain bike, balanced all my crap, and rode down the sidewalk.
I had a sleeping bag, my laptop, my sneakers, pajamas, my journal, and a couple changes of clothes. These things comprised my most cherished possessions. I could come back for the rest. And when I did, I wouldn’t have to stay, and that was everything. I did a mental fist-pump as I headed down Main Street toward the Hollingsworth campus. Thrilled that I’d been able to work this one thing out, I pedaled happily, the wind blowing the hair back from my face.
I couldn’t wait to start over. I so needed to start over.
It took me twenty minutes to reach the ritzy boarding-school campus. I stopped and locked my bike, looking around. Growing up in Hanover, I’d been around the school my whole life. The campus was pretty, but I’d taken it for granted. Now, it looked different to me. The red-bricked colonial buildings were stately, imposing, and full of promise. The green that connected the campus was enormous—a place I’d be able to spread out, have a snack, and read a book around others like me—quiet, serious and introverted.