Read Online Innocence and Evil (The Arcadia Falls Chronicles #6) by Jennifer Malone Wright - Free Book Online

phones. Pretty much anyone could tap into
those. Yeah, the radios weren’t much safer, but old school seemed
the way to go lately. You never knew who was listening to you, and
after the fiasco at the Pentagon we were pretty paranoid about
everything.
    “Okay.” Christina reappeared, tucking the
phone into her pocket. “We’ve been cleared.”
    I nodded. “Nice, we got permission from the
parents. Let’s go.”
    “You don’t have to be so grumpy about it.
We’re going, aren’t we?”
    I gave her a sideways glance as we hurried
across the street. “I’m not grumpy.”
    “Right,” she mumbled.
    We climbed the stone steps and I pulled open
the heavy door for Christina. “Ladies first.”
    She rolled her eyes. “Oh, now you’re the
perfect gentleman.”
    “Don’t get spoiled.”
    I hadn’t been inside a library since I was
in high school and one thing I remember about it was the place had
a certain smell. It was hard to place, not exactly musty, but
something like that. Maybe had something to do with all the paper.
This library had that same scent.
    The floors were a dark hardwood that
reflected the bright light of the gargantuan chandeliers that hung
from the vaulted ceilings. The front desk was a large octagon not
far from the entrance. And, to my surprise, someone was actually
manning the desk.
    The librarian, or receptionist … or whatever
she was, sat behind the counter in a rolling office chair. Unlike
my high school librarian, this woman was much younger. She had
blonde hair piled up on top of her head, with a few strands left
down around her eyes, which were covered by hipster glasses. Even
though she hadn’t looked up I could already see that she had on a
crap ton of eye makeup too.
    I slung my arm around Christina’s shoulder
as we approached. She eyeballed me and I gave her an eyebrow raise.
Couldn’t she tell I was trying to appear nonchalant here?
    We finally reached the counter and the lady
behind the desk didn’t seem to notice that we were there. She had a
notepad open and appeared to be copying something from an
encyclopedia sized book onto the paper. I cleared my throat in
hopes that she would finally notice us.
    “Oh.” Her head snapped up and I saw that she
had crystalline blue eyes. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t hear you come
in.”
    Christina’s frame tightened beneath my arm.
Uh oh, that meant something wasn’t right already.
    “It’s all right,” I assured her. “We’re just
here looking for a couple of books.”
    “Well …” She executed a goofy grin. “It is a
library so you’re in the right place for books.”
    I offered a smile of my own. “Ha, you got me
there.”
    She stood and very deliberately gave me the
once over from head to toe. Then, she did the same to Christina.
“What type of books are you looking for, perhaps I can send you in
the right direction.”
    I gave Christina a squeeze and then leaned
over and whispered, “Pregnancy.”
    The look I got from Christina was well
deserved, I admit, but it was one topic that a couple would
actually be searching for in a library. “It’s all right honey, this
is like the doctor’s office they have a client privacy policy.” I
turned to the woman behind the counter. “Right?”
    For a moment she appeared a bit flustered by
my question and then she quickly pulled it together. “Oh, yes, yes
of course. Please follow me.”
    Still keeping my arm firmly around
Christina, we followed close behind as we were led up a staircase
and then through a maze of surprisingly tall bookshelves. I didn’t
think this woman was actually a librarian. She was most likely a
vampire, judging from Christina’s reaction. At least they made sure
she knew her way around the place first, otherwise she would suck
at pretending to be a librarian.
    “You should find everything you need in this
area.”
    “Thank you,” Christina mumbled, pulling away
from me to inspect the books on the shelf. “This will help a
lot.”
    I smiled and