Read Online Chasing Shadow (Shadow Puppeteer) by Christina E. Rundle - Free Book Online Page B

making it difficult to focus on his words. He had no idea what dire meant to me right now. I tried to walk around him, but he caught my arm and raised my injured wrist up between us. The ooze bled through the gauze and the white fabric of my shirt. By the way his nose wrinkled, I knew it smelled.
    “What happened last night? What did you get caught up in?”
    The footsteps were getting closer.
    “I’ll tell you tonight in the shed.”
    He let my arm go and walked into the cafeteria. A burst of rowdy noise filled the hall before the door once again muffled it. I kept my arm close to my body and hurried down the hallway towards the stairs.
    “Principal Viddie,” a woman called. The man stopped walking.
    I was out of breath when I made it to the staircase. If Principal Viddie caught me outside the cafeteria, I’d be questioned for the entire break. That was time ill spent. I hurried on up the stairs determined to find Memphis before the bell.
    Memphis was predictable. I’d find him on the third floor in the advance science labs. He was a junior like me, but too clever for his own good. People gave him space.
    I heard tongs tap against glass and followed that sound down the hall. All the lockers were down stairs, which left plenty of room for posters and diagrams on billboards behind glass. I hesitated in front of the lab door wishing there was a window I could peep in. The last thing I needed was to barge in on a teacher and student. I took a deep breath and entered.
    His back was turned to me, but I’d recognize Memphis in his lab coat anywhere. In the mornings, his hair started out combed, but by lunch time, it was a mess.
    “Memphis, I need you to look at something for me,” I said.
    He faced me with protective goggles that magnified his eyes. “What do you need looked at?”
    Ever practical, Memphis pulled off his gloves and washed his hands while I unwound the gauze on my wrist. My veins were black under the surface of my left arm, but it stopped at my elbow. It could be a reason why the rest of me hurt so badly. I should have brought more gauze. Memphis started back over with fresh gloves and a mask over his face, which didn’t give me confidence that things were going to be okay.
    The skin had sunken in and blackened around the edges. The muscle was a dark red that went into a pus yellow towards the center and I’m still sure that’s bone I saw glinting white. I felt cold, but Memphis’s hands on my arm gave me comfort.
    “It’s a deep cut. The coloration of your skin suggests dead flesh, but the muscle is still pink under the pus. It looks like your body is counteracting the toxins.”
    “You think there are toxins in there? What’s wrong with me? Is it fatal?” That’s what I cared about most though losing my arm came in at a close second.
    Memphis reached for a magnifying glass. “I’ve seen an injury like this before. May I?”
    He held up a cotton swab and I nodded.
    “What cut you?” he asked.
    I braced for pain, but he only swabbed along the side. It didn’t look like blood that he smeared onto the slide. It was brackish like swamp water. My stomach turned and I had to fight to keep my food down. After today, who knew when my next meal would come.
    “You can tell me what you want, but the truth can help me determine the cure,” Memphis said.
    He didn’t glance at me as he stuck the sample under the microscope. I bit my bottom lip. In the end, I trusted him more than a doctor.
    “It happened last night on Xyla. I was scratched by something that looked dead,” I said. He stopped what he was doing to look at me. I had to tell him what I already knew. “It looked like Starr, but it wasn’t. It was her doppelganger.”
    “Don’t say anything else,” Memphis said.
    He picked up the swab and held it over a lit burner. The fire rushed down the stick destroying all evidence. He tossed the stub away and grabbed the slide, dumping it into the sink and pouring chemicals over it. I was