LEMNISCATE by Jennifer Murgia Read Free Book Online Page B

breath, closed my eyes for a second and then laughed nervously as I reopened them.
    “You’re losing it, Tea,” I muttered to myself uneasily, staring out at the piles once again. Feathers poked out in several spots, but not nearly as many as before. I grabbed the steering wheel and squeezed hard, trying to convince myself it was all in my head. But I found myself putting the car in drive. I was getting out of here.
    I turned the wheel and stepped on the gas, backtracking around the looping, narrow path and ignoring all the ten mile per hour signs. The main road was just up ahead.
    My body was shaking with a cold sweat by the time my little white car passed through the gate. Instantly, I was jolted back to the one dream I wanted to forget—my dream visit in the cemetery. Everyone had left Claire’s funeral, but I wasn’t alone. There had been an enormous creepy raven hovering nearby.
    Suddenly I felt eyes watching me from behind, I stepped on the gas and without looking back tore through the streets of Hopewell until I reached home.
    I opened the back door to a dark and empty house and flicked on the kitchen light. A note from my mom was waiting on the counter.

    Out with Nate. Food in fridge. Love, Mom

    Good,
I thought to myself. At least I didn’t have to explain my shaky emotional state. I was such a wreck she was sure to think I robbed a bank or was doing drugs or something. I tried to calm myself, replaying what had happened. I freaked out at a pile of leaves in a cemetery. That’s all they were. Just leaves. I kept telling myself that and tried to settle my nerves.
    I wasn’t hungry, but instead, felt a little crampy. I checked the calendar.
Yeesh. Twenty–eight days already?
I headed up for a nice warm shower to ease the lingering chill, flicking on every light switch along the way.
    The warm water streamed down my skin but I was still shivering. If the shower had been any hotter my skin would have burned. I leaned my forehead against the tiled wall, feeling the water soak my hair and trickle down my nose where it plunked to my feet. It didn’t help. I turned the water off and wrapped myself in a soft towel.
    Plodding to my room, I got into my pajamas and sat on the end of my bed, feeling both tense and strangely empty.
    The after effects of Hadrian should be long gone by now. In fact, most of the kids in school were acting completely normal. The ones who had suddenly looked empty, showing that their guardians had been taken, were fine now. I remembered the way the air would grow chilly whenever their guardians were ripped away. That wasn’t happening now. Things seemed back to normal. Well, except for Brynn. But maybe she never even had a guardian.
    I thought of Garreth.
    No, things weren’t normal.
    Things sucked.
    I flopped back on my bed, my wet red hair falling in chunky tangles, as I hadn’t bothered to comb it. I curled up tightly on my side, pulling my quilt up to cover my legs. I felt cold and sick and empty.
    Was it possible this was all my fault? Did he stay here too long? Long enough to make him act and feel like a real human? Maybe this was a really bad side effect of being earthbound. But isn’t that what I wanted for him when I watched him follow Derek down the hall? This must be why he’s mad at me. I caused this.
    I tucked the quilt beneath my head. My covers were getting wet from my hair, making me cold all over again. I tried to stay focused on Garreth, but other thoughts wormed their way in. I needed to figure this out, not only to help him but also to keep myself from losing my mind. But my mind strayed to places it didn’t belong.
    Sleep was coming for me. I was floating in myself as the fear I felt inside seeped away. I thought of black feathers and wings . . .
    I willed Garreth’s face to appear in my mind, but his face changed to another . . . one with dark hair, pale skin, green eyes . . .
    I felt a crushing sensation in my chest.
    And I felt miserably guilty.

Chapter