Fractured Soul Read Free Page A

blue eyes were the same navy blue color as her baby-doll T-shirt.
    May looked at me. “We’re from Utah. We both went to the same school.”
    “Really?” Valerie said. “I wonder what the odds are of that? A Fury and an Aura.”
    “How did you discover each other?” Anna butted in. Her voice was small and mousy, matching her short dark hair and upturned nose.
    “It was by accident, really,” I began.
    “Anna was asking May,” Ashlyn interrupted.
    I visibly jerked. “Oh, okay.” And so it begins. I grabbed my glass and took a sip of water.
    May looked uncomfortable, but she continued where I’d left off. “We were lab partners. I accidentally exploded a beaker of oil and it caught her hair on fire.”
    A couple of the girls giggled.
    May ignored them. “Llona had seen me start the fire, and I noticed her hair grow back, so we both knew we were different. We were pretty much best friends after that.”
    Ashlyn tilted her head. “What do you mean her hair grew back?”
    May glanced over at me nervously, hoping I would answer, but if they didn’t want to talk to me, I wasn’t going to start.
    May hesitated before she said, “Her hair can’t be cut or colored. It’s always the same. Isn’t that how all Auras’ hair is?”
    The girls paused and looked at each other before they burst out laughing. I took another drink; my eyes settled on Sophie sitting three tables over. She gave me an encouraging smile. I didn’t return it.
    Ashlyn was the last one to stop laughing, unfortunately. The sound hurt my ears—it was loud and high pitched, sounding more like a chipmunk on crack than an actual laugh. I stared at her coolly.
    “So you’re telling me,” Ashlyn said, addressing me with a stupid grin, “that your hair won’t ever change?”
    “Are you giving me permission to speak now?” I said.
    The table grew quiet.
    Ashlyn turned to Anna and said, “This is what the outside does to you, turns you into a heathen.”
    I was about to show her how a heathen curses when three waitresses brought food to our table. Two of the servers looked like they were around twelve, and the older one looked more my age. When the older one set a plate of food in front of me, I glanced at her and said, “Thank—” Then the water in my throat caught, and I began to cough, making the girls at the table laugh again. I did a double take at the waitress’s face to see if what I’d just seen was real.
    It was, but I still couldn’t believe it. On the side of the girl’s face and partway down her neck were light green scales. They were shinier than the rest of her skin, and if I looked at them at a certain angle, they had a rainbow glow to them. The girl met my stare but then quickly looked away, her face reddening.
    As soon as the waitresses were gone, Ashlyn said, “Is that your first time seeing a Lizen?” She seemed pleased by my ignorance.
    “A what?” May asked.
    “A Lizen. You know, half man, half . . . lizard.” The other girls looked at her in shock as if she’d said something forbidden.
    It was my turn to laugh. “Lizard people? It’s just a crazy birth deformity.”
    “You really don’t know a thing, do you?” Ashlyn straightened in her seat as if she were a teacher preparing for a lecture. “Lizens have been around since the dawn of time. While other species were evolving, Lizens didn’t quite make it. Their deformity stuck, and when they bred with each other, it only made it worse.”
    “Where have they been this whole time?” May asked, eyes wide.
    “In hiding of course. Wouldn’t you hide too if you had scales on your body?” She tossed a disgusted look in the direction of the ever-moving waitresses.
    Valerie looked at us conspiratorially, adding, “Their race almost went extinct until the Auras brought them here to serve us. They live on campus in Lambert House. The women work inside and the men take care of the grounds.”
    “And they like this?” I wondered out loud. From what I’d