Hades Read Free Page A

different in every culture.
    But essential y, people believe it’s the one night of the year
    when the world of the dead meets the world of the living;
    when the dead can walk among us and possess our
    bodies. People would dress up to trick them into staying
    away.”
    The group stared at me with newfound respect.
    “Oh my God, Bethie.” Savannah shivered. “Way to freak
    us al out.”
    “Do you remember when we had that seance in seventh
    grade?” Abigail asked. The others nodded enthusiastical y
    as they recal ed the event.
    “You had a what!” I spluttered, barely able to disguise my
    disbelief.
    “A seance, it’s when you …”
    “I know what it is,” I said. “But you shouldn’t mess around
    with that stuff.”
    “I told you, Abby!” Hal ie exclaimed. “I told you it was
    dangerous. Remember how the door slammed shut?”
    “Yeah, only because your mom shut it,” Madison hit back.
    “She couldn’t have. She was in bed asleep the whole
    time.”
    “Whatever. I’m thinking we should try it again on Friday.”
    Abigail waggled her eyebrows mischievously. “What do you
    say, girls? Who’s in?”
    “Not me,” I said resolutely. “I’m not getting mixed up in
    that.”
    The looks they exchanged suggested they were
    unconvinced by my refusal.
    “THEY’RE so childish,” I complained to Xavier as we
    walked to French class together. Doors slammed,
    announcements rang over the loudspeaker, and chatter
    flowed freely around us, but Xavier and I were locked in our
    own world. “They want to hold a seance and go dressed as
    bunnies.”
    “What kind of bunnies?” he asked suspiciously.
    “Playboy, I think. Whatever that means.”
    “That sounds about right.” Xavier laughed. “But don’t let
    them talk you into anything you don’t feel comfortable with.”
    “They’re my friends.”
    “So what?” He shrugged. “If your friends walked off a cliff,
    would you do it too?”
    “Why would they walk off a cliff?” I asked in alarm. “Is
    someone having problems at home?”
    Xavier laughed. “It’s just an expression.”
    “It’s sil y,” I told him. “Do you think I should go as an
    angel? Like in the film version of Romeo and Juliet ?”
    “There would be a certain irony in that,” Xavier said,
    smirking. “An angel posing as a human posing as an angel.
    I like it.”
    Mr. Col ins glared at us as we arrived and took our seats.
    He seemed to resent our closeness and I couldn’t help but
    wonder whether his history of three failed marriages had
    left him a little jaded about love.
    “I hope the two of you wil descend from your love bubble
    long enough to learn something today,” he sniped cuttingly
    and the other kids snickered. Embarrassed, I ducked my
    head to avoid eye contact with them.
    “It’s al right, sir,” Xavier replied. “The bubble’s been
    engineered to al ow us to learn from within it.”
    “You’re very amusing, Woods,” Mr. Col ins said. “But the
    classroom is not the place for romance. When it al ends in
    heartbreak, your grades wil pay the price. L’amour est
    comme un sablier, avec le coeur remplir le vide du
    cerveau. ”
    I recognized the quote from the French writer Jules
    Renard. Translated it meant: “Love is like an hourglass,
    with the heart fil ing up as the brain empties.” I hated his
    smug certainty, as if he knew for a fact our relationship was
    doomed. I opened my mouth to protest, but Xavier touched
    my hand under the table and leaned across to whisper in
    my ear.
    “It’s probably not the best idea to get fresh with the
    teachers who’l be grading our final papers.”
    He turned back to Mr. Col ins, putting on his best
    classpresident voice. “We understand, sir, thanks for your
    concern.”
    Mr. Col ins looked satisfied and went back to writing
    subjunctive verbs on the blackboard. I couldn’t resist poking
    my tongue out at his back.
    Hal ie and Savannah, who were also in my French class,
    caught up with me at the lockers. They