Read Online Second Sight by Maria Rachel Hooley - Free Book Online Page A

calls,
slipping into the next room and closing the door so I can’t hear
the exchange. I frown at the door but quickly decide that’s not
going to make any difference. I’m stuck, whether I like it or not.
I walk around the room, heading to the fireplace mantle where I see
numerous pictures of Scott. The first one I pick up must’ve been taken the day he was sworn in as an officer,
and while I see a cute blonde girl in some of the photos, most of
them are only of Scott, which doesn’t surprise me. What about his
parents? Who is the blonde? How long has he been a cop? This
picture looks pretty recent.
    More questions, but only one answer, and I
know it. Betcha more than six months ago, Scott Mathis didn’t even
exist. Amazing how angels easily lend themselves to lies when
they’re supposed to be harbingers of truth.
    I walk over to the
bookshelf, noticing how the floor creaks. A lot of the hardbacks
look old, and they have that musty smell I love. I pick one up and
open it. As the pages part, I realize its title: Dante’s Inferno . My trembling
fingers drop it and I scrabble to pick it up, half-eyeing the door
to see if the guys are coming out yet. No such luck. I run my
fingers across the leather cover one more time before stowing it
back on the shelf and scanning the other spines for titles I know.
It appears that Scott has refined tastes; he has more classics than
a literature professor. Next to the books, there is a sword-like
letter opener jabbed into a small crystal prism. Intrigued, I take
it out and palm it, unsure why. I’m no thief—never even shoplifted
bubble gum from a store. It’s just not in me. But here, now, I’m
not even sure who ‘me’ is. I should, but I don’t. I contemplate
putting the thing back, but at that moment, the door eases open and
Griffin walks out first. I try to read his expression, but it is
inscrutable. His jaw is clenched, and he glances at me, pain in his eyes. He shuffles to the couch. Scott
follows, and I look from one to the other, gaining nothing. More
lies, then. Now even Griffin is in on it.
    “ So,” I begin, “did you two
have a nice little heart-to-heart?” Neither answers. In fact,
neither of them look at me either, which only goes to show they’d
both rather talk about me than to me. “Do I get to know what that little exchange was
about?”
    “ No!” both of them snap
simultaneously. Now I have their attention, but Griffin is nervous
and Scott is just damned evasive.
    Lies.
    Scott eyes Griffin cooly, and they both
settle back as though trying to get comfortable, something that
ordinarily Griffin wouldn’t have a bit of trouble with. But I think
Scott has brought out the worst in him. What the hell?
    “ I believe you had some
questions you wanted me to answer, Lizzie. Is that right?” My name
sounds all wrong when he says it, kind of like it’s been spoken in
a foreign language he doesn’t recognize and hasn’t heard pronounced
before. He rests his forearms on his thighs and leans forward,
hands clasped, as he studies my face.
    His blue eyes disorient me,
and I feel I can barely breathe. He reminds me of Lev, but then he
doesn’t, and it makes my heart want to pound out of my
chest . Focus, Lizzie. Focus, I think. I search for the aura. It’s there; I can
see it as plain as day. Okay, maybe it is faint, but that doesn’t
mean it doesn’t exist.
    “ I…I know what you are.”
Okay, so putting it like that sounds crazy, but is there a good way
to say it? I don’t think so.
    “ That’s not…a question,”
Scott says, pulling his hands apart and resting them on the couch.
“And I’m not quite sure what you mean by that.”
    Griffin closes his eyes,
probably focusing on just breathing, but his expression seems more
tortured than it should. What does he know that I don’t? What did
Scott tell him?
    “ I think you know exactly
what I mean.” I stand and walk to the hearth. “You’re not
human.”
    “ What are you talking
about?” Scott