Betrayed

by Melinda Metz

Overview

From the author of the Roswell High series, a teen with telepathic powers discovers the deadly source of her paranormal inheritance.
 
Her special ability put her in the ultimate danger. Now who can she trust with her life?
 
When Anthony came to Rae’s rescue after her traumatic kidnapping, she felt more than grateful. In fact, Rae felt a whole lot of things after their unexpected kiss. But just as she’s trying to figure out what’s going on between her and Anthony, she gets a lead on her nemesis that could finally lead to his capture. Naturally, Anthony is the first person she turns to. Only before she can share her breakthrough, she realizes Anthony’s hiding something from her. And he’s not the only friend keeping secrets. Now Rae will have to face down her enemies on her own. Not to mention the devastating truth about what really happened to her mother—a revelation that could get her killed.
 
Praise for Gifted Touch
 
“[A] fast pace and original premise.” —Publishers Weekly
 
“This engaging mystery conveys themes of self-discovery and self-acceptance within a classic whodunit framework.” —School Library Journal

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781504088657
Publisher:	Open Road Media
Publication date:	09/26/2023
Series:	Fingerprints
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	180
Sales rank:	1,170,621
File size:	987 KB
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Melinda Metz is the author of over sixty books for teens and middle-grade readers, including the YA series Roswell High and Echoes (originally published as Fingerprints). She has worked on TV shows such as Roswell (based on her series) and Missing. Melinda lives in Concord, North Carolina with her dog, Scully.
Melinda Metz is the author of more than sixty books for teens and middle-grade readers, including the YA series Roswell High and Fingerprints. She has worked on TV shows such as Roswell, which was based on her series and Missing. Metz lives in Concord, North Carolina, with her dog, Scully.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

Rae Voight closed her eyes. She felt her body sink down into her soft bed. Deeper, deeper, her breath becoming deeper, too. Slower. Then her right leg kicked out. Her head jerked back. And her eyes snapped open. "You're not there anymore," she whispered, hoping saying the words out loud would help her believe them. "You're home. You're safe."

Safe. But for how long? The men who had held her and Yana captive in the Motel 6 hadn't found out whatever it was they wanted to know. Whoever they were, they weren't finished with her. Rae didn't think they'd be finished until she was dead. Or they were.

Rae's eyes began to itch. She needed to blink, but she didn't want to shut her eyes again, even for a fraction of a second. If she did, it would happen. She'd be back in the Motel 6, tied up, helpless. The itching increased. Rae had to blink. Had to. She flicked her eyelids down — and saw herself on the floor of the motel room. She could actually feel the thick, nubby blindfold pressing against her eyes, even though her eyelids had already flicked back up.

Light. She needed light. Rae sat up in bed and switched on the lamp on her nightstand. There was no way she was ever getting to sleep, not when closing her eyes long enough to blink freaked her out. She glanced at her alarm clock — a little after 4 A.M. Thank God. She could get up in another hour or so without her dad going into parental concern overdrive. Rae blinked as fast as she could. Having the light on definitely helped somehow, even during a blink.

A plan. I need some kind ofplan, she thought. But her brain was blank, like a fried computer. Okay, so I'll get Yana and Anthony to help. Maybe even Jesse. I'll ask them all to meet up here after —

Rae's heart went still, then gave a hard double thump. Someone was in the hall. They were trying to be quiet, but she knew they were there. What if it was him — her kidnapper? The non-meter reader. The man she'd been so close to without knowing what he was capable of, what he would soon do to her. She heard the whisper of cloth — a sleeve? a pant leg? — against the wall. And there — just then — the soft creak of a floorboard. Rae knew that board. It was the loose one about three steps from her bedroom door. Whoever was out there was close. Very close. She jerked her eyes to the window. Closed. Locked. There wouldn't be time to —

A faint squeak interrupted her thoughts. Rae whipped her head back toward the door, her eyes riveted on the doorknob, the turning doorknob. She opened her mouth to scream — and her father stepped into the room.

"Dad," Rae exclaimed, the word coming out cracked from her dry throat.

"I saw your light. I was up to use the bathroom," he said, jamming his hands in the deep pockets of his worn terry cloth robe.

"I was, um, studying. History test tomorrow," Rae explained, realizing a moment too late that she had no book out, no notebook, nothing.

"Actually, I was lying," her father told her. "I couldn't sleep."

"Me neither," Rae admitted. She scooted closer to the headboard so she could lean against it.

Her father sat down on the edge of the bed. "I kept replaying all the things I said to you when you got home from the concert. I was too harsh."

"No. You were right. It was completely wrong of me just to call and announce I was crashing after the concert and wouldn't be home until morning." Rae didn't tell him she'd been forced by her kidnappers to tell him that lie. If her dad knew what really happened Saturday night, he'd never let her out of his sight again. And he'd probably give himself an ulcer. She remembered how he'd looked when he used to come visit her in the hospital after her breakdown. He'd looked like he should be in the hospital himself, his skin all gray, his clothes loose from the weight he'd lost. Rae never wanted to see him like that again. Especially not because of her.

"Ever since...summer," her father began. Rae knew he really meant ever since she'd been put in the mental hospital. "Ever since then, I know I've been a pain." A burst of laughter escaped Rae. That was so not what she was expecting her dad to say. "Buying you that cell phone so I could always check up on you." he continued. "And remember how I wanted to get a live-in housekeeper?" he asked.

"Yeah. I remember," Rae told him. It had taken her at least a week to talk him out of that one.

"I want you to know that it's not that I don't trust you. You have more sense than most of my college students," her dad said. He rubbed the bump on his nose, the bump that Rae had inherited. "It's just that even when you're my age, I'm probably going to feel like it's my job to keep you safe. Last summer — no, last spring, last fall, or even before that, I should have seen —"

"No," Rae cut him off. "It — it wasn't like that. It happened really fast. There was nothing for you to see." That was the truth. Rae's fingerprint-reading power had appeared like a light switch being turned on. At first she'd thought she was going nuts, that she was hearing voices in her head like a psycho killer. Then she'd realized — well, Anthony Fascinelli had realized — what was really going on. When Rae touched...

Fingerprints #5: Betrayed. Copyright © by Melinda Metz. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.