Virus Attack by Andy Briggs Read Free Book Online Page B

actually
seen
her move; the other students had been staring exhaustedly at their own feet.
    The experience rattled her, and with shaking legs she moved as slowly as possible back to the locker room, although it seemed the power had vanished just as suddenly as it had appeared.
    Lorna, who was in most of the same classes as Emily, had avoided running around in the cold by volunteering to help put together an art installation in the hall. The art teacher, Mrs. Skinner, had left her and another girl, Mary Sommers, to put up the display boards. Lorna glowered at Mary, who not only seemed to outperform Lorna in every subject, but also received more attention from the boys than she did. And of course, it was always the
same
boys that she liked. Mary was explaining how much better her display layout would be from the art room and dragging the boards into position.
    Lorna was so furious she burst into flames.
    Orange waves of fire consumed her body, just like the inferno that she had seen cover Pete the day they first stumbled upon the Web site. It felt like taking a dip in a pleasantly warm bath—but the fierce flames scorched the fabric display boards next to her, leaving them black and charred.
    The flames extinguished with a dull whump seconds later, leaving Lorna and her clothes in one piece—just as Mary poked her head out from the art room. She immediately noticed the burn marks.
    â€œWhat happened?” she asked with a frown.
    Lorna was speechless. She spun on her heels and ran down the hall, leaving Mary Sommers shouting for her to come back and help. Lorna ran through a second setof doors before she stopped at the staircase and quickly examined her hands. They seemed okay. Then she was distracted by a banging noise.
    â€œWhat was that?” she asked aloud.
    She was answered by a clang, like a table toppling over. It came from the floor below, from a basement room, which the students were banned from entering but occasionally did on a dare. It was dark down there and there were rumors of a ghostly presence. Lorna knew the janitor stored extra chairs and tables down there. Perhaps it was him? She peered over the rail.
    The lights were off, so it probably wasn’t the janitor, right? There were the faint sounds of movement. There was definitely
somebody
down there.
    â€œHello?”
    Curious, she descended, her footsteps echoing. Then she saw movement in the shadows, and heard a familiar voice.
    â€œHello, Lorna.”
    At lunch Pete and Toby stayed as far away from the other students as possible. Toby didn’t know what was bothering Pete, and he wandered over to find out.
    â€œYou saw what happened to me in class?”
    â€œYeah. I thought you’d been downloading powers on the sly without us.”
    Toby shook his head. “I didn’t. It just happened. I didn’t even think about it!”
    â€œYou swear you didn’t?” Pete had no doubt what happened today had nothing to do with Toby, but he was still suspicious that his friend had used the Web site in the past without telling him. Now was as good a time as any to catch him in a lie.
    â€œWhy would I do that? I’ve only been on the site to read the manual, which goes on forever. And I’ve talked to Chameleon a few times, but I haven’t done
anything
else. I swear it!”
    â€œJust seems suspicious, you spontaneously developing superpowers,” sniffed Pete, playing the innocent card as much as possible.
    Toby looked at him levelly. “What can I say? I was as surprised as you. We’ve been friends for years, I thought you trusted me?”
    Pete held his gaze for a few seconds before he crumbled and a smile twitched at his mouth. “Sure. Same thing happened to me.”
    â€œWhat? You knew all along?” Toby snapped.
    Pete ignored the tone; he was too excited to explain how he had dealt with Knuckles. In the middle of his flamboyant description of fleeing the scene of the crime and