Fractured Soul Read Free

correctly, but when May glanced back at me, I ignored the cold chill rooting itself in my spine and continued downstairs.
    The dining room wasn’t at all what I expected. It looked more like a grand ballroom inside a five-star hotel. Ten chandeliers hung from a white-trimmed ceiling, and in between square moldings were paintings of what I imagined heaven would look like. It should have made me feel all ethereal, but instead I felt unworthy.
    Positioned perfectly throughout the room were dozens of circular tables, each decked out like Martha Stewart had decorated them. Even the tall glass vases in the center of the tables held real flowers. I glanced down at my attire—jeans and T-shirt. “Do you think we should go back and change?” I asked May.
    “No, we’re good. Everyone else is dressed casually too.”
    I looked up, seeing the other girls for the first time. Most of them were already seated, but they were so still and quiet, it’s no wonder I had missed them. I would’ve thought they were statues if it hadn’t been for their eyes, which were darting around the room meeting the gazes of other girls as if they were silently communicating.
    “Where should we sit?” May whispered. We were standing in the doorway, off to the side.
    “Let’s go sit—”
    “Can I have your attention, please?” Sophie’s voice boomed through a speaker nearby. I jumped and grabbed May. Everyone turned to the front of the dining room. Sophie was standing at a podium speaking into a microphone.
    “I know we normally don’t interrupt your dinner,” she said, “but we have a couple of new girls we’d like to introduce.”
    I moaned. Nice, Sophie. Couldn’t you have waited a day?
    Sophie eyed us huddled in the doorway and motioned us over. May and I looked at each other.
    “Come on now, don’t be shy,” Sophie said, like we were first graders at a new school. I could strangle her.
    May moved first; I followed her lead through the maze of tables up to the front. The hard stares of the girls drilled holes right through me. When we reached the front, Sophie said, “This is Llona Reese, and this is May Cellini. Llona is an Aura, and May is a Fury.”
    A unison gasp broke the silence. Their eyes moved to May, relieving me of their cold stares.
    “Let’s make them feel welcome,” Sophie continued. “It’s not often we get new girls.” She turned to us. “Welcome to Lucent Academy!”
    A polite applause, like the gentle pitter-patter of a spring rain, echoed across the great room. I bowed my head slightly in acknowledgment, but wondered if I should have curtsied or something. As soon as their clapping slowed, I dived toward the nearest seat. May followed.
    The table was almost full. I smiled at the other girls, who I just now recognized as the ones who’d joked about my room and me turning up dead inside it. Awesome.
    The girls didn’t say or do anything—just remained in their statue-like stance—but then the magical chimes sung their song, and it was as if the sound woke the girls. The room burst into an array of sounds all at once: girls chatted and laughed, dishes clanked together as many poured water into their glasses, and doors at the side of the room flew open, letting in a steady stream of people in uniforms, carrying platters of food. From where I sat, I smelled chicken and broccoli.
    A girl across the table said, “So, May, Llona,” there was contempt in her voice when she said my name. She’d obviously heard something about me she didn’t like. “I’m Ashlyn and these are my friends, Valerie, Anna, Jan, and Katie.” The girls smiled and said hello.
    “Welcome to our school,” Ashlyn said. “It’s always nice to have a Fury among us.”
    Ashlyn was very pretty with petite features and long strawberry-blonde hair that fell past her shoulders in big curls. I wondered how she was able to get curls that big. I reached up and tugged at my own hair.
    “Where are you from?” Valerie asked May. Valerie’s