Read Online Bitter Demons by Sarra Cannon - Free Book Online

conversation about my fashion. It was like a flashback to
Brooke telling me I had to stop wearing so much black when I first
got on the cheerleading squad. I wasn't really a big fan of people
criticizing my fashion choices, but I knew I couldn't exactly tell
her to stuff it either.
    "I mean, I know you don't really have a lot
of money or whatever," she said. "But there are other ways."
    I glanced at Caroline and she smiled.
    They had to know about glamours. What other
way could Meredith mean? They didn't strike me as the type to
recommend shoplifting. I wanted to ask them about it, but Mrs. King
came up at that moment and ushered us into her car.
     
     
     
This Better Be Good
    The ride to the party didn't help me feel any
closer to the futures from Cypress. Meredith droned on and on about
what it means to be a future. I felt like I was being lectured the
whole time. Caroline was pretty quiet up front next to Mrs. King,
but if I had to choose, she would be the future I would prefer to
hang out with.
    Luckily, it didn't take long for Meredith to
ditch us once we arrived at the Chen's lake house. The boys from
both football teams had arrived ahead of us, and it was obvious a
few of them had been waiting for us to arrive. Whatever popularity
I'd been experiencing the past few days since the confirmation
ritual, Meredith had it ten-fold. Since her mother was still the
reigning Prima, she was possibly years away from her final
initiation ceremony, but if I had to guess, I'd say she was several
steps farther than me in her journey.
    Her beauty and allure was lost on me, but as
she walked onto the front deck, the sea of guys there literally
parted to let her pass. Every head turned and guys jumped at the
chance to offer her a drink. Caroline and I stood back on the grass
and watched.
    "Does that happen everywhere she goes?" I
asked.
    "Pretty much," Caroline said. "You should see
my mom."
    That last part she said under her breath, but
I caught the bitterness in her tone.
    "You don't like them very much, do you?"
    Caroline looked up, her eyes wide. She shook
her head. "I don't not like them," she said. "I mean, it's my
family. I love them."
    "That's not exactly the same thing," I
said.
    She scrunched up her nose. "No, I guess it's
not."
    "It's no big deal," I said. "To tell you the
truth, I'm not the biggest fan of your sister either. I thought
she'd never stop criticizing me. She's kind of full of
herself."
    Caroline laughed. "You have no idea how good
it is to hear you say that," she said. "It's like everyone's always
under her spell. Guys fall all over her at school. Teachers adore
her and she always gets perfect grades. And she's Mom's favorite,
by far. Meredith is a little princess."
    "But you're a future, too." I spotted a
couple of white plastic chairs on the lawn and moved us over toward
them to sit. "How come you don't get the same kind of attention? I
mean, I'm still new to this whole thing, so I don't know how it all
works or how many steps there are to becoming Prima, but I would
think you guys would be about equal."
    She snorted and plopped down in the chair.
"Yeah, right," she said. "I'm a second. Seconds very rarely ever
actually become Prima."
    I sat next to her. "Why not?"
    "Well, let's say my mom dies tomorrow," she
said. Pretty morbid thought, but I was listening. "Meredith's
already eighteen and she's been through the first four steps
already. All she has left is the fifth and final step."
    "Which is what?" I asked. This is exactly the
kind of information I'd been looking for, and I hoped she would
keep talking.
    "Initiation," she said. "That way if Mom
died, Meredith could be initiated immediately. Like before the
funeral, even."
    "Wow," I said. I had already been through two
steps. That meant just three more total before I was the Prima and
Jackson was lost to me forever. I swallowed hard. "That's
wild."
    "The Order is pretty serious about their
rituals," she said. "Getting a new Prima initiated would be