Fractured Soul by Rachel McClellan Read Free Book Online Page A

back.”
    “So how’d you know I’d be out here?” I asked, walking alongside him.
    Christian chuckled. “Your first night in what you would consider a strange place? I knew you’d escape. I just wasn’t sure what time. I’ve been out here for a while.”
    “Did Jackson know?”
    “No. I got here at about eleven. He was already out patrolling.”
    The wall was just ahead.
    “I bet Guardians love being our babysitters.”
    “It’s not like that.” He smiled and squeezed my hand.
    When we reached the wall, he turned to me. “I’ll be looking for you, and we’ll meet whenever we can.”
    I forced a smile, wondering how I’d be able to keep everything from him.
    Christian looked up. “You want help over?”
    Because I was still buzzed from killing the Vyken, I felt like I could jump over myself, but I wasn’t about to tell him that. “That’d be great.”
    He pulled me in for one more hug and a quick kiss. “I’ll see you soon. And please don’t come out here again, at least until I know more about the Vyken situation.”
    “Sure,” I said and stepped on his clasped hands. He lifted me to the point where I could reach the edge of the wall. I pulled myself up the rest of the way. “See you,” I said and jumped to the other side. I didn’t want our good-bye to linger. It only made me that much sadder.
    That night, when my eyelids closed and the sandman, who looked a lot like a Vyken, invaded my dreams carrying a severed head in one hand and dragging a headless corpse in the other, I began to scream. Not because of the horrifying image, but because it was Christian’s head he held, his blue eyes open and his mouth forming the word, Oh!

FIVE
    “There must be a mistake,” I told Ms. Ravitz the next morning. Please let this be a mistake , I prayed. There were at least twenty twelve-year-old girls in the classroom staring at me.
    She looked down at my paper, tapping it with a pen. “No. This is the right class: Nineteenth Century Auras.”
    “But Ms. Ravitz,” I said, “I’m eighteen and these guys are . . .  little. This has to be a mistake.”
    “Have you ever taken this class before?” The glasses on her face slipped to the end of her nose. With one push of her middle finger they returned to their rightful place, making her brown eyes appear bigger than they really were.
    “I’ve never had this class before. Remember? I’m new here.” I had met her just a couple of days ago at dinner, but now she acted like she didn’t know who I was.
    She looked down at my schedule again. “Llona Reese. That’s right! Of course you’re in my class. I know it may seem awkward with these younger girls, but this class is important. Please take your seat.”
    I turned slowly, still not fully recovered from last night’s nightmare, which seemed to have drained me mentally. My only defense was forcing myself not to think about it. I stared at the girls. They were all dressed the same: brown slacks and navy blue polo shirts. I looked down at my own Levis and white cotton shirt. I didn’t remember anyone saying anything about a dress code.
    Ms. Ravitz seemed to have read my mind. “Girls over eighteen can wear what they want within reason,” she said. “Now please sit down so we can get started.”
    I went to the only desk available in the middle of the classroom. As soon as I sat down, the girl in front of me turned around, eyeing me with her green eyes. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a French braid. She was very beautiful.
    I was about to smile at her, when her small mouth opened and said, “Sorry we’re not good enough for you.” The girls around her giggled.
    “What? No, that’s not what I—”
    “No talking please,” Ms. Ravitz said. “Please open your book to page eighty-seven. Llona, you’re a little behind, so I want you to try and catch up during the next few weeks, okay?”
    I nodded my head, wondering if this was how all my other classes were going to be.
    It turned out it