Awakening (Book One of The Geis) by Christy Dorrity Read Free Book Online Page B

like the written word—conveying ideas without vocalization.
    The only music came from the patterns of sound that wove from his feet in a haunting melody of dances long forgotten. Slow steps rang into the air, deliberate and penetrating. His body moved in smooth connection with his feet, and I watched as he spoke more through dance than words could ever express. My concentration focused completely on the emotions that poured from the story unfolding before me.
    He leapt across the floor, covering the length of the basketball court in only a few steps. The tempo increased, and he spread his arms like a bird, his head bowed to his feet in concentration as they battered out an impossibly fast combination. The steps were angry and intense. Each connection sounded clearly in the empty room, weaving together in a symphony of music and dance. The story he told ached with sadness and longing. His eyes were closed, but his face mirrored the despair of his dance.
    This man was not just a janitor. He was an artist.
    I often passed by him in the halls at school. From the rumors that circulated, I knew that he didn’t talk, even though he could hear. But I had never given much thought to the guy sweeping in the lunchroom. Now my mouth hung slack, and I wondered at this man who could dance with more feeling than any dancer I’d ever seen.
    The music of his feet stopped, the sound of his story quieted, and he lay on the floor, out of breath. I didn’t see him fall, but he held one knee as if it were injured. A tortured sound escaped his lips.
    Forgetting that I was an intruder to this personal performance, I spoke out. “Are you okay?” I took a step into the room.
    The janitor jerked and scrambled to his feet. One leg dragged behind him and he hunched over in pain, reaching for a cane that was propped against the bleachers. He stood, turning on me with fury shining in his eyes. He looked like a wounded animal, and the blood drained from my face.
    Something darted from behind the bleachers with amazing speed. The lizard, hidden until now, stood protectively in the middle of the gym, between where the janitor and I stood on opposite sides of the court. The lizard focused one glassy eye on me. This time I knew I wasn’t imagining things. The lizard looked completely real. A chill went up my spine.
    I wondered who the lizard was protecting, the janitor, or me?
    The janitor stood perfectly still, regarding me with a now expressionless face. He pointed to the door.
    I turned and fled the building for the safety of my mother’s car, my lone pointe shoe forgotten in the darkened hallway.

“How far from the road does this lady live?” I followed Aunt Avril up a dirt road that wound up the mountainside. Tiny purple asters and rust-topped Indian paintbrush grew wild here, and I picked a bouquet as we hiked.
    “Not too far, I hope.” Aunt Avril stopped, leaning over to catch her breath. “Betsy told me that I could park the Vette by the main road, and walk up the driveway. She didn’t mention that her yard was the Bridger National Forest!”
    I laughed and hurried up the hill next to her.
    When Aunt Avril asked if I wanted to tag along in her quest to gather information about her case, I jumped at the chance. And it wasn’t because Mom had a list of Saturday chores for me to do. Christa was out of town with her family for the weekend, and I was dying to tell someone what I had seen at the school the night before.
    “Why are you interrogating Mrs. Saddlebury’s neighbors?” I asked, matching Aunt Avril’s stride. “Do you think they suspect that she murdered her husband?”
    “Can we call it an interview and not an interrogation? I’m not going to be torturing Betsy for information. The police were told that Betsy is her closest friend. If Betsy noticed anything odd about Mrs. Saddlebury, I want to know when it started. We have to find out where she is.”
    “Where who is? Mrs. Saddlebury?”
    Aunt Avril nodded. “Where her body