Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus Read Free Book Online Page B

Shadow Hills. I also heard something about ‘the Banished.’ Do you know who that is?”
    “A band maybe?” Graham shrugged.
    “Probably not. Some old guys were talking about them. Do they ever mention the epidemic at Devenish? Like in history class or something?”
    “Not that I know of. My friend Toy loves anything related to death or horror movies, and she used to be obsessed with this graveyard behind the hospital. But I think the only information she ever found on it was a list of townspeople who died.”
    “Hmm.”
That didn’t seem particularly helpful
.
    “Oh! I do remember Toy saying that she figured out that all the settlers who died had moved here from other parts of Massachusetts, but apparently the people who immigrated straight from England just got sick, then recovered. That’s kind of weird, right?”
    It was definitely weird, but it also didn’t explain anything.
    “I guess the British have a stronger constitution.” I squashed down my empty sandwich wrapping.

    After we were done eating, we headed back outside. Even though classes didn’t start until tomorrow, there were definitely more students milling around the campus. In fact, I’d never seen so many plaid shirts and khaki pants all congregated in one place before. It was kind of freaky.
    Preps weren’t considered cool at my school in L.A., and these people looked like they had come from the country club for the bland.
    “So what now?” Graham broke into my thoughts.
    “You’re
the tour guide. Where do you think we should go?”
    “Umm … I could show you the spot in the woods where all the secret parties are held.”
    “Okay.” This
was something I wanted to know about
.
    “Shit.” Graham shook his head. “I forgot, we need a GPS. I don’t have one.”
    “You need a GPS to find the party spot?” I stared at him incredulously.
    “The woods are huge, and the students purposely make the spot insanely hard to locate so teachers won’t find it.” Graham shrugged. “The longitude and latitude numbers are in my wallet.”
    “I’m kind of a map geek—I have a Garmin handheld back at the dorm.”
    “Okay. To Kresky, then,” he said, and led the way. “So, do you surf?” he asked as we walked.
    “Sometimes. Not like you, though. I’ve never busted a tooth or anything,” I teased.
    “Are your parents going to send your board with the rest ofyour stuff? ’Cause there’s a great beach that’s only like an hour or so away.”
    “I don’t know if they’ll think about it. I mean, I didn’t mention it, and if my mom is the one packing …” I trailed off. The Xanax they had given my mom to calm her down after the police came had now become a daily staple.
    “Forgetful?”
    “Monumentally.” I nodded. “Sometimes I don’t think she even knows what month it is.” I glanced away from Graham, afraid that if I looked into his eyes he would be able to tell how my family had fallen apart after Athena’s death.
    “Yeah, well. Now you’re here.” Graham stopped in front of the door to my dorm. “And I, for one, am happy about it.”
    I couldn’t think of what to say; I’d never been able to express my emotions in that kind of quick, easy manner. It was something we didn’t do much in my family. Luckily, it didn’t seem as if Graham was waiting for a response. He just held the door open for me, and we stepped into the foyer.
    Which was filled with bags. About fifteen large pieces of Louis Vuitton luggage, to be exact. Not to mention a black leather trunk big enough to fit a dead body in.
Okay, today’s hospital trip had definitely put me in a morbid frame of mind
.
    “How was I supposed to know that the singles here are the size of my shoe closet?” A slightly southern-accented but still commanding voice came from within the walls of luggage.
    Ms. Moore was standing next to the ginormous trunk, looking like her head was about to explode. “There are dimensions for allthe rooms clearly stated on both the Web