Read Online In the Arms of Stone Angels by Jordan Dane - Free Book Online Page B

could think about were the words he’d said about the bird.
    â€œIt’s better to die free than live life in a cage.”
    A tear rolled down my cheek when I thought about him locked up, without knowing whether he’d ever be free again. What I had with him was gone now. And I had been the one who had killed it.
    I had no one to blame except me.
    Â 
    By the time I pulled into the driveway at Grams’s house, I was feeling pretty low. And if Mom wanted to make a big deal about me taking my sweet time to run her errands, then she’d better be prepared for a fight. I was in no mood to play nice.
    But when I saw a car parked on the curb in front of our walkway—a shiny red-and-white Mini-Cooper—I had a feeling my tardiness would take a back seat. I quickly unloaded my old bike and put it in the garage. And with shopping bags in hand, I opened the front door.
    I found my mom sitting in the living room with Chloe Seaver.
    â€œHey, Brenna. I was hoping to catch you.” The thin blonde stood and smiled.
    Like I remembered her, she had huge blue eyes smeared with smoky dark makeup. Her eyes always reminded me of those orphaned cat pictures that made you want to adopt every stray at the kennel, even if you were allergic.
    Chloe had the same frail-looking face. Pale skin, a narrow chin and thin lips shining with pink gloss. It was like she was a little girl playing dress up. She wore her straggling blond hair with bangs these days, razor cut in layers to fall beneath her chin. When I realized that she looked like a pixie elf, I gazed down at her shoes and was disappointed not to see her wearing curly satin slippers with bells on her toes.
    â€œYou remember Chloe Seaver, don’t you, honey? You used to be good friends.” When my mom smiled, my mind lurched into conspiracy mode. Had Chloe come on her own or had Mom orchestrated the chance meeting? I set the shopping bags down near the door and went into the living room.
    â€œYeah, Mom. I remember. What’s up, Chloe?” I stuffed my hands in my jeans.
    What’s up? I greeted her like nothing bad had ever happened between us. Like Chloe’s best friend hadn’t been brutally murdered and like I had nothing to do with the boy who had killed her.
    In my screwed-up world, very little surprised me anymore. Chloe Seaver showing up on my doorstep was one more piece of crap piled on my WTF day. And since I was already under a heaping pile, what was one more smelly glob?
    But there was something I had to know. Did my mom put Chloe up to this visit, or had she come for another reason?

chapter four
    Chloe Seaver standing in Grams’s living room was a sight I never thought I’d see again. We used to be friends before she became a part of Heather Madsen’s crew of popular kids, the “it” girls that every boy in school had fantasized about and every girl envied—every girl except me.
    Call me strange, but I always felt sorry for all of them, especially Heather. She demanded attention like a drug addict needed that next fix and that made her high maintenance. And she got a perverse kick out of preying on outsiders and loners, the weak ones in “the herd.” The less someone had, the more she wanted to take. I guess that made her feel superior.
    Being envied for having it all was the air that she breathed.
    â€œYour mom says you’re here for the summer, to fix up your grandmother’s house.” Chloe smiled again, but it didn’t cover up her shaky voice.
    â€œYeah, we just got here. How did you know I was back…and here at Grams’s?”
    â€œOh, guess a little birdie told me.”
    Vultures, more like it. Either the rumor mill in Shawano was in fine form or my mom had something to do with Chloe’s visit. Either way wasn’t good for me.
    It was ironic that Chloe had talked about a little birdie telling her I was back. White Bird had told me once that she reminded him of the