The Mad Scientist's Daughter by Cassandra Rose Clarke Read Free Book Online Page B

water until they were on more solid ground, away from the loose soil eroding into the river. His body beneath his wet clothes was warm, the way a computer is warm when it overheats. His arms wrapped around her stiffly. When he removed them, the places where his skin had touched hers tingled.
      "Are you hurt?"
      She shook her head and tried to draw herself up, but she was embarrassed at having almost fallen into the river, embarrassed that she had to be saved. Her whole body was flushed and hot. She pushed her hood away and fell down into the mud and closed her eyes against the rain.
      "What are you doing out here?" Drops of water, steely and cold, landed on her tongue.
      "I was thinking."
       What do you possibly think about? Everything in the universe?
      "I have to go to high school next fall." She rolled over onto her side. Finn sat down at the base of a twisting old oak tree. Leaves and twigs were caught in his hair. His pale skin shimmered from the rain. He looked like a fairy.
      "Yes, Dr Novak told me."
      Cat sighed. "I don't want to go."
      Finn didn't say anything. Cat rolled over onto her back.
      The rain fell harder, weaving through the net of leaves overhead, smelling faintly of metal.
      They stayed there for a long time, unspeaking.
     
    Cat started at the high school in town. Her parents could still tell her what to do. That first day, everyone stared at her when she walked into the courtyard with a bag slung across her chest. She wore a dress she had made from looking at videos on fashion sites on the Internet, but she could tell instantly it was all wrong, she was all wrong.
      The other students whispered about her all day, and then all week, and no one spoke to her except her teachers. Between classes, when she had to walk through the crowded, noisy, humid hallways, Cat's heart pounded and her breath came out short and gaspy. People stared at her and the weight of their eyes was so heavy Cat thought she might burn up. She was constantly dizzy. She walked close to the rows of lockers to keep herself upright, one hand running over the line of padlocks.
      She had spent too much time alone in the woods, in front of a loom, with Finn.
      During lunches those first few days, Cat walked off campus to the neighborhood across the street. The houses made her nervous, but during the heat of the day nothing stirred and no one looked out their windows. She ate the lunches she packed at home in the shade of an enormous hibiscus bush, then walked back to school for her afternoon classes.
      On Friday one of the security officers caught her. She was sent to the office, her heart panicking. They searched her bag for drugs. When they didn't find anything, the assistant principal came and sat down in the chair beside her and said, "You're not in trouble, but I'm going to call your parents to let them know what happened." She paused, twisting her mouth in concern. "You can't just go traipsing off campus during lunch."
      On the ride home after school Cat dug her nails into the palms of her hands and tried not to cry. Her mother just leaned her head against the window and looked tired.
      The weeks went by. Cat didn't make any friends. She was behind in her math and engineering classes even though her teachers all acted as though she should be ahead. She was bored by the business and marketing classes. She thought she'd like her English class but everything they read was simple and boring. There was only one art class, an elective for seniors.
      When she complained about this to her parents, her mother said, "We let Finn coddle you, sweetheart. The math is good for you. You'll be better prepared for the job market."
      Cat was full of hate. It was the only way to describe it. She walked around campus during the day thinking I hate I hate I hate . She hated her parents, she hated the kids at school, she hated her teachers. She even hated Finn, because he hadn't stopped this from