Read Online Residue by Laury Falter - Free Book Online Page B

on the plane, or since we landed, it would be fair to say I’d been awake for almost thirty six hours.
    Before I headed upstairs, Spencer revealed that he’d be driving me the next morning and instructed me to be ready by seven o’clock.
    Their voices drifted up but became muffled as I closed my door.
    This birthday hadn’t been at all what I’d expected. There had been no corny song or bundles of gifts. No birthday cake or congratulatory speech. But in its own unique way it had been one of the best. I’d finally met my family. It made me smile knowing I was very slowly coming to terms with my new home, my new life.
    Shunning sleep for just a few minutes, I dropped my canvas bag on the bed and slowly emptied it on to the comforter. Shaking my head, I was still confused about what classes would bring tomorrow. Candles, tarot cards, gris gris bags, a voodoo doll, an assortment of stones… Not your typical school supplies.
    Then all thoughts about school instantly disappeared as I focused on the items strewn across my bed. One of them shouldn’t have been there. It knew it with certainty. It’s starkly defined color would have drawn my attention when I’d peeked in the bag at Olivia’s store.
    The violet candlestick, delicately carved with an intricate curving pattern lay haphazardly across a stack of tarot cards.
    Picking it up for inspection, I realized there was only one person who could have put it there.
    Jameson.
    And my smile returned.
    Finding a book of matches and a simple silver candleholder among my school supplies, I assembled them on my nightstand and struck the match, noting with curiosity that it didn’t leave the typical, stringent smell of sulfur behind as I touched flame to wick.
    A brief crackling followed and then something entirely unexpected happened.
    Smoke began billowing from the candle. Enormous clouds of it filled the room within seconds.
    In a rush, I blew it out, hoping that none made it to the hallway. A quick glance back told me that it hadn’t and I took a seat on the bed, ready to laugh at myself.
    But then I looked up…and the laugh caught in my throat.
    There in the dim light of the moon filtering through the window, I watched as the smoke collected into letters. The letters then formed words, which I read in a whisper.
     
    I didn’t get to say it earlier.
    HAPPY BIRTHDAY
    -Jameson

 
    5 ENEMY REVEALED
     
    I didn’t tell anyone about the candle the next morning, partly because I hadn’t mentioned Jameson to them, and partly because there was no time for it.
    The house had turned to complete pandemonium.
    I was startled awake by the sound of a shout. This, apparently, was Miss Mabelle’s way of rousing the household. After slipping out of bed, showering in the bathroom adjacent to my room, and selecting a colorful bohemian dress and brown leather knee-high boots, I was ready for my first day of school.
    Downstairs, things became more hectic.
    When there wasn’t a body rushing by me there was a shout to take its place. Footsteps thudded down the hallway, doors slammed, grunts were made as something was forgotten midway down the stairs.
    I waited for Spencer by the door nibbling a croissant I’d found in the kitchen, holding my canvas shopping bag, and trying to stay out of everyone’s way, all while recalling the birthday gift Jameson had left me last night. Just the thought of it sent a flood of excitement through me and roused butterflies in my stomach. The affect of it clung to me so that I didn’t even think about my new school until we were on our way there.
    My cousins each had their own sports car, Spencer having opted for a black Audi R8, and they all drove in a line out the front gate. While it was a short drive to my new school, the Academy of the Immaculate Heart, Spencer had time to inform me that I was one of the lucky ones. Apparently, the old principal greeted new students with a forced introductory meeting but the new one was more leisurely. Therefore, he