Read Online Salt by Danielle Ellison - Free Book Online Page A

glancing at my phone. Ric should be here soon and we still have forty minutes until class. I convinced him to go early with me, so I could work in the library, now that I have official access. I look back at him and expect a smile; it’s not there. He’s not kidding. Which is ridiculous. He doesn’t even know me. “I have to go. See you around.”
    I stand and swing my bag over my shoulder. Blocked exit or not, I’m getting out of here.
    Carter follows me. Past a woman with a crying baby, and an older woman trying to order in a different language. The bell dings when I open the door. It’s only two or three steps outside into the crisp morning air when he grabs my arm.
    “Just wait,” he says. There are cars beeping, moving along the streets, bumper-to-bumper in morning rush hour. Doors are opening, closing, and I’m not doing anything except standing there. Carter is waiting for something. Whatever he wants, I can’t give it. Instinct wants me to run, to kick him where it counts and take off. I can’t fully form a plan of action.
    “Look, I think we should talk somewhere. I mean I would like to talk somewhere. With you.”
    “I have nothing to offer you.”
    “Not even friendship?”
    I cross my arms. “You don’t want to be my friend.”
    “I do,” he says, stuffing his hands into his jacket.
    “Why?”
    “We can’t talk about it here, but I know I’m not wrong.”
    “What does that mean?”
    He looks around, but there’s no one else close enough to hear us. No one even notices the two of us standing there. “Meet me. Let’s talk.”
    “I’m on my way somewhere—I’m going to be late, actually.” I don’t even let him respond while I search for my car keys.
    “You seemed surprised yesterday,” he says. I turn back to him, my heart pounding a little more in my chest. “When you saw that waitress trip. It was the same expression you had on your face with the demon in the alley.”
    I shrug. Play it off, Penelope . Don’t let him know you were surprised.
    “I have a theory about you,” he says, moving toward me again.
    I open the door. “What’s that?”
    His foot shuffles on the ground and shakes his head. “We can’t talk about it here.”
    What does he think about me? What does he think he knows? Maybe it’s my magic, my response to both times I used it. He’s right. I was surprised. Shocked. He noticed that then—what else has he noticed?
    “Fine. I can’t do it until the afternoon.”
    “Three o’clock?” he says, his eyes wide. The hopefulness in his expression jars me a little.
    I bite my lip. We got out of class yesterday after two. Today may not be the same. “I don’t know yet. I’ll text you.”
    Carter raises an eyebrow, and moves so the only thing between us is the door of my car. “Nice try, but you don’t have my number, Pen.”
    “Don’t call me that,” I say again.
    “Phone,” he says. I hand it to him; he quickly types, his face slightly amused, and hands my phone back to me. He turns around to leave too. His car is in the next spot—some sexy black number. Very Batmobile meets real life.
    “Until later then, Felt Tip,” he calls to me without turning around.
    I don’t argue this time. He’s doing it just to make me mad. Which—fine. Whatever. I take a breath, slide into the driver’s seat and slam my door shut. “Stupid boys.”
    Someone pounds on the roof of my car, and I jump. “I see you’re all sunshine and fun,” Ric says as he opens the door. “Not enough caffeine?”
    “I could always use some more.”
    “It was your idea to go early,” Ric says, getting into the car. Yes, it was. It’s time to do my own form of demon tracking.
    I shrug and before he has his seat belt on I blurt out, “Do you know any witches named Carter?”
    “Carter what?”
    I pause. “I don’t know.”
    “Carter doesn’t ring any bells,” he says. I pout and he fastens his seat belt. Where did Carter come from? He must be in another school in the