Nocturne by Christine Johnson Read Free Book Online Page B

Claire's insides tremble. She would do anything to keep that from happening. Including telling a skyscraper-high stack of lies.
    Emily stood in the doorway, looking back at her with a confused expression on her face.
    "You coming?" she asked. "You're about a zillion miles away." She doesn't even know how true that is.
    "C'mon." Emily jerked her head toward the kitchen. "It's pancakes ."
    Claire wanted those pancakes more than anything. Wanted a normal Sunday morning with Emily—just Emily—when she wasn't endangering her best friend's life. She stood up, wiping her hands on her pants. "I think I'm going to head out, actually. I'm not all that hungry. Lisbeth cooked this morning—you know how that goes."
    Emily's mouth opened and then shut again. "But—but how will you get home?"
    "I'll run. It's just a couple of miles." Claire shrugged. She tried to keep her face calm, but she was dying to leave before her mask slipped—before Emily guessed just how upset she really was.
    "You'll r un ? God, Claire, you really have changed, haven't you?"
    Hearing the question was like touching a live wire—painful and shocking and way too close to the truth.
    "Hey, I'm still the same old Claire. I'm just in better shape." Claire fake-smiled, shifting from foot to foot, trying to get her wolf self to shut the hell up for a minute.
    "Oh, sure. You had to go and get into something athletic. " Something wistful drifted across Emily's expression as she fiddled with the door's hinge. "We didn't even talk about KateMarie, though." "Yeah, I know." From the kitchen, the sound of Amy and Mrs. Lucero chatting pricked at Claire's ears. Made her feet itch to get moving. She edged toward the door. Emily noticed and stepped back to let her through. "Soon, okay?"
    Emily caught up to Claire as she padded down the stairs. "We should go to The Cloister. We haven't been there since school started, even. The espresso machine is probably twitching from withdrawal."
    The mention of the coffee shop on Fourth Street where Claire and Emily had been more regular than the regulars brought a smile to Claire's face. A sad, genuine smile full of years of history and meaningless secrets that she and Emily shared. All those things that had come before. She threw her arms around her oldest friend and squeezed hard enough to make Emily squeak.
    "That's a perfect idea. Next weekend, okay? You and me and our old table by the window," Claire whispered.
    "Emily? Claire?" Amy's voice called. "Are you guys eating or what? 'Cause I'm starving here."
    Emily turned to answer her, and without waiting, Claire slipped out the front door like a shadow and ran off down the street, relishing the stinging chill of the rain on her face. She willed herself not to turn around and check whether Emily was watching. Forced herself to move forward, step after step, until she was too far away to look back.

Chapter Four

    TUESDAY MORNING, CLAIRE woke from an uneasy sleep and lay in her bed, trying to put her finger on what had woken her. Something was different.
    Quieter.
    It had stopped raining.
    Claire's breath came rushing out in one long whoosh. Tonight, finally, she'd be able to practice. And with her mom extending her stay in New York, it would even be easy to sneak out to do it while Lisbeth slept.
    The day dragged, but the afternoon finally faded into evening, and Claire sat in her room, half-doing her homework, rereading the same page in her history book three times without absorbing a word of it. She was itching to get into the forest.
    Cracking her back, she stood up and headed to her closet. She had to move—going for a run was the only way she'd be able to stay sane until Lisbeth went to bed. Claire slipped on her shoes and bounced down the stairs.
    Lisbeth was curled up on the couch with a cup of tea and a book.
    "I'm going for a run," Claire announced. "I'll be back in a little while."
    "Are you finished with your homework?" Lisbeth asked.
    Claire shifted from foot to foot,