The Safest Lies by Megan Miranda Read Free Book Online

hadn’t noticed. “Oh, I didn’t know it had arrived yet,” I said.
    “Same number,” my mom said. “Just need to program it again.”
    “Kelsey,” Jan said, taking her normal seat in the living room, in the loveseat across from the couch. “Sit, please. Let’s talk.” Beside her on the floor was a brown box with no lid, filled with my missing things. My backpack, dirty and singed, my purse, the strap dangling from a single side, the red umbrella that used to be in the backseat, the spokes bent at unnatural angles, the handle either crushed or melted.

    It all smelled faintly chemical, like gasoline. I pressed my lips together, tasting it in the air, and wondered if Mom could sense it, too. But she was looking beyond Jan, through the large windows at the back of the living room, her head tilted slightly to the side. I followed her gaze and saw a girl sitting on the stone wall past the gate, kicking her legs.
    An exit, thank God. “It’s Annika,” I said. “I was just on my way out,” I added.
    My mom raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
    Jan twisted around on the couch, squinting. “How can you even see that far?”
    Annika was an easily identifiable blur, even from the distance: her hair exceeded normal volume by at least three hundred percent, she was always wearing colors that would somehow catch the eye, and she had the inability to sit still. Besides, this was where she’d always wait for me. It was as close as she ever got.
    The stone wall at the edge of the property was our first line of defense, though it was more of a deterrent than an official barrier. There was an open gap in the front of the wall, a makeshift driveway where I used to park my car. Then came the high metal fence, with a discreet electrical cable lining the top and a locked gate toward the back, and another in the front, encircling the yard. There was a small stand-alone booth with a door and a window just inside the gated entrance, to the left, I guess in case someone actually hired a security guard to man the gate.

    But between the fence and the outer wall the weeds ran wild, vegetation climbing up the stone, thick and unruly. “It looks like the perfect place for snakes,” Annika had complained, and I had to agree. She never came any closer. Her side of the wall was all mowed and landscaped with shrubbery and a pond with a constantly running fountain.
    “It’s her,” I said, with one more glance to the box at Jan’s feet. “I have to go. Can we talk later?” Because I couldn’t completely brush Jan off. There were lines to walk, after all.
    “All right,” Jan said. “Listen, I’ve spoken to the school. It’s too late to add on to the bus route, so Cole and Emma will be picking you up Monday morning. At least until you get the car situation taken care of.”
    I considered it one of my greater accomplishments that I kept my face passive and my thoughts unvoiced. “That would be great,” I said, because of all the things I’d either inherited or learned from my mother, the art of the lie was the most useful.
    —
    Annika swung her legs like a little kid, the heels of her shoes bouncing against the wall. She wore gray tights and black Mary Janes and a purple skirt so short it was a good thing the tights were opaque.
    “I’ve been calling you all day,” she said once I got close enough to hear.

    “I’m sorry, I lost my phone.” I leaned against the wall beside her.
    “Oh, I was starting to wonder,” she said, leaning closer, her eyes roaming over me from head to toe. She scrunched up her nose at my bun. “I heard. ”
    The scream of metal, the rush of air, the scent of burning rubber, and my nails skimming metal—
    I placed my hands flat against the stone wall, trying to ground myself. You made it. You’re here.
    She patted the spot beside her on the ledge, and I used the grooves between the uneven stones for footing.
    To me, Annika always seemed like she came from a different world. She layered her