The Evil Within by Nancy Holder Read Free Book Online Page B

charisma than anyone I had ever met. So did Satan, I supposed.
    And she was beautiful. She was wearing her white-blonde hair in a bouffant, with opal earrings the size of Jolly Ranchers. A black wool Edwardian maxicoat brushed the tips of her pointy city boots. I couldn’t imagine she’d walked through the snow in them. The coat hung open, revealing tight black leather pants and a cream-colored sweater, a belt loosely circling her hips.
    The world telescoped for a moment, and I shivered, hard.
    I can’t do this , I thought, and began to hang a U.
    “Linz,” Mandy said to my back. “How was your drive?”
    I turned around, to find a taller, slightly older-looking male clone of Mandy approaching her with two shot glasses. Wearing a nubby, loosely knit gray sweater over a white T-shirt and a pair of jeans, he raised his arms high into the air, then settled them over her shoulders, twining himself around her like a serpent. A retro fifties ducktail of platinum hair, darker scruffy five o’clock shadow, the same icy eyes, staring at me as if he were a rattlesnake and I was the juiciest chipmunk that had ever lived. I had only seen pictures of him, but I knew who he was—Miles, Mandy’s partner in kinky crime, who until recently, had been in rehab, again. The brother Troy blamed for ruining the sweet girl he’d grown up with. The guy who looked strung out, and shaky, but far more muscular than I had anticipated. His shoulders were massive.
    Mandy gave me an eye-sweep, quirking half her mouth as if she had to keep from laughing at my lame outfit. She opened her mouth and Miles poured in the hooch.
    She licked her lips, then said to me, “Up to your old tricks, I see.”
    “What tricks would those be, hmmm?” Miles asked. Although he was smiling, his eyes were flat, dead. Here was a guy to stay clear of. Definitely.
    I didn’t say anything. I just looked at her, trying to stare her down. She gave as good as I did. We were back on her territory again—Marlwood—and she had friends. It occurred to me that if she was here, then my roomie Julie had to be, too, since they’d been planning to drive up together.
    Alis DeChancey and Sangeeta Shankhar slunk over, in to-die-for wool and leather jackets and striped Italian scarves, facing me head-on as if to make it clear that they were on Mandy’s side. Next came Lara, Mandy’s second-in-command, her short red hair glimmering with gold glitter that matched the gold sparkles on her cheeks. She still wore her signature preppy-boy plaid jacket, white blouse and tie, and short skirt. Over that, a heavy car coat. She rested her chin on Miles’s shoulder.
    “No tricks, just treats,” I replied, ticking my glance toward Miles. He blinked, and then he grinned, and it changed him completely. He became a friendly, handsome guy, as if he’d just taken off a mask and revealed his true self. Or vice versa.
    “I’m Miles,” he said.
    “Lindsay.”
    “Got that. I like your look.” He sounded sincere.
    “She dresses like that to dis us,” Mandy said. “Too bad we don’t care.”
    “No, because she knows grunge works and Walmart doesn’t,” Lara said.
    Bingo. Most mean girls are also really smart.
    Miles just smiled.
    “Where’s Julie?” I asked, ignoring Lara’s backhanded remark, and Mandy shrugged.
    “Dunno.” She worked her arm under Miles’s chin and cupped the side of his head. “We went skiing. Julie stayed home.” She rubbed her cheek against his, like a cat. “Thermal hot springs. Much communal skinny-dipping. It was fabulous.”
    “She’s around here someplace,” Lara said.
    “Lara, get Linz something to drink. She needs it,” Mandy said.
    Lara flushed. Mandy cleared her throat and Lara huffed and broke from the pack, off to do her liege’s bidding.
    “Pass,” I said. Trying to hide how hard I was trembling, I edged away, into the crush of girls, and looked for Julie. I began to see more boys, all of whom I recognized as Lakewood Prep students. A