Beckoners by Carrie Mac Read Free Book Online Page B

it’s not. It’s fine.”
    â€œFine?” Mrs. Henley glanced at the papers in her hand. “Why don’t I believe you? Would you like to let me in on why this is problematic for you? Does it have anything to do with Lindsay and Jazz?”
    Dog swallowed hard, waiting for Zoe to spit it out that she’d rather stick with the regular curriculum than spend time with her and get extra credit.
    Mrs. Henley waited for her answer, but Zoe didn’t know what to say. “I’ll assume your silence indicates that this arrangement will work for you.” She handed them each a notice with the school paper’s letterhead at the top. “These are the rules for the essay contest. Your first extra assignment is to enter it. That will be all. You may leave.”
    On the way out, Dog whispered to Zoe, like there was anyone to hear, “The winner gets to be the assistant editor for the whole year, you know.”
    Didn’t she get it? Do. Not. Talk. To. Zoe. Zoe would’ve said that, but Mrs. Henley was at the door watching them leave.
    â€œWow. Really.”
    Dog couldn’t even take the hint of Zoe’s flat, sarcastic response. On the contrary, she accepted Zoe’s words as a free-for-all to let her rip. “Yeah, you get your own desk, in the Dungeon—that’s the newspaper room—and you get to have a by-line on anything you write. And the editor is totally—”
    Lindsay and Jazz were waiting at the stairs. That shut her up. She stopped in her tracks, jaw slack.
    â€œWhat’s the matter?” Lindsay faked a lunge at her. Dog reeled back, as if Lindsay had hit her for real. “Are you afwaid of wittle ole me?”
    Dog turned and ran in the other direction, Lindsay and Jazz barking after her until Mrs. Henley popped her head out of the room.
    â€œI suggest the three of you find somewhere else to behave like preschoolers.”
    Lindsay and Jazz pretended not to hear. They went ahead, still barking, but not so loud.
    â€œYes, ma’am.” Zoe kept her eyes down as she passed.
    â€œZoe?” Mrs. Henley stepped into the hall, hands on her hips.
    â€œYes, Mrs. Henley?”
    â€œI expect more from you.”
    Zoe didn’t know what to say in reply, so she just nodded and stood there until Mrs. Henley went back into the room and shut the door.

initiation
    Zoe had no idea it was coming. One night, Lindsay showed up at her door and escorted her, silently, down the driveway to Brady’s truck. Nobody said a word, all the way to Mill Lake. Janika stayed behind with her at the truck while the rest of them went ahead, and then Janika walked her across the field towards the bandstand, where the rest of the Beckoners were waiting, still silent.
    â€œI was scared too,” Janika whispered when they were halfway across the damp grass.
    â€œI’m not scared.”
    â€œLiar.”
    â€œOkay, I’m scared. Is it a dare?”
    â€œNo questions, Zoe.”
    â€œTell me if it’s going to hurt, Janika. That’s not a question.”
    Janika shook her head and sped up, walking ahead of Zoe, like she was supposed to be doing in the first place.
    In a corner of the bandstand, Brady held a fork over the flame of a small butane torch. The end was wrapped thick with masking tape, so it wouldn’t get too hot to hold. Zoe took one look at that and knew it was going to hurt. The others stood in a tight circle until Beck nodded; then they stepped aside and Janika led Zoe into the middle.
    Beck stepped forward. “You will not speak, understood?”
    Zoe nodded.
    â€œRoll up your sleeve,” Beck instructed. “Up to your shoulder.”
    Zoe took off her jacket and pushed up her left sleeve.
    â€œNo, your right one. We all have it on the right arm.”
    Zoe rolled up her other sleeve. What on the right arm?
    â€œArm out, palm up. Lindsay will hold you steady.”
    The fork glowed a fierce orange. Beck took