Lafferty, Mur by Playing for Keeps [html] Read Free Book Online

always reminded Keepsie of the quarterbacks and cheerleaders from high school. Talented, beautiful, popular, and hated by Keepsie and her friends. Bullies who were loved -and therefore ignored at all the right times -by adults.
    Some Third Wave powers manifested at birth, others at puberty, like Keepsie’s. She’s been starry-eyed in love with a football player, but he’d gotten a little grabby after the prom. She’d protested, and when he tried to forcibly remove her top, he froze.
    At first Keepsie thought her shock had slowed things down. Later, as she and some willing subjects tested her power, she realized it was actually her that slowed things. As the jock's hand closed on her lapel, it slowed as if it were moving through water and then stopped.
    Fear scrawled across the jock's face. It would have been funny if Keepsie hadn't been so upset. "What did you do? Let me go!" he said. His hand looked shellacked into place, but the rest of his body moved, straining to pull his hand back. Keepsie wrenched herself free and he stayed put, looking comical and frightened.
    "I'm not holding you!" she cried, and just like that he was free. He stumbled backwards and landed hard against the car door.
    He scrabbled past her to open the car door, shouting, "Get the hell out of here, Third Wave freak!" He shoved her out and drove off.
    Then it dawned on Keepsie: that was her power. She had been wondering when it would manifest and when it finally had, she had been too startled to realize it. Sobbing, she got her phone out of her purse and called her mother.
    Mom was comforting, and called the football player’s parents. She emerged from the conversation with a grim look on her face, saying it was Keepsie’s word against the boy’s, and she wasn’t hurt, which was important.
    She also reminded Keepsie of the prejudice the general public had against much of the First and Third Wave and hugged her.
    The next day, she had told Keepsie to forget about the incident and focus on her power. They went on a shopping trip to celebrate. It was much more fun than the fuss her mother had tried to raise when she'd gotten her first period.
    Through careful testing, they tried to identify her powers. They discovered that the best way to go about it was to take Keepsie by surprise, so her mom would try to take her jacket or her backpack when she wasn't prepared. Keepsie felt a frightening rush of power when she realized that her mom would remain immobilized until she let her go, either verbally or mentally.
    It was disappointing to the teenaged Keepsie that, although her power seemed to be a strong one, she had no control over it. She felt no different, she couldn't do anything exciting, but her stuff seemed to be protected for a good long while.
    Her grandmother was the happiest of them all when she heard the news.
    Having taken the drug Zupra fifty-five years earlier when pregnant with twins, she lost one to miscarriage and delivered Keepsie's mother, a healthy First Wave baby complete with a very minor power. A prosecuting attorney, she wasted no time in suing the makers of Zupra, Haldor Limited Drug. She took their settlement and invested it. Her family lived well off the money, and when Keepsie's powers manifested, her grandmother lost no time in giving her the money already marked off for inheritance.
    She enrolled Keepsie in money management classes, and Keepsie sat with people three times her age and learned as much as she could about how to manage her newfound wealth. She'd have been really bored, but the constant knowledge of her money coupled with her grandmother's promised wrath if she squandered it made her pay attention.
    Keepsie realized she had been letting the water run over her shoulders for far too long. She had no idea what time it was. She wondered whether she'd rinsed the shampoo out of her hair and then wondered if she'd already conditioned it. She decided to take the chance that she was done and got out of the