Illusion: Chronicles of Nick Read Free Page B

too.”
    He scowled. “Dorothy? Demonspawn? What in the name of sanity are you talking about?”
    “Nothing.” Nick scanned the hall as he tucked his book into his backpack. “So where’s Kody?”
    “Kody who?”
    “Kennedy. My girlfriend … sort of.” At least she was whenever she wasn’t trying to kill or confuse him.
    “Did you forget that, too? Casey’s your girlfriend.”
    So it’d seemed at the prom, but given Casey’s bipolar affaires de couer, Nick wasn’t eager to renew their “friendship.” Honestly, he wanted to stay away from her for a while.
    Just to be safe.
    “Yeah, but where’s Kody?”
    Caleb continued to stare at him as if he’d grown another head. “Where does she go to school?”
    Was he serious? “Here. With us.”
    He shook his head. “We don’t have a Kody in this school, Nick.”
    That sick, awful feeling returned to his stomach. No Kody? How was that possible? If she existed in his realm, wouldn’t she have to be here, too?
    And if she was gone from here was that a good thing, or a really bad one?
    “Hey, guys! Guess what I did?”
    Nick cringed at the new incarnation of Acheron as he joined them. He still couldn’t get used to or accept this person as his friend. His Ash was not normal in any sense of the word. He was the Goth king, Acheron, towering over Nick and the rest of the world with his massive seven feet of augmented height. An eleven-thousand-year-old warrior, Acheron was the epitome of lethal, in-your-face badass.
    And with that thought, Nick felt that familiar weird fissure of preternatural power emanating in the air between them.
    It was definitely Acheron’s essence.
    But as soon as he felt it, it was gone and he was back in this “normal” realm.
    “Nick?” Ash put his hand on his shoulder to steady him. “You all right?”
    No. His head swam viciously, and for a moment, he thought he might collapse. Everything around him was wobbling, like he was watching the world through water. Pain radiated through his entire being and settled hard in the pit of his stomach. He looked down at his hand that no longer appeared human at all. His skin bubbled then turned translucent.
    Terrified of someone else seeing it, he clenched his fist tight and hid it under his shirttail. Great. All I need is to turn into a human jellyfish right in front of everyone.
    That would not be a fun explanation to have to make. He’d rather back over his mom’s favorite houseplant.
    And still that wobbling persisted. Something was seriously wrong with him, and he needed to find real help. Someone who could tell him what was going on and which reality was his.…
    This world? Or the one he thought he knew?
    What if everything in my life until now has been a dream? Or worse. What if it wasn’t?
    Licking his lips, Nick met Ash’s befuddled stare. “I, um … feel sick. I … I need to head out. See that doctor you told me about.” He handed his backpack to Caleb then started for the door.
    “You can’t leave campus!” Caleb hissed.
    Nick snorted at Caleb’s panic. “Stop me.” He opened the door and went straight for the street. Yeah, he might get into trouble later, but right now he didn’t care. Forget this normal crap. He had to have answers.
    From someone.
    Sprinting over to Royal, he went to Bubba’s store, the Triple B. But instead of the computer and gun store Bubba owned, it was now a beauty salon.…
    Everything in it was pink and white. Girly. Bubba would die to see this. His precious sanctum had been defiled by rollers and hand lotions. Hairpieces.
    Celebrity gossip rags, instead of zombie survival classes.
    There was no sign of the store where Nick had spent the last few years learning about computers, lunatic conspiracy theories, and pending government-sanctioned zombie attacks. How to protect himself from the undead, undesirables, and unknown. Strange, but he really missed that Bubba and Mark. Heck, he even missed the stench of Mark’s duck-urine