The Dollhouse Asylum by Mary Gray Read Free Book Online Page B

wasn’t welcome. And I didn’t understand why he had left me like he was hurt.
    And now all I can wonder is why he didn’t tell me about the snake, why he wouldn’t get me some water. He must have seen my sunburned arms, my lips cracked from the sun. I don’t understand why he’s grown so cold.
    Marcus strides across the room with nothing like the prowl of his brother’s. His is more automatic—nothing fluid, just a walk. When he reaches me, my knees stupidly buckle enough to make me lose my balance. He grips my arms and steadies me against the wrought-iron rails of the stairs at my back. My heart thump-thumps and I have to take an extra step.
    “Careful there, Cheyenne.”
    I stiffen in his grip. Now he’s my friend? He’s so hot and cold—like when he was always playing around at the math meets. I don’t know what he wants. I never know.
    Cleo follows Marc’s path, her beads swaying as she walks, a smirk playing on her full and pouty lips. “Well, hello there, Number Eight.” She juts her bottom lip outward, as if in sympathy. “Did Teo-bear leave you behind?”
    I scoff. I’m about to say something about her behind when Marcus cuts me off. “What did Teo say?”
    I glance at Cleo, her mock sympathy shifting to disgust as she sees Marcus’s interest. Her eyes narrow and she flips her beads as she huffs away, which almost makes me wish I had my own beads to swing for joy.
    Marc wants to know what Teo said. But I’m not so sure Teo would like me confiding in his little brother just now. Besides, Marcus doesn’t deserve to know after his little stunt with the snake. “Why didn’t you help me before?” I ask, folding my arms.
    He mimics my stance, folding his arms, too. “Look, Cheyenne, I couldn’t tell you about the snake, but I was trying to help you out.”
    “By chasing me away?” What kind of an idiot thought yelling at someone was the same thing as, Hey, you might want to come inside to get away from the anacondas hanging around my house ?
    It takes all I have not to laugh. He’s not the one terrified of snakes or charged with learning everyone’s names. But Marc’s eyes narrow into slits. “Do you think I made this place?”
    And he makes a good point. I know Teo must have, but he has his reasons. He needs to protect us from the virus outside; I’m sure he knows what he’s doing, even if his plan does include hidden snakes. It was Marc’s job to warn me about the danger, and he didn’t help me out.
    At the same time, I know the relationship between Teo and his brother. How they didn’t grow up close. In fact, the times I saw them interact at the math meets they were always distant. More like childhood friends who had grown into strangers, and nothing like brothers. I wonder what the catalyst for that was.
    I focus on the lines creasing against each other on Marcus’s forehead, wondering if Teo is hard on him, too. But that is only because he loves his little brother. He encourages those he loves to better themselves. “Okay,” I say, deciding to be diplomatic, “tell me everything that’s happened, right from the start.”
    He tousles the front of his black hair, pulling it down the side of his forehead. “You haven’t missed anything. Teo asked me to grab fourteen people from my school. He showed up with his car, and we piled in.”
    I’m not sure about that. How could everyone fit? “Must’ve been a pretty big car.”
    “Who cares?” He throws his hands in the air, like what I’m saying is stupid. “He brought us, explaining the world was going to pot.”
    I throw my hands up like him, not really knowing why. “And it is. In case you haven’t noticed, it’s just like Beijing.”
    Marc’s muscular chest inflates like he’s growing powerful or something, but slowly he releases the air trapped inside. “Yes. And I—” He stares at me, the flash in his eyes receding. “I have no idea why we are arguing or what about. Are you always this difficult?”
    We’re