Bloodlines: Everything That Glitters Read Free Page B

dark-red hair was thin and matted, and her frail arms rested across her petite chest.
    “Hello, can I help you?” she said. Her voice was raspy and dry, as if she hadn’t had any water for days.
    “I came to pay for the gas,” I said and looked into my wallet. As I fished for my bankcard, I tried shaking off my unease with her appearance. She had cold blue eyes that pierced mine when I looked directly at her.
    She reached her hand across the counter and smiled as if she didn’t know she had creeped me out.
    Of course you do. What else would you come in here for? It certainly wouldn't be to see me .
    I frowned and looked up. “You don’t have to have such an attitude about it.”
    “What do you mean?” She looked confused for a minute, then smiled.
    “Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about,” I retorted.
    “Read my lips . . .” and just calm down .
    I paid close attention to her cracked lips, yet after telling me to read them, they no longer moved. However the words kept flowing. 
    You can hear me can’t you?
    I nodded slowly. “But how?” I said, my voice beginning to crack.
    The biggest smile spread across her face, and she came from around the tiny wooden counter to grab my hand. I got a sudden flash of the chills before shaking off her hands. “Forget the question, I’m clearly dreaming,” I said.
    I gave myself a quick pinch on the arm, then closed my eyes. I prayed that once I opened them this would all be just some silly dream and I’d actually be sleeping in the passenger seat of the car as my brother drove the rest of the way. Unfortunately, when I opened my eyes again I was still in the aging shack and the small girl still stood in front of me.
    She placed her hands on her waist and looked down. I know you don’t understand now, but you will soon enough.
    “Could you just stay out of my head until I can gather my own thoughts?” I snapped.
    She looked up and walked back to her station behind the wooden counter. “You drank the elixir. Now you have to deal with the consequences just like the rest of us.”
    I thought back to the drive there and the stuff in the bottles. “So the stuff we drank was some kind of super juice?”
    “I guess you could call it that. It holds both a blessing and a malediction.”
    “A malediction?” I let the word trickle slowly into my over-active thoughts and wondered what could be worse than having to hear every thought ever processed by the human mind.
    “No time for that now. Have you learned what else you can do?”
    “How am I supposed to know? This whole thing is kind of new to me. Am I supposed to be able to do anything else?” I listened to the sound of my words; I couldn’t believe I was actually buying this. Mind reading was a myth; it only existed in movies and comic books.
    Taking in a deep breath, I tried to clear my thoughts again. But when sudden waves of visions and memories passed through my mind that weren’t mine, I freaked. “Stop it, stop it, stop it!” I yelled. Pushing my palms to the sides of my head, I tried to squeeze the visions away. I didn’t deserve that torture.
    Almost immediately Ash came running into the store. He grabbed ahold of my shoulders and turned me to face him. “Aliza, what’s going on?” What happened?”
    I allowed myself to slowly sink to my knees in front of a girl I’d never met before but suddenly knew like a best friend. “You have a lot of problems,” I whispered.
    “You don’t know the half of it,” she mumbled.
    The visions were from hurt and despair in the girl’s past. I’d managed to find her name through the mess of it all. “Corey, is it? While whoever has done this to me might have had pure intentions, I’d just like them to take this curse away now. I don’t want it.”
    “If only it were that easy. I’m afraid you’ll have to learn to deal with it.”
    I wobbled as I stood, looking at Corey and wanting to snap at her. I turned to Ash. “Did anything weird