Read Online Darkest Day by Emi Gayle - Free Book Online

a much better fit … physically than you and Winn or Maddie and Ridge.”
    “It’s not about that.”
    She waved her hands at me. “I know. I know. What I’m saying is we’ve got ourselves a soap opera. Can’t say I’ve watched one all the way through myself, but my grandma watches ‘em all the time. Anytime she’s getting her treatments at the dialysis center, it’s on. Since I’ve been there a few times, I see it.”
    “See what … exactly?”
    “The whole girl-boy-charade necessary for officially winning someone’s love.” Her hands went across her chest, over her heart. “You could play the game.”
    “What game, Caroline?” I put my palms together and pointed my fingertips her way. “Please just give me a logical, uncomplicated, not-full-of-lies answer. That’s what I count on your for.”
    “That’s the problem, Mac. Life is full of lies because people don’t know the truths. If you want to win, you sometimes gotta play the game. If you want to win Winn—ha, ha—you gotta give him what he wants in you.”
    “Now you’re sounding more like Maddie and not like the brilliant scientist I thought you were.”
    Her eyes twinkled. “Maybe I’ve become a mad scientist instead.”
    “So, how do I play this game?”
    “You do exactly what everyone expects you not to do.”
    “I already do that.”
    “Then, do the opposite.”
    • • •
    “Psst.”
    I whirled as Zoe sauntered up to me at school. “You’re getting my attention with a ‘psst’ sound now? What gives?”
    She bit her bottom lip. “I have a secret.” She spun, bouncing into the lockers with a clang.
    With my bag in my hands, I said, “And you’re telling me you have a secret so that you can keep it, or are you telling me because you want me to know?”
    She smiled up at me. “I want you to know, of course. You are my … big sister.” Her shoulder bumped mine.
    I leaned back, next to her, my eyes on the passing river of people. “Okay, spill it.”
    “Mom stopped by right before I fell asleep, last night.”
    “She did? She have anything enlightening to say?”
    Caroline passed with a grin on her face. Not two steps behind her, Maddie followed.
    “In the mirror this time.”
    “Huh?” I turned to Zoe, her bright eyes shining. Our mom could appear to Zoe, but not me. The mirror, though, that came as a first. “So, a little mirror-mirror, or something like that? Snow-White-like?” Usually, she showed as a ghostly apparition in the middle of Zoe’s room.
    “Still a fadey ghost, but, yeah. I was brushing my teeth, looked up and there she was.”
    “And you didn’t scream bloody murder?” It surprised me that Zoe reacted so well to so many of us; she had only just learned of her connection to the non-human race.
    “She has a sound now that I can hear before she appears. It’s kinda cool.”
    “So what did Mommy dearest want? Any messages for me?”
    “She suggested I go to your next Council meeting with you.”
    “Why?” My gaze tracked the flurry of feet, each racing its way toward homeroom. We had ten minutes, and my class would only take two steps to reach.
    Zoe shrugged. “Dunno. Maybe to meet others like me? Get me more experience with my kind?”
    I raised an eyebrow, staring down at my sister. Sister. The idea still struck me as odd and disproportionate to everything I knew about my life. Not only should she not exist, I shouldn’t know about her. Unfortunately for everyone else, I kinda liked her—not that I’d admit it to anyone outright.
    “I know I’ve met a few of the Council members, like Cleo and Magwa and Josie, but seeing them all together—and the others. That’d be cool, right? I mean you’re going to be awesome as part of them, and since you’re my sister, I should know them better, or something. Right?”
    She’d asked me loads of questions before, but with her newfound knowledge of her genetics, I’d been barraged. “What makes you think I’m going to be good at all this