Rippler by Cindy Read Free Book Online Page A

at the car in an hour.”
    She stood up and marched off leaving me alone with Will, not even collecting her pack, but I wasn’t about to call after her.
    Will and I sat without speaking: Will staring at the creek, me staring at Will. He picked up and skipped a rock. It glanced elegantly across the glassy surface, curving off to the right and clattering onto the rocky shore opposite.
    “I didn’t mean for you to hear it like this,” he said gruffly. He chose another flat stone, aimed it across the smooth, wet plane. “I wanted to tell you all along.”
    I felt a lot of ways right now, but “hurt” topped the list. “I can’t believe you never said anything to me.”
    Will continued skipping rocks until he exhausted his supply. He looked around half-
    heartedly for more, then gave that up as well and lay back with a sigh. “Look, I’m sorry.
    About not telling you. Really, really sorry. But it’s like you heard. Mick made me swear on my mom’s grave that I wouldn’t tell anyone .”
    I kicked my heel against the loose granite-gravel, then nodded. “I get that.”
    He sat up again, elbows on knees, palms grinding into his forehead. “You must be
    wishing you’d stayed in Las Abs.”
    “No,” I said. “It’s beautiful here. I’m glad I came.”
    He lowered his palms from his head. His eyes, hidden under the fringe of lashes, slowly rose until he met my gaze. He smiled a sad, half-smile. “Well, that’s one good thing out of this whole mess.”
    “And I’m glad I know. About you,” I said, still holding his eyes with mine.
    “Yeah.” He sighed and his shoulders relaxed several inches. “It’ll be a lot easier to teach you how to control what you’re doing now I don’t have to keep my knowledge a secret.”
    “That’ll be great.”
    “That leaves us with one important question,” he said, eyes sober and fixed on mine.
    I straightened up, ready for anything.
    “Your step-mom,” he said. “How’s her cheesecake?”
    I laughed. “It’s the best.” I reached in my pack and cut him a slice.
    “Looks great. Forks?”
    I rummaged through my pack for a minute before remembering I’d left the forks on the counter at home. “Oops.”
    Will shrugged, picked up the whole piece, and stuffed half of it in his mouth. His eyes widened. “It’th delithouth!”
    I laughed. “I’ll tell her you said so. Exactly like that.”

    Will finished chewing and swallowed before adding, “Nice of Mick to take off. More for us.” He held out a hand for seconds.
    I frowned. It was my fault Mickie had taken off.
    “Don’t even think about feeling bad. Mick’s like a volcano. She’s not happy unless she lets off steam every couple days.” Will shook his head. “Seriously, it’s her problem, not yours. It’s not like you did it on purpose.” He looked inquisitively at me. “ Did you disappear on purpose?”
    I shook my head no. “I only noticed when I went to grab this rock and I couldn’t see my arm.” I held up the pinkish rock. “So, does stuff disappear if you pick it up when you’re invisible, or does it just sort of hover out in the air?”
    “Neither.”
    “Either you can see it or you can’t.”
    “No, it’s not like that—you can’t pick things up once you ripple.”
    “Huh?” I stared at him, feeling confused. “Why not?”
    “Wow, Sam, it’s weird you haven’t noticed this—no offense—it’s just that there isn’t any
    ‘you’ to pick something up with, you know?” He paused. “I mean, I guess it isn’t that weird, you not noticing. You haven’t rippled much.”
    “Are you saying I don’t have any . . . substance? When I ripple I’m not just invisible, I’m
    . . .” I broke off, not able to figure out what the opposite of having substance would be.
    “Mickie used to get so mad at me for rippling when we were little. She’d have us playing tea party or Barbies or something and I’d get bored. If I would try to run away, she would catch me. But if I rippled,