Starcrossed: Perigee - A paranormal romance trilogy by Tracey Lee Campbell Read Free Book Online Page A

be more careful around star gates." His eyes crinkled with amusement; his lopsided smile made my heart pound like bongo drums.
    "Yeah, well, you could have warned me star gates are so technologically advanced they're made with invisible fishing line. What's it for anyway? Trapping evil aliens?"
    For a fraction of a second, I thought I saw his face tense, but then the fleeting look was gone, and he was laughing along with Michael.
    "Nothing that sinister. We're hanging stars from it." He picked up a plastic bag and handed it to me. "You can make yourself useful and help Michael hang these while I try and salvage the balloons."
    The bag contained pre-cut silver cardboard stars, a roll of fishing line and a pair of scissors. Aric had thought of everything, producing a hole punch from a bag so we could make a hole in each star to tie with the fishing line. I stood at the table with Michael, preparing the stars so they could be hung from the mesh overhead, while Aric battled the sagging archway of balloons.
    I feared I'd done some permanent damage to the balloons, as they refused to reform into the lovely, perfectly balanced arch they had formed before. As soon as Aric pushed one side up, the other would lurch about and buckle.
    A large, heavyset boy sauntered past, and smirked at the collapsing archway.
    "Holding a wedding are we, eh Cordingley?"
    Michael's posture shrank, and he shuffled closer to me.
    "It's a star gate, Simon" he said, his voice high pitched and thin.
    The boy scoffed. "Balloons and stars? Aw, how pretty! You gonna hang fairies from there too?" He laughed at what he thought had been a hilarious joke. He leaned over the table, his weight making the folding table's legs creak.
    "What exactly do you think you're doing?" I asked.
    "Just looking to see if he brought along a tiara to wear. You know, to go with the fairies and stars."
    Michael's face reddened, and he opened his mouth to say something, but he obviously couldn't think of a proper retort. I knew his pain. He was like me - never able to think of a scathing reply until it was too late. I felt for the poor little kid. I just wanted to deck the nasty creep.
    Aric let go of the balloons, straightened and tapped the boy on the shoulder.
    "Is that your display?" he asked, pointing to the massive volcano in the center of the room, which was now listing to the left at an alarming angle. "Because if it is, I think you'd better go rescue it."
    The boy looked across at the volcano, threw Michael the dirtiest of looks, then raced off to save his exhibit.
    "I hope it falls over all together," I said, handing Michael another star to thread.
    "No! Don't say that!" Michael's outburst was unexpected.
    "Why not? He's an ass and deserves it."
    Michael shrugged and looked uncomfortable. He made a show of concentrating on threading his star.
    "Just... because."
    Aric caught my eye and shook his head slightly. I didn't press Michael about it.
    We continued hanging the stars, and Aric managed to fix the balloons. Once we'd finished, we stepped back and admired our handy work. The green plastic container may not have been very impressive, but the 'star gate' of balloons with its cardboard and fishing line galaxy looked pretty darned spectacular. Michael was beaming from ear to ear, the confrontation with Simon forgotten.
    Aric shoved the various tools back into the plastic bag, and placed the bag on the floor out of sight of the prospective audience.
    "So, how about some ice cream before the science fair starts?" he suggested. I checked my watch - we had an hour to kill, and there was an ice cream store just a five minute walk down the road.
    Michael was all for it, so we headed for the store and bought ice cream, deciding to take it back to the school to eat in the school's playground area. Aric and I perched on the railing of a monkey bars and watched Michael scurrying all over the playground equipment, somehow managing to hang on to his half eaten ice cream. You would never