Read Online Isle of Night by Verónica Wolff - Free Book Online Page B

things—that have simply been coaxed back to life, thanks to DNA technology.
    Vampires, on the face of it, seemed eminently possible. I just needed to wrap my mind around it. Not that I needed to think so hard. The proof was right in front of me.
    As though on cue, Headmaster Fournier dropped Mimi’s broken body onto the stone. “Whose is this?” His eyes danced over us, stopping just over my shoulder.
    I couldn’t help but turn.
    His gaze had locked on Ronan. I hadn’t realized he’d been standing just behind me. “Ronan,” he snapped.
    Was Ronan in trouble? Would he be next on the menu? I bit my cheek so hard, I tasted blood. Please, not Ronan. Anyone but Ronan. It wasn’t like I trusted him—if anything, I was furious with him for getting me into this—but after the headmaster’s demonstration, Ronan definitely seemed the lesser of two evils.
    Plus, he was human. At least partly. Or I hoped he was. Ronan stepped forward and the crowd parted, avoiding him like the plague. “Yes, Headmaster?”
    â€œIs this yours?” Using his foot, Headmaster Fournier nudged Mimi onto her back. Her eyes were still open, staring blindly, the vivid blue irises so light against that milky coffee complexion bearing the outlines of two teardrops forever stenciled on her cheek.
    Her parka slid open to reveal her mutilated belly. Gasps washed over the crowd.
    Ronan lowered his head. “Yes, Headmaster.”
    â€œI told you, no facial tattoos.” Tilting his head, the vampire coolly assessed Mimi’s face. “They are so . . . déclassé .” His eyes snapped back to Ronan. “Clear it away. Make certain it gets put to use.”
    Horror stole the breath from my lungs, wondering what that had meant.
    â€œAt once, Headmaster.”
    Two guys who seemed to be Ronan’s peers joined him on the stage. They whisked away the body and swabbed the blood from the platform in a matter of moments.
    Like that, Mimi was gone.
    All eyes went back to the headmaster, none of us brave enough to utter a sound. He gave us a paternal smile, and it made my skin crawl. “Where was I before our little . . . object lesson ?”
    Paternal indeed. Just how old was Claude Fournier?
    He scanned the crowd, lingering on some girls longer than others. “Such lovelies this year,” he exclaimed. “And I see I have your attention now. You are a very special group, you know. Very privileged. You, among all others, have been chosen. You, among all others, have the chance to join us.”
    I chafed my hands along my arms. Is he going to make us vampires?
    â€œNo, no, sweets.” He chuckled, and at first I panicked, thinking he’d read my mind. But then I saw the wide-eyed terror writ clear on the other girls’ faces and realized that everyone had jumped to the same conclusion.
    â€œ You will not be vampires,” he assured us. “Never that. To be Vampire is a man’s destiny. But we cannot survive without you , my fair ones. You see, only you have the opportunity to be a part of an elite group. A group that ensures the survival of the coven. This group is known as the Watchers. And to be Watcher is a woman’s fortune.”
    He said that last bit as though it was the greatest honor girls like us could ever attain. My thoughts turned grim. It was once considered an honor to be a sacrificial lamb, too.
    â€œDespite our powers, those of a vampiric nature cannot travel everywhere. We cannot be everything. And so we create Watchers. To represent. To defend. And sometimes to kill. The Watcher is the agent of our will. She is an extension of our power.”
    I dredged every girls’ face in that crowd from my memory. I wondered what kind of gifts they had that’d been spectacular enough to catch a vampire’s eye.
    Why had I been chosen? I was quite smart, yes, but so were lots of other people in the world. Though Ronan had mentioned I was