Awakening Read Free

jerk. I’d just been goofing around with him when Simon got all up in my face and smacked me with that spell.”
    In the version I’d heard, Brady had been the one getting in Derek’s face. Simon had a good reason for interfering, too—the last time Derek took a swing, he’d broken a kid’s back.
    “So Dr. Fellows wanted you to say Derek started the fight….”
    “I wouldn’t. I’d have to deal with the fallout when I went back to Lyle House and I didn’t need that grief. That’s when Davidoff came in. He hauled her out of the room, but I could still hear him chewing her out in the hall. She kept saying Derek was a menace and the only reason Davidoff kept him was because he couldn’t admit he made a mistake by including Derek’s type.”
    “Type?”
    “In the experiment.”
    A chill settled in my gut. “Ex-experiment?”
    Brady shrugged. “That’s all she said. Davidoff told her to shove off. He said he made a mistake with the others, but Derek was different.”
    Others? Did he mean other werewolves? Or other subjects in this experiment? Was
I
a subject in this experiment?
    “Did they say any—?” I began.
    His head whipped to the side, as if seeing something out of the corner of his eye.
    “What is it?” I asked.
    “Don’t you hear that?”
    I listened. “What is it?”
    “Whispering.”
    “It could be Liz. She—”
    Brady went rigid. His eyes rolled. Then his head flew back, the tendons in his neck popping out, bones crackling. His throat convulsed and he gurgled. Instinctively I reached out to help. My hands passed through him, but I could feel the heat of his body, a scorching heat that made me fall back in surprise.
    As I recovered, Brady went still again. His chin lowered and he rolled his shoulders, as if working out the kinks. Then he looked down at me. His dark eyes were now a glowing yellowish-orange. The chill in my gut slunk up my spine.
    “Frightened, child?” The voice coming out of Brady’s mouth was a woman’s, so high and light it was almost girlish. “Your instincts are excellent, but you have nothing to fear from me.”
    “W-where’s Brady?”
    She looked down at the body she was possessing. “Do you like him? He
is
pretty, isn’t he? All of dear Dr. Lyle’s creations are so very pretty. Perfect balls of perfect energy, waiting to explode.”
    In a blink, “Brady” was in front of me, his face coming down to mine, bathing me in scorching hot breath that smelled strangely sweet. Those orange eyes met mine, the pupils slitted like a cat’s.
    “The boy can’t help you, child. But I can. You just need to—”
    Her eyes rolled back, darkening to Brady’s brown, then back to orange as she snarled.
    “They’re pulling him back to the other side. Call me, child. Quickly.”
    “C-call—”
    “Call me forth. I can—”
    Her eyes rolled again, her snarl deepening into something inhuman, a sound that made the chill in my veins harden to ice. I stepped back and smacked into the wall.
    “Call me forth,” she said, voice going ragged, deepening into Brady’s. “I can answer all your questions. Call me—”
    Brady’s image wavered, then popped, like a TV screen after the power cord is pulled. One flash of white light and he was gone. I thought I heard a knock at the door but couldn’t move, just stared at the spot where Brady had been.
    The door opened, and Dr. Davidoff stepped in to find me plastered to the wall.
    “Chloe?”
    I staggered forward, rubbing my arms.
    “Chloe?”
    “S-spider,” I said, pointing to the bed. “It r-ran under there.”
    Dr. Davidoff struggled against a smile. “Don’t worry. I’ll get someone to take care of it, while we’re gone. We’re going to go for a walk. It’s time you got a proper tour and a proper explanation.”

Four
    A S I FOLLOWED DR. Davidoff down the hall, I tried to shake off thoughts of whatever had been in my room. I was a necromancer: ghosts were my one and only specialty. So it had to be a ghost, no