The Almost Girl – ebook edition Read Free Book Online Page B

annihilate whatever or whoever they come into contact with. I place the bullets back into the case and replace the book.
    Before closing the cover, I stare for a long second. The gun is new. From the minimal residue and shiny oiled insides, it’s probably only been fired a few times. If June, who for all intents and purposes is a civilian, is anticipating this level of danger, then I’ve been miscalculating things all along.
    She’s expecting someone. Or something.
    After I’ve smoothed the bed and verified that everything is back in its place, I exit the room quickly. Across the hall is another room. This room, unlike the rooms I’ve been in, is completely sparse, with a single bed with a metal frame and a slim desk sitting under the window. It appears to be unused, but still, instinct propels my feet to cross over to the nearest closet door. Empty. I release the breath I’ve unconsciously been holding. Maybe it’s a spare room that June hasn’t gotten to yet. Still, something about its sparse efficiency strikes a familiar chord inside of me. The clock on the wall is five minutes fast, which is curious because it matches the time on my own watch. Time can be your own worst enemy. I, too, prefer to always be ahead of it. Retracing my footsteps, I close the door behind me and make my way to the next door. A decent-sized bathroom.
    The third door is Caden’s room.
    I know it instantly but something holds me back, my fingers hovering on the doorknob. Why am I so afraid to open it? Caden means nothing to me. A shiver sweeps through me, tingling along the undersides of my arms and up my neck, and a forgotten sense of anxiety hits me full-force. Instinctively, my fingers draw back.
    Drawing a shaky breath, I check the other doors down the hallway. One leads to another bathroom, the next to a linen closet, and the third to a stairway to a shadowy attic that’s filled with old furniture. On the attic steps, I sit staring at Caden’s door as if the devil himself is on the other side. Why is my imagination suddenly running wild? Why am I afraid? There’s nothing there, nothing that can harm me.
    “Get it together, Riv!” I tell myself harshly. “He’s just a kid like everyone else here, nothing more than that. Now find your keys and let’s go.” I catch a glimpse of myself in the long mirror at the end of the hallway, and I have to laugh.
    “Keep talking to yourself and you know where you’ll end up,” I say to the fierce-looking girl, and watch her pitiful attempt to stare me down. I step closer. “The loony bin,” I inform her threateningly and then roll my eyes as she shakes her head and grins at me.
    I wonder briefly if losing your mind is a part of the eversion sickness that afflicts about fifty percent of the people who attempt it, because not only am I talking to no one in particular, but my hair is sticking out like a prickly bush, and my light gray eyes have a slightly desperate quality to their shadowy dark-circled edges. I look like a homeless runaway.
    I tug on the second-hand Grateful Dead T-shirt, some obscure music band that I’d never heard of, and hike my jeans out of the beat-up black combat boots. Not much I can do about the hair, but I try anyway, fingering the choppy locks lying on either side of the blue-and-silver braid hanging to my shoulder. Better, but not much. I may feel like a million bucks inside, but I definitely don’t look it. I shrug. Once I get back, I can work on my appearance. Right now, I have a job to do.
    Find my stupid keys.
    With a hiss of exasperation, I stride to Caden’s door and shove it open. The room is painted in rich intertwining hues of blue creating the illusion of being submerged underwater. A large bed occupies most of the space, leaving room for little else, but I expect that’s the point. It’s an undersea sanctuary of sorts, and one that is only truly appreciated lying down. Complete immersion. It’s beautiful and serene, not at all what I’d