A Quill Ladder by Jennifer Ellis Read Free Book Online Page A

with its usual whoosh.
    Abbey dressed and was about to head to the kitchen when she heard the ping of a new email.
     
    Envelope-to: [email protected]
    Date: Tues, 20 November 2012 07:7:29 -0700
    From: Fly Kid [email protected]
    Subject: Re: How are things
    To: [email protected]
     
    Thanks. That would be great. Meet me in the physics lab at 12:05.
     
    Abbey ’ s fingers trembled and she hit delete immediately. Meet Jake. In broad daylight in the physics lab. Somehow that seemed more filled with risk than using the stones, learning magic, and jumping timelines combined.
     
     
    At school, Abbey tried to concentrate on the shuffle of subjects — physics, chemistry, English, drama. She was way ahead of her class in physics and chemistry, and rather than conducting more research and reading ahead as she usually did, she spent her first two periods doodling almost aimlessly. Russell Andrews ’ s pale blue eyes flicked past her on a constant rotation, like a lighthouse making its requisite turns. He hadn ’ t talked to her since that day when he ’ d invited her to the student council meeting, but he was definitely watching her, and she occasionally felt the brush of his arm when he passed behind her lab stool and glanced over her shoulder at her notebook. He could be planning to throw a curse at her at any moment. Russell ’ s aunt had been elected to city council, which had resulted in some low, harsh-sounding conversations between her parents concerning ethics and intelligence.
    What had her future self been seeking to tell her? Russell Andrews/ALICE. Russell ’ s father owned the largest mining company in the Midwest. Would he eventually mine aluminum, for Aluminum Ice? That was the obvious inference. But what did that have to do with her, or the stones? No, there was more.
    She spent her English class period trying to compose a story, but it kept coming out as a fantastical tale regarding a sister and brothers who used a set of stones to time travel. Did she lack imagination, or did she require therapy?
    Abbey ’ s pencil-thin, red-lipped drama teacher spent much of drama class regarding Abbey with mystified and hostile sadness as Abbey moved stiffly across the stage and botched her lines, while Caleb, Ms. Verigan ’ s favorite student, gave her strange looks as he waited in the wings for his closing soliloquy.
    Finally, noon came, and Abbey bolted down the hall with a quivering heart. The physics lab was on the main floor. Most kids would be in the cafeteria, but still, the risk of being seen with Jake was high. The lab was deserted, and Abbey sank into one of the seats. Maybe he had just been playing with her.
    When Jake tapped on the window, she nearly jumped. She started to walk over to the window, but he pointed toward the alley behind the school, then disappeared.
    Leaving the grounds was against the rules, and other than skipping school three weeks ago, Abbey was not in the habit of breaking rules, in part because, as evidenced by her trembling legs and nauseated stomach, she was very poor at it. She should probably tell Simon or Caleb where she was going, but for some reason she decided not to.
     
     
    Jake stood with his back to her in the alley, his dark hair curling around the top of his red baseball jacket. He turned when he heard the crunch of gravel under her feet, and Abbey ’ s heart performed a small skip. He and Becca couldn ’ t be all that serious.
    He gave her a wary smile.
    “ I ’ ve had visitors, ” he said.
    “ Let me guess, ” she said. “ Six foot three, hairy and tattooed. ”
    “ Oh, that ’ s just the latest crew. There ’ ve been others. It seems that my particular talent is in high demand. ”
    Abbey studied the pale skin beneath Jake ’ s dark freckles and thought of the list. Save Jake. How was she going to do that? Take him to the doctor? Insist that he have an MRI, a CT, a blood panel? She scanned his body for obvious tumors, for markers of illness or